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Son 3 en los que se tienen que pensar:
1. Comunicación.
2. Distribución
3. Comercialización

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Direct distribution

Personal Selling

In the case of personal selling, there is a lot of conveniences afforded to the customer including personal demonstration, home delivery, and satisfaction guarantees. The cost of a direct selling channel, especially if it is based on personal selling is low and can be easily afforded by an individual starting a business. Personal selling is a wonderful way to establish a strong relationship with the customer and gain insight into big customers’ preferences.

The Internet

Provides a low-cost channel to target a wide customer base. It also provides convenience to customers in the form of instant access, ease of use and personalization. It is also a wonderful source of information for the customers is available 24/7 and gives them the chance to establish two-way communication with the company by letting them provide feedback and share preferences.

Telephone

The telephone is an inexpensive and efficient way to establish direct contact with the customer. It is also a good way to establish a relationship, create leads and reach customers in remote areas. On the other hand, the telephone, due to being outsourced to third world countries and used as a medium for marketing may seem intrusive and annoying to customers.

Mail / Email

Mail is another direct medium that is inexpensive and can reach a large audience. It is also easily customizable to different customer segments and allows for easy alteration. It is a wonderful way to create a brand image, communicate innovations or new products and foster good will.

Indirect Distribution

Retailers

Retailers come with many positives such as already established infrastructures of stores, webpages, and aggressive marketing strategies. Retailers have their established brands that can provide a bolster to the already existing brand. There is also personal service and after sales services provided by the retailer, as well as a being a source of market and consumer intelligence.

Agents and Brokers

Agents, brokers or reps provide personal selling and have established relationships with customers. They have a broad network, lesser distribution costs and are a source of market intelligence. They also assume the role of promoting the product, as well as share the burden of overhead costs.

Distributors

Finally, distributors have a focused customer base, assume inventory risk, have a wider reach and are technically trained. However, they carry competing brands, have a say in the final pricing of your product and your company does not have control over the final look of the product to the customer. They also have low customer intelligence and represent an additional investment.

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In this article, we will look at 1) an introduction to the Channels building block, 2) channel phases, 3) channel types, 4) advantages and disadvantages of alternative channels of distribution, and 5) a case study.

This building block defines how an organization communicates with and provides value to its chosen customer segment. Channels are the touch points through which an organization liaises with its customers and as such, play a huge role in defining the customer experience. Channels can be categorized as marketing, sales or distribution channels.

Channels and Customer Relationships are directly linked to the 'how' of a company linking with its target customer segment. Most companies have a different medium to attract a customer and separate strategies on how to retain them. It is advisable to list separate channels for different customer segments if your organization is targeting more than one.

Before the 1990's, companies were severely limited in their choice of channel. In fact, there was only one channel being used; the direct channel in which a customer would go to a score with salespeople and physical distribution occurred. Now companies have the choice of using physical channels or web/mobile channels to deliver their value proposition to their customer segment.

The distribution channel represents one of the quarters of the Marketing Mix and represents how an organization will make its product or service available to the end consumer for consumption or use. A Distribution channel can be direct, which means that the manufacturer sells directly to the customer, or it can contain intermediaries who may buy and resell the product, in the case of merchants, or represent the manufacturer without owning the product, in the case of Agents and brokers. Organizations have to take into account multiple factors when deciding between owning their channels, establishing partners to provide channels or employing an amalgam of both.

An organization which sells bulbs to lighthouses can have access to a multitude of channels such as a website where lighthouse attendants can view and purchase different kinds of bulbs, advertisements placed through Google Ads are also one of the channels. If the organization outsources after-sales services to another company, this company also represents another channel that links the company to the end-user.

A well-thought out Distribution strategy can become a source of competitive advantage for your organization, as is the case for giants such as Dell and Amazon. If your Distribution Channel is customer-centric as well, that is, it is tailored to convenience the end-user, it will be even more successful.

How to select a distribution channel

When selecting a distribution channel, five elements need to be taken into consideration to ensure a good match for your business;

1. The number of customer segments or the size of the market you are targeting.

2. Investment required by the distribution channel - these will include an analysis of the different associated costs such as absolute value cost, cost per customer, fixed and variable costs and the profitability each channel option brings to the table.

3. Whether the product is standard, in which case the same version will appeal across customer profiles and can be sold through an external channel or a non-standardized product which needs to be tailored to the customer needs and for which the company needs to have direct contact with the customer.

4. Amount of control required over the distribution channel - the distribution channel can be characterized by open communication and free-flow of information or, if there is a possibility of competition from the distributor, then a much more closed relationship.

5. It is also important to take into account how long a healthy relationship will take to be established with the distributor as well as the length of the relationship as well; factors which contribute to the flexibility of the channel.

Functions of channels

Listed below are some of the purposes of a typical channel;

1. A medium through which an organization can educate its chosen customer segments about the products and services it provides.

2. Providing customers with an opportunity to study and evaluate the organizations value proposition.

3. Providing customers with the facility to buy their chosen products or services.

4. Providing the customer with the Value Proposition.

5. Providing the customer with after sales services.

There are five phases through which a channel passes. A channel can be covering more than one of these phases at a time.

Phase 1: Awareness

How do we educate customers about the characteristics of the products and services we have? This is the marketing and advertising phase. It is how you let your customer know about your value proposition.

Phase 2: Evaluation

How can we aid customers in evaluating our Value Proposition? This is the promotion or 'Try me before you buy me' phase. The customer will evaluate, read about or use your product and form an opinion about it. A good company will educate customers with other competitors in the market and help them to evaluate their choices. In this way, you make your value proposition clearer to them and why you are a better option than your competitors.

Phase 3: Purchase

How can we help customers in buying their preferred product or service? This is the sales process and denoted the dollars exchanged for a particular goods and services.

Phase 4: Delivery

How do we deliver the promised value proposition to the customer? This is the fulfillment stage and defines how the product will reach the customer.

Phase 5: After Sales

How can we provide After Sales customer care and support? This phase creates Advocates for your products and services amongst your target segment. This stage provides a person for the customer to call when they have a problem or question about the product. The higher the value of the product, the more likely it is that he/ she will require After Sales support.

This is the bridge between the customer and the company. There are different channel types.

Own Channels

A direct channel will include your sales force that would go after your customer segment and bring them in. A website is another direct channel that can be under the company's control.

You may also have your store, however the customer must choose to go to the store and then you can sell to him/ her, but this will be indirect selling.

By employing your own channel, you will have a direct relationship with the customer, and you will have higher profit margins. However, you will require more investment to create the infrastructure to deliver your product to the market, and the production to market loop will be slower. Additionally partners leverage long established relationships with retailers that you will not have access to.

Partner Channels

This is an indirect channel. In this case, the company will not sell to the customer directly but through an intermediary.

The company can do this by placing their products or making their services available at the partner store.

Wholesalers are also partner channels. Wineries create partnerships with wholesalers in different countries to sell their wine to the end customer.

With a partner channel, there will be a lower margin on the product but it would get to the market quicker, and there will be lesser investment required in infrastructure.

Heineken delivers their beer to wholesalers, bars and shops, supermarkets as well as retail chains such as Gall and Gall, a retail chain of liquor with its distribution channels. Alternatively, Heineken also delivers to its network of bars to which it delivers directly. Hence, Heineken uses different Distribution channels to reach its customers.

Apple has its network of stores as well as premium resellers. They also sell their products through mobile networks, retail chains, and websites. Hence, there are different distribution channels in use at the same time with varying profitability. Their stores are extremely well-developed as well as experiential for any consumer that walks in. This may impact the profitability of the store, but it also allows Apple to communicate an entire experience to its consumer, and through this experience, establish a direct relationship with the customer.

Direct distribution

This can be done through personal selling, the internet, telephone or mail.

Personal Selling

In the case of personal selling, there is a lot of conveniences afforded to the customer including personal demonstration, home delivery, and satisfaction guarantees. The cost of a direct selling channel, especially if it is based on personal selling is low and can be easily afforded by an individual starting a business. Personal selling is a wonderful way to establish a strong relationship with the customer and gain insight into big customers' preferences. The Return on Investment in personal selling is also higher, and the company can exert control over the brand image and positioning of the company.

However, if the organization is bigger, personal selling costs can be prohibitive. This particular distribution channel is also limited in its reach and creates too much dependence on people who may leave the organization and take their clients with them.

The Internet

The internet, on the other hand, provides a low-cost channel to target a wide customer base. It also provides convenience to customers in the form of instant access, ease of use and personalization. It is also a wonderful source of information for the customers is available 24/7 and gives them the chance to establish two-way communication with the company by letting them provide feedback and share preferences.

Conversely, the internet is an impersonal tool that does not allow the customer and the company to establish human contact. There is also the possibility of annoying customers by sending them too much spam. It also limits how the customer can directly interact with the product and requires an infrastructural investment. There is also a lack of after-sales service opportunities.

Telephone

The telephone is an inexpensive ad efficient way to establish direct contact with the customer. It is also a good way to establish a relationship, create leads and reach customers in remote areas. On the other hand, the telephone, due to being outsourced to third world countries and used as a medium for marketing may seem intrusive and annoying to customers.

Mail / Email

Mail is another direct medium that is inexpensive and can reach a large audience. It is also easily customizable to different customer segments and allows for easy alteration. It is a wonderful way to create a brand image, communicate innovations or new products and foster good will. Again there are challenges with this medium such as the possibility that customers consider it junk mail or choose to never peruse its contents. This medium in general has low ROI.

Indirect Distribution

Indirect distribution can be carried out through retailers, agents/ brokers/ reps and distributors.

Retailers

Retailers come with many positives such as already established infrastructures of stores, webpages, and aggressive marketing strategies. Retailers have their established brands that can provide a bolster to the already existing brand. There is also personal service and after sales services provided by the retailer, as well as a being a source of market and consumer intelligence.

This channel, however, leads to lower margins and loss of control. There is a disconnect from the end customer, and the retailer may be stocking competing brands side by side. This is a complex channel that can be expensive for a new business.

Agents and Brokers

Agents, brokers or reps provide personal selling and have established relationships with customers. They have a broad network, lesser distribution costs and are a source of market intelligence. They also assume the role of promoting the product, as well as share the burden of overhead costs.

Conversely, this channel is more sensitive to pricing, difficult to control and train. They may represent competing brands and maintain loyalty to the highest selling brand. This channel also means the company has less control over its brand image and no opportunity to establish a direct relationship with the client.

Distributors

Finally, distributors have a focused customer base, assume inventory risk, have a wider reach and are technically trained. However, they carry competing brands, have a say in the final pricing of your product and your company does not have control over the final look of the product to the customer. They also have low customer intelligence and represent an additional investment.

Google is the largest technological company in the world. Its main product is its search engine that is the most used search engine in today's day and age.

Google employs two channels to deliver its value propositions to its customer segments. It has created Global Sales and Support teams as well as a Multi-product Sales force.

1. For its individual customers, Google has a DIY approach with a high level of automation to make the process convenient and to appeal to the average Googler.

2. Google's Global Sales and Support team consists of specialized teams across industries that establish relationships with advertisers and network members and aid them in gaining maximum value from their relationship with Google.

Google's sales force sells Search, Display and Mobile advertising and is focused on fostering relationships with major advertisers and premium internet companies.

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Selecting and Managing Channels in Business Model Canvas

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In this article, we will look at 1) an introduction to the Channels building block, 2) channel phases, 3) channel types, 4) advantages and disadvantages of alternative channels of distribution, and 5) a case study. This building block defines how an organization communicates with and provides value to its chosen customer segment.

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6 categorías para relacionarse con los clientes

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6 categorías para relacionarse con los clientes

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Las relaciones con los clientes se pueden dividir en seis categorías principales que pueden coincidir con diferentes segmentos de clientes.

Category 1: Personal assistance
This type of customer relationship is characterized by the human touch. Customers have the opportunity to interact with a sales representative while they are making their purchase decision or with a customer services representative for after sales services.

Category 2: Dedicated personal assistance

This type of relationship takes personal assistance to the next level by assigning dedicated customer care representatives to the customer. This kind of relationship takes some time and finesse to develop and is characterized by the representative knowing traits of the customer that he uses to customize the customer experience with the company. Banks will often assign a single point of contact to important customers with long-standing relationship with the bank and a high net worth.

Category 3: Self-service

The Do It Yourself model has been getting more and more popular as organizations seek cost cutting measures that will reflect in the prices given to customers. In this kind of relationship, the company provides all the tools a customer needs to service themselves.

Category 4: Automated services

Automated services are the next level of self-service by providing machinery and processes that increase the convenience for customers to perform services themselves. These kinds of services are usually much more customized and use a customer’s online and buying behavior to create a profile that is then used to provide suggestions to the customer to enhance his/ her shopping experience. Hence, automated services in many ways can be likened to personal assistance because of the customization that goes into the experience.

Category 5: Communities

In today’s social media driven environment, communities are a wonderful way for companies to understand their consumers, get insights into their habits, perspectives and create a platform in which customers can get together and share knowledge and experiences. In this way, not only does the company form a personal relationship with its customers, but these bonds are strengthened by the additional relationships customers form with one another. Glaxo SmithKline is an example of this kind of a relationship. When the company launched a new weight-loss drug, it gave customers a platform to form communities that helped it understand the problems that overweight people face as well as.

Category 6: Co-creation

Companies are increasingly changing the nature of the customer relationship by involving them in the design and even creation of the end product. This gives customers greater ownership over the product and service and often results in the creation of product or brand champions in the market. Amazon encourages customers to publish their book reviews on the web-site so readers can find people with similar tastes and evaluate what they thought of particular books before making purchase decisions. YouTube depends entirely on its customers to create the content that enables the website to boast being the largest video sharing website in the world.

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This post explains the Customer Relationships Building Block, that represents the fourth building block in the Business Model Canvas. The article starts with explaining the 1) customer relationship building block. We then look at 2) categories of customer relationships and a 3) case study.

This building block dictates the nature of the relationships that an organization will develop with its various customer segments. A company could choose to communicate with its customers through people or automated means. The customer relationships that an organization opts for are based on the company's business model and greatly impact the overall customer experience. The relationships are dependent on three main motivations that are explained below.

Customer acquisition

Customer acquisition is the process of persuading a customer to select your organization's product over choices available in the market. Businesses usually spend a lot of resources evaluating the tradeoff between the cost of acquiring a customer and the value the customer provides to the company.

A number of mediums and tactics are available to entrepreneurs today who are interested in acquiring customers for their business. These are elaborated on below.

1. Content Marketing: for entrepreneurs with limited resources Content Marketing is a very appealing and useful alternative. Though a lot of organizations may opt for this medium, it has been proved extremely effective for those who have employed it intelligently.

2. Search Engine Optimization: Content Marketing automatically means you have your name and information relevant to your brand and your company available online. The more people are exposed to it and share it, the higher your content will rank in search results, which is one of the most effective ways of getting your product noticed by your target customer.

3. Email Marketing: the resulting traffic directed at an organization from content marketing and search engine optimization can give entrepreneurs access to a rich resource of potential customers. When customers subscribe to receive information and news regarding your product, you have managed to acquire a customer without having to invest in an extensive sales force.

4. Copywriting: words have a powerful impact on the way your product will be positioned and perceived by the customer. Copywriters can play an instrumental role in ensuring the success of your brand positioning as well as attracting the right customers to your products.

5. Conversion Rate Optimization: the more your company starts attracting customers, the stronger your chances are of acquiring them by making minor tweaks to your content and outlook.

6. Social Media Marketing: despite the popularization of social media as a customer acquisition tool, it cannot be depended on exclusively to get word of your product out in the market. When used in collaboration with other tactics, however, social media can elevate your product significantly in your target customer segment's estimation.

7. Analytics: it is not just enough to mobilize word of your products through the media mentioned above. If companies do not use data gleaned from one or more of these resources and analyze it to better understand their customers, they are not taking full advantage of the investment they have made.

Customer Retention

Customer Retention refers to the long-term relationship a company establishes with its customers. The more repeat customers, a company has, the more it is assured of champions who will market its products and help it acquire additional customers.

Below are some strategies businesses can use to retain their customers and form long-term relationships with them.

1. Stand for Something: customers are more loyal to brands that they identify with or which they feel represent traits and characteristics that they would like to emulate. So it is imperative for a company to select what its brand stands for and communicate that to its customers.

2. Utilize positive social proof: websites that provide customers with facts that show how the use of their product will improve their social standing are more likely to help the company retain customers in the long term.

3. Invoke the inner ego: customers are automatically more inclined towards a product based on how much it reflects qualities that they feel exist in themselves. This is called implicit egotism and can be a very effective weapon. Companies only need to know their customers inside out, have complete understanding of the language they speak, their wants, needs and desires to be able connect with them and show them how the company and its products are an extension of themselves.

4. Use the words they love to hear: certain words have a deep impact on the buying behavior of customers, and if the product fulfills the promise of these words, customer retention becomes easier.

5. Reduce pain points and frictions: if you address a pain point for your customer or resolve a problem for him, you will be retaining him for much longer.

6. Realize that budget is negligible: most companies balk at giving back to customers without realizing that giving them a discount, even if it is a small one, will wow the customer and keep him coming back for more.

7. Utilize surprise reciprocity: surprising the customer by providing them with a boon like a discount or a free add-on, unexpectedly, will stay with the customer longer.

8. Make it personal: by providing a personal service to the customers, you increase your chances of creating a repeat customer.

9. Speed is secondary to the quality: often, companies make the mistake of picking speed of service over quality, thinking customers would appreciate the tradeoff. However, studies have shown that customers are more likely to come back if importance is given to quality.

10. Customers enjoy businesses who know them: the more time an employee spends with the customer, getting to know them and therefore providing a level of personalization, the more likely it is to reassure the customer that the company truly knows him and therefore keep pulling him back to the brand.

11. Choose the right platform: it is important to know what communication channel is preferred by customers and to utilize this channel to the fullest to keep their presence ensured in the customer's psyche.

12. Make it a communal effort: all elements of the organization must be fully engaged and kept in the loop when it comes to servicing a customer. The aggregated effect will greatly improve the overall experience.

13. Get people started: loyalty programs are more likely to be used if companies get past the customer's initial resistance and ensures that customers are automatically signed up for such schemes. Once the ball is rolling, customers are more likely to stay the course.

14. Get ideal customers to be VIP's: humans are competitive by nature and studies have backed this observation up by showing people appreciate being assigned to a particular customer class if there is a class below them in the program.

15. Label your customers: customers are more likely to keep coming back if associating with their brand puts a label on them.

Boosting sales (upselling)

Companies are forever focused on increasing their sales and often use a strategy called upselling which requires representatives to convince the customer to buy more of their company's products. By using a combination of linguistics, packaging products and lowering their overall price and selling dependent products, companies ensure that a customer buys as much of their products as possible.

In fact, companies often provide incentive programs that reward employees who manage to boost their sales through the technique of upselling and ask others to emulate the techniques and tactics these employees use. However, such incentive programs are kept strictly under wraps because if a customer gets to know about them, it may break the tenuous relationship of trust between the customer and the customer representative.

Typical Upsells that you may have experienced can be;

Asking a customer if he would like to add a drink or fries to his order at a Fast food restaurant.

Convincing a customer who is getting his laptop fixed that he should get more RAM, or a bigger hard drive installed.

Suggesting to a customer getting their phone fixed that they should upgrade to a newer version of the handset.

Typically there are two techniques that successful upsellers often utilize;

1. Successful upsellers are often researchers and observers who get to know the customer profile, particularly focusing on their economic, demographic, preferences and social aspirations. This helps the upseller to customize his pitch to the taste of the customer.

2. Another technique common among upsellers is the use of fear. By letting the customer know that the product may go out of stock due to demand or getting them to buy after sales services or warranties for expensive items by letting on that the product is sensitive and needs to be handled by expert hands.

Customer relationships can be divided into six main categories that may overlap for an organization relating to different customer segments.

Category 1: Personal assistance

This type of customer relationship is characterized by the human touch. Customers have the opportunity to interact with a sales representative while they are making their purchase decision or with a customer services representative for after sales services.

Category 2: Dedicated personal assistance

This type of relationship takes personal assistance to the next level by assigning dedicated customer care representatives to the customer. This kind of relationship takes some time and finesse to develop and is characterized by the representative knowing traits of the customer that he uses to customize the customer experience with the company. Banks will often assign a single point of contact to important customers with long-standing relationship with the bank and a high net worth.

Category 3: Self-service

The Do It Yourself model has been getting more and more popular as organizations seek cost cutting measures that will reflect in the prices given to customers. In this kind of relationship, the company provides all the tools a customer needs to service themselves.

Category 4: Automated services

Automated services are the next level of self-service by providing machinery and processes that increase the convenience for customers to perform services themselves. These kinds of services are usually much more customized and use a customer's online and buying behavior to create a profile that is then used to provide suggestions to the customer to enhance his/ her shopping experience. Hence, automated services in many ways can be likened to personal assistance because of the customization that goes into the experience.

Category 5: Communities

In today's social media driven environment, communities are a wonderful way for companies to understand their consumers, get insights into their habits, perspectives and create a platform in which customers can get together and share knowledge and experiences. In this way, not only does the company form a personal relationship with its customers, but these bonds are strengthened by the additional relationships customers form with one another. Glaxo SmithKline is an example of this kind of a relationship. When the company launched a new weight-loss drug, it gave customers a platform to form communities that helped it understand the problems that overweight people face as well as.

Category 6: Co-creation

Companies are increasingly changing the nature of the customer relationship by involving them in the design and even creation of the end product. This gives customers greater ownership over the product and service and often results in the creation of product or brand champions in the market. Amazon encourages customers to publish their book reviews on the web-site so readers can find people with similar tastes and evaluate what they thought of particular books before making purchase decisions. YouTube depends entirely on its customers to create the content that enables the website to boast being the largest video sharing website in the world.

Starbucks

Starbucks focuses on creating a long-term relationship with its customers and has largely been successful in this endeavor. By making itself so widely available to its consumers through its unique atmosphere that is uniform across outlets, it assures customers of the same wonderful experience regardless of where they are getting their coffee. Hence, customers have completely integrated Starbucks into their lives. In addition, Starbucks has also created mobile apps and loyalty apps that ensure that customers keep coming back more by providing them with surprise reciprocity and spending on them.

Google vs. Facebook in Customer Relationships

Google and Facebook have scores of customers across the globe and are therefore not dependent on any one segment to keep their business going. This means that both companies are completely free to set their prices, which customers have to go along with because both companies hold the power in their hands. Both companies engage in the Do it Yourself relationship by creating self-serve auction based Ad products, making the companies "Price Deciders" rather than the more typical "Price Accepters".

Google has had no one customer segment that has accounted for more than 10% of its revenue, making it completely independent. Facebook earned 12% of its revenue in 2011 through Zynga, a provider of social game services and the maker of popular online games like Farmville, Texas Holdem, Chefville, etc. However, despite these revenues instead of Facebook being dependent on Zynga, Zynga is more dependent on Facebook for its revenues.

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Customer Relationship block in Business Model Canvas

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This post explains the Customer Relationships Building Block, that represents the fourth building block in the Business Model Canvas. The article starts with explaining the 1) customer relationship building block. We then look at 2) categories of customer relationships and a 3) case study.

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1. Content Marketing: a type of marketing that involves the creation and sharing of online material (such as videos, blogs, and social media posts) that does not explicitly promote a brand but is intended to stimulate interest in its products or services.

2. Search Engine Optimization: means you have your name and information relevant to your brand and your company available online. The more people are exposed to it and share it, the higher your content will rank in search results, which is one of the most effective ways of getting your product noticed by your target customer.

3. Email Marketing: the resulting traffic directed at an organization from content marketing and search engine optimization can give entrepreneurs access to a rich resource of potential customers. When customers subscribe to receive information and news regarding your product, you have managed to acquire a customer without having to invest in an extensive sales force.

4. Copywriting: words have a powerful impact on the way your product will be positioned and perceived by the customer. Copywriters can play an instrumental role in ensuring the success of your brand positioning as well as attracting the right customers to your products.

5. Conversion Rate Optimization: the more your company starts attracting customers, the stronger your chances are of acquiring them by making minor tweaks to your content and outlook.

6. Social Media Marketing: despite the popularization of social media as a customer acquisition tool, it cannot be depended on exclusively to get word of your product out in the market. When used in collaboration with other tactics, however, social media can elevate your product significantly in your target customer segment’s estimation.

7. Analytics: it is not just enough to mobilize word of your products through the media mentioned above. If companies do not use data gleaned from one or more of these resources and analyze it to better understand their customers, they are not taking full advantage of the investment they have made.

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Cómo crear un business plan de 1 hoja usando Canva

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Cómo crear un business plan de 1 hoja usando Canva

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En prácticamente todos los escenarios para una stratup, la creación de un plan de negocios de 20 páginas es simplemente una enorme pérdida de tiempo y una forma segura de frustración.

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How to Create a 1 Page Business Plan - Canvanizer + Business Model Canvas Tutorial

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In practically every startup scenario, creating a 20 page business plan is simply an enormous waste of time and a surefire way to frustration. -- Entrepreneur essentials from must read books to the coolest tech: http://amzn.to/1RO7522 -- Find out why a 1 page plan is much more effective and practical in this video!

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Segmentos de mercado (para poder llenar esta parte del canvas con mucha claridad)

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Segmentos de mercado (para poder llenar esta parte del canvas con mucha claridad)

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1) ¿qué es un segmento de mercado?
2) tipos de segmento de mercado
3) ¿cómo crear un perfil de consumidor?

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It is important for an entrepreneur to recognize from the onset that your target customer is under no automatic obligation to buy your product or service. However, every business that wants to remain viable must appeal to its target customer segment or face a long and slow dissolution.

To ensure a business' appeal to its customer segment the business must work to understand who the customer is. These can be recognized by evaluating the customer's environment, experiences and general context. All these factors contribute to how the customer will respond to your product. So a customer's geographic, demographic and social context will define the customer's persona, creating a customer archetype for your products and services.

In this article, we will look at 1) what is a customer segment?, 2) types of customer segments, 3) creating a customer profile (customer jobs, customer gains and customer pains) and 4) a case study.

Customer segments are the community of customers or businesses that you are aiming to sell your product or services to. Customer segments is one of the most important building blocks in the business model canvas for your business, so getting this building block right is key to your success.

Customers can be segmented into distinct groups based on needs, behaviors and other traits that they share. A customer segment may also be defined through demographics such as age, ethnicity, profession, gender, etc or on their psychographic factors such as spending behavior, interests, and motivations. An organization can choose to target a single group or multiple groups through its products and services.

By matching your customer segment to your value proposition, you can achieve a more lucrative revenue stream. Hence, it is fundamental for an organization to understand the trade-off between different customer segments and carefully select which segment it wants to target. Then, the organization must create a value proposition and employ a business model best suited to servicing their chosen customer segment's needs.

An organization can categorize consumers into distinct groups if they have the following characteristics;

1. The customer groups have a particular need which justifies the creation of a product to match this need.

2. The group needs a separate Distribution Channel to be reached.

3. The groups require relationships of different kinds.

4. There is a very clear difference in the level of profitability each group represents for the organization.

5. Each consumer group feels strongly enough to pay for a different version of the product or service, tailored to their preferences.

Mass Market

Products and services which target the Mass Market segment are appealing or fulfill the needs of a wide cross section of the population and does not discriminate between different Customer segments. The value propositions, distribution channels and customer relationships are meant for the consumption to a big number of people who have a common problem or need that requires fulfillment. The manufacturer for a fridge will have a very broad target market because there is very little differentiation required by people from their fridge.

Niche Market

Niche market refers to a customer segment with extremely defined characteristics and very particular needs. This segment requires, or rather expects, a highly tailored product, custom made to suit their needs. Therefore the value propositions, distribution channels ad customer relationships are closely defined according to the preferences of this particular customer segment. These business models are common in supplier buyer relationships such as those between automobile parts manufacturers who are extremely dependent on automobile manufacturers for sale of their products.

Segmented

Some businesses choose to provide products and services to customer segments which may have very minute variations in their needs and requirements. The organization creates different value propositions, distribution channels and customer relationships according to these small differences in the customer segments.

In retail banking, a bank will create a distinction between consumers whose net worth is $100, 000 and those with a net worth of $500, 000. The differences between these two kinds of consumers are small but significant. Typically, a bank will find it more lucrative to invest in creating separate value propositions, distribution channels and customer relationships for both customer segments.

Diversified

An organization which opts to serve diversified customer segments is basically picking customer segments with very different needs and wants. The customer profiles have few overlaps but due to varying reasons, the organization sees value in investing in appealing to both these diverse segments. Amazon.com started by selling books online. As it's business grew, it's IT infrastructure became more and more sophisticated. Leveraging this value proposition, Amazon began offering its IT infrastructure through cloud services to business customers. Hence, Amazon now has individual customers and business customers as well.

Multi-Sided Platforms/ markets

When customer segments are related through dependency, it makes business sense to serve both ends of the equation. Hence, for a credit card company, it is not just imperative that customers opt to use their credit cards but equally important for stores to accept their credit card. If either segment fails, the other will automatically follow suit. Simply put, it's a chicken and egg problem. Today, one of the most successful online ventures is e-bay which operates with Multi-sided platform by requiring the presence of both buyers and sellers for it's continued success. If eBay doesn't have a sufficient customer base for its sellers, sellers will not be interested in advertising their wares on eBay. Conversely, if the buyers do not have a multitude of sellers to choose from, they may switch to other mediums to fulfill their needs.

The customer profile defines the customer segment more clearly for your organization by understanding the customer's jobs and evaluating the customer's pains and gains.

Before creating a customer profile, one must understand the various archetypes customers typically fall into. These archetypes are as follows:

1. A Curator is someone who sifts through a lot of information and options available and funnels the relevant options to his or her audience.

2. A Broadcaster shares information of value to a huge audience.

3. A Tastemaker is someone with very specific tastes and is followed by an audience who have similar tastes and look to him for cues on what products to try and what services to adopt.

4. A Celebrity is someone with a dedicated fan following in whose eyes he/she can do no wrong. This is usually someone famous whose every move is watched and whose purchase preferences are emulated by the audience.

Customer Jobs

Customer jobs describe what customers are trying to achieve in their personal and professional lives. It could refer to the work they are trying to get done, needs that they are trying to satisfy or challenges that they are trying to overcome. It is important in this section for the entrepreneur to think from the customer's perspective to better understand the customer.

Functional Jobs

These are specific tasks and results that the customer is trying to achieve and is working towards. They are simple and easily defined such as cook a meal, complete my Math homework, eat healthier as a consumer or meet my KPI's as an employee.

Social Jobs

These describe how a customer wants to project him or herself in a social setting. This includes wanting to fit in with a particular crowd socially, or wowing the boss with a presentation at work.

Personal/ Emotional Jobs

Customers also work towards feeling a particular way. Most people will aim for the rush of succeeding at a difficult task such as participating in a triathalon or having dinner with their family every night.

Supporting Jobs

Customers also consume or buy value, thereby performing a supporting job. The following three roles contribute to supporting jobs:

1. Buyer of value: this job includes any purchase of value and can cover the spectrum from evaluating available options and alternatives to signing for a delivery or paying for a product you have selected.

2. Co-creator of value: these are jobs in which you have a direct hand in the creation of the product with the organization. This can include brainstorming for ideas for the design of the product to testing the product yourself and providing reviews online.

3. Transferor of value: these jobs represent the close of the product use lifecycle and are characterized by the consumer disposing off the product or transferring tis ownership to someone else because they find no further value in it.

Jobs Context

While evaluating customer jobs, it is equally important to evaluate the context in which the job was performed because the context has the power to impact the job type itself. To elaborate, there is a marked difference between how a customer would approach going to watch a movie with their children and going to the movies with a significant other.

Job Importance

Different jobs will hold varying degrees of importance in the eyes of the customer depending on their impact and the customer's priorities. It is important for the entrepreneur to recognize which jobs are crucial to the customer and which one the customer can easily discard or substitute.

Customer Pains

These are conditions which either prevent the customer from getting a job done or elicit negative emotions before, during or after a job. The risks of doing a job or negative results arising from it also fall within the ambit of Customer Pains.

Undesired outcomes, problems and characteristics

Customer pains are of the following types: functional, social, emotional and ancillary. This also includes characteristics unappealing to the customer.

Obstacles

These are pains which either prevent a customer from starting a job or hamper the customer in completing an assigned task.

Risks

These are possibilities of something going wrong or negative consequences of an action.

Pain severity

Customer pain varies in its severity from extreme to moderate.

Tips for clarifying customer pains

It is important to delve into the depth of what causes a customer pain so we understand its urgency and importance for the customer. Hence, if a customer complains about being made to wait in line too long, an entrepreneur can understanding this pain better by inquiring how long after getting in line did the wait become an unbearable pain for the customer.

Customer Gains

Customer Gains are results or benefits that customers desire. Some gains will be taken for granted by the customer upon purchasing a product or service, but others might be a surprise for them resulting in customer delight. Gains are of the following types: functional utility, social gains, positive emotions and cost savings.

Required Gains

These are the most basic gains expected by the customer when purchasing a product. Hence a person purchasing a smartphone will have the minimum expectation that the new phone will let him make and receive phone calls.

Expected Gains

These are also basic gains but ones without which the product or service would still fulfill its basic purpose. Hence, even if a smartphone makes a call, we expect it to be sleek and visually appealing.

Desired Gains

These gains represent the customer's wishlist. These would be highly coveted and treasured gains by the customer and would lead to a lot satisfaction from the customers. One such desired gain is for smartphones to be easily synced with other devices.

Unexpected Gains

These are gains that haven't been expressed by the customer. They are ideas and innovations which have the power to revolutionize the customer's experience with a product but the customer isn't aware of them and their potential benefits until they are introduced. The Touch screen was an unexpected gain for customers of Apple.

Gain relevance

A successful entrepreneur needs to be able to evaluate how essential the gain is to the customer. Gains can vary from essential to nice to have.

Tips for clarifying customer gains

It is important to have clearly defined gains for the customer so the products and services can be tailored accordingly. If a customer gain is "need better performance' from a product, it is key to the product's success for the organization to know what level of performance will be viewed as a gain by the customer. The more information one has about customer gains, the better the value proposition will appeal to the customer segment.

Steps for using the FRAMEWORK

To summarize, outlined below are the steps to effectively employ this framework;

1. Pick a customer segment that you would like to analyse in detail.

2. Figure out what tasks your customers are trying to accomplish and mention each on a separate sticky note

3. Pinpoint the pains customers have including the challenges and risks they face

4. Pinpoint the gains the customers would have

5. Rank the jobs, pains and gains in order of relevance and severity for the customer.

Best practices & Common mistakes when using the FRAMEWORK

Best Practices:

1. If you are targeting more than one customer segment, have a separate value proposition for each segment. If your organization is targeting business customers, make sure to evaluate if you have more than one segment coexisting within the business

2. Jobs are chores that customers are trying to complete, issues they are trying to find solutions for or needs they are attempting to fulfill. Gains on the other hand are specific results that a customer wants to achieve or, in the case of pains, avoid.

3. Do not overlook the significance of social or emotional jobs. In many cases they are much more urgent to the customer than functional jobs.

4. While creating a customer profile, it is imperative not to begin with the end in mind i.e. do not take your own product or service into account while identifying their jobs, gains and pains. Instead, make sure that your create a holistic profile by covering all their jobs, gains and pains regardless of whether they are relevant to your product or not.

5. A good customer profile will be full of sticky notes because a typical segment will have many jobs, pains and gains.

6. When mentioning pains and gains, it is more effective to be as specific as possible. Ambiguous gains like salary increase or takes too long, in the case of pains will not give you much to work on as a business. Instead, specify how much salary increase the customer wants or what amount of time will be deemed too long by the customer.

Common Mistakes:

1. Creating a customer profile which covers more than one segment

2. Treating jobs and results as the same

3. Ignoring emotional and social jobs in favor of functional jobs

4. Mentioning only those jobs, pains and gains which are relevant to your product or service

5. Being satisfied with only having a few jobs, pains and gains on your customer profile

6. Failing to be descriptive while mentioning jobs, pains and gains

Tidepool is a digital health startup that provides an open data and software platform to its customers. It is serving a two-sided market, identified as Patients and Device Manufacturers.

Customer Jobs

Patients: Keep blood sugar within target range and make therapy adjustments when it doesn't record a range.

Device manufacturers: Design, build and sell devices.

Customer Pains

Patients: going through the pain of hypo and hyperglycemia everyday; fearing over losing their children to Diabetes everyday.

Device manufacturers: software must have value to providers so they can recommend it to patients; create data management software; FDA process.

Customer Gains

Patients: a bank of information at their fingertips which removes the need for guesswork.

Device manufacturers: innovative features which attract both the providers and the patients.

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Business model canvas: Customer Segments

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It is important for an entrepreneur to recognize from the onset that your target customer is under no automatic obligation to buy your product or service. However, every business that wants to remain viable must appeal to its target customer segment or face a long and slow dissolution.