Challenge

As part of a small boutique consulting firm I and my partners are always looking ways to

improve our market presence and therefore our sales conversion. In this matter we used  visualization and mind mapping tools to illustrate and discuss over the scenario where we are  into and then selected few ideas to test.

I was given the challenge to test a new method of prospecting clients using digital marketing,

LinkedIn discovery and applying selected cold emails and calls. For that I have proposed to  develop a prototype and apply it to test and make improvements. I was assigned 60 days to do  so.

Selection

I have selected Learning Launch to go through this deployment. It involves to pick an idea that

fits what clients need, technical and financial viability, and implement it quickly in a small scale  to test and then learn and improve, or discard, depending on the results. We called it a  prototyping during implementation.

Another way to describe this approach is as of Michael Ford where he describes it as ready,

fire, aim.

Application

I have designed the prototype by selecting a small group of prospects (50 leads from food

industry) and implemented a free CRM tool to help organize the process. Then I developed an  approach using emails and calls.

The fire part of the implementation was to start sending emails as intended. This way we

could measure how many of them were being open (a few) and responded (none). This  measurement was used in one follow up meeting with my partners where we could discuss

Also, I have started making cold calls to some prospects I chose randomly, which results were

also measured and reported in the same meeting. This was not designed initially and was a  critical point of discussion as one of our partners did not agree with this approach, even though  I had appointed a meeting with this approach.

Insight:

Using this tool gave us a quick and low-cost way to test an idea and gather improvement

needs for it. In other words, we could test our hypothesis and redesign the approach.

For example, making cold calls was not planned to occur, but it showed some results. On the

other hand, it was planned to send emails in a cadency, but it did not occur, what could have  showed results.

The main benefit of using this design thinking tool is that you can test initial assumptions in a

fast way, analyze and adjust to keep testing new assumptions. It is also a cost-effective way to  test it as in our case the full implementation demands recruitment of a personnel to be full time  in this position. Being me the one to test it before hiring someone could give more  improvements to the approach before going live.

Approach:

For the next time I use learning launch, that proved to be the right tool to be used, I will do it

in a more pragmatic way. I have developed it in a way (email cadency) and then implemented in  another way (cold calls), what may have postponed results to be collected for the initial  assumption. It is better to fail quick and fine tune the process than keep trying to do different  things without a logical approach. Also, documenting findings could be improved in our case  using on the go approach. I have done using visual presentations but with a greater effort as I  had to remember past issues.


Challenge As part of a small boutique consulting firm I and my partners are always looking ways to improve our market presence and therefore our sales conversion . In this matter we used visualization and mind mapping tools to illustrate and discuss over the scenario where we are into and then selected few ideas to test . I was given the challenge to test a new method of prospecting clients using digital marketing , LinkedIn discovery and applying selected cold emails and calls . For that I have proposed to develop a prototype and apply it to test and make improvements . I was assigned 60 days to do so . Selection I have selected Learning Launch to go through this deployment . It involves to pick an idea that fits what clients need , technical and financial viability , and implement it quickly in a small scale to test and then learn and improve , or discard , depending on the results . We called it a prototyping during implementation . Another way to describe this approach is as of Michael Ford where he describes it as ready , fire , aim . Application I have designed the prototype by selecting a small group of prospects ( 50 leads from food industry ) and implemented a free CRM tool to help organize the process . Then I developed an approach using emails and calls . The fire part of the implementation was to start sending emails as intended . This way we could measure how many of them were being open ( a few ) and responded ( none ) . This measurement was used in one follow up meeting with my partners where we could discuss Also , I have started making cold calls to some prospects I chose randomly , which results were also measured and reported in the same meeting . This was not designed initially and was a critical point of discussion as one of our partners did not agree with this approach , even though I had appointed a meeting with this approach . Insight : Using this tool gave us a quick and low - cost way to test an idea and gather improvement needs for it . In other words , we could test our hypothesis and redesign the approach . For example , making cold calls was not planned to occur , but it showed some results . On the other hand , it was planned to send emails in a cadency , but it did not occur , what could have showed results . The main benefit of using this design thinking tool is that you can test initial assumptions in a fast way , analyze and adjust to keep testing new assumptions . It is also a cost - effective way to test it as in our case the full implementation demands recruitment of a personnel to be full time in this position . Being me the one to test it before hiring someone could give more improvements to the approach before going live . Approach : For the next time I use learning launch , that proved to be the right tool to be used , I will do it in a more pragmatic way . I have developed it in a way ( email cadency ) and then implemented in another way ( cold calls ) , what may have postponed results to be collected for the initial assumption . It is better to fail quick and fine tune the process than keep trying to do different things without a logical approach . Also , documenting findings could be improved in our case using on the go approach . I have done using visual presentations but with a greater effort as I had to remember past issues .