THE CONNECTION COLLECTIVE CO.CO.
CONCEPT TESTING REPORT
CONCEPT TESTING REPORT
COVER LETTER [Our Name], [Our Company Name], 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10011 [Recipient Name], [Title], [Company Name], [Street Address], [City, State, ZIP Code] [Date]
Dear [Recipient Surname], We are a group of facilitators, our goal is to help organizations and teams who want to transform their work culture experience. We(name of our group) achieve this by opening a safe space for employees and providing assessments to organizations which can help them shape meaningful directions and goals for a better future of their organization or team. I am reaching out to you with a potential investment opportunity/Knowledge Partnership. We are currently developing our service; a platform designed to shape employee feedback towards a better work environment. Our facilitation group assess and help organizations reflect/understand the underlying issues in the work culture experience. Our group assess the feedback of employees using behavioral science, design thinking and mindfulness techniques. We aim to create safer space for employees to share their concerns and to have meaningful conversations with their peers. We help organizations solve these concerns through suggested partners who can help them transform the work culture. The system of collecting data is anonymous and is built on a model of trust. Our business model involves strategic partnership with knowledge partners, who can benefit and grow their business with our help. I would like to invite you to explore the potential opportunity of collaborating / creating an investment partnership with our facilitation group. We would appreciate to open a conversation. Attached find more information about our service. Looking forward to hear back from you. Sincerely, [NAME], [TITLE], [COMPANY NAME], [EMAIL] [MOBILE]
FLYER
Peer Review
CONCEPT TESTING REPORT COVER LETTER
INVESTMENT PARTNER WHAT WORKS: • Well-structured and clear points. WHAT CAN BE IMPROVED: 01. FORMAL + UNAPPROACHABLE • The tone is very formal; I would add some catchy phrases or something that shows more excitement. • The cover letter starts off too formal with the company name, recipient name etc. that you might be able to do away with to 1. Save you time and 2. Be in an email format that we normally recognize. I am assuming that this format is done keeping in mind that you will attach the cover letter but you could also consider opening with the cover letter in the email body itself. • “We would appreciate to open a conversation.” Change for a phrase that’s more catchy or approachable.
Peer Review 02 . 09 . 10
02. UNCLEAR + MISLEADING • “who want to transform their work culture experience.” I would be more specific on the challenge you’re trying to solve as work culture experience encloses much more aspects apart from feedback. • I understand that the first cover letter was geared towards an investment partner. However, I have a bit of mixed feelings how someone might react when reading “I’m reaching out to you with a potential investment opportunity/knowledge partnership”, especially since you aren’t really mentioning any numbers of the market size/investment scope. Perhaps if you said that you’re reaching out because “” • Cover letter looks good but I feel the ask is unclear as to what expertise in particular are you looking for from me as your potential partner. • The cover letter looks promising and short. The idea to bring up potential collaboration at the beginning and towards the end brings structure. To add to that, adding specific benefits gained from such a partnership could pull in responses from certain partners. • Referring to the team as a “group” sounds like school project: how about portraying the team as a “venture” for the namesake. The paragraph about data security is clearly addressed in the flyer and I wonder if it’s relevant enough to be added separately in the cover letter since the focus is culture transformation. A suggestion for that could be: “Our group assess the feedback of employees using behavioral science, design thinking and mindfulness techniques through conversational data points”. • “I would like to invite you to explore the potential opportunity of collaborating / creating an investment partnership with our facilitation group.” This phrase is repeating what is stated on why you are reaching out. I would just close the email saying you want a conversation with them. 03. FORMAL + UNAPPROACHABLE • The tone is very formal; I would add some catchy phrases or something that shows more excitement. • The cover letter starts off too formal with the company name, recipient name etc. that you might be able to do away with to 1. Save you time and 2. Be in an email format that we normally recognize. I am assuming that this format is done keeping in mind that you will attach the cover letter but you could also consider opening with the cover letter in the email body itself. • “We would appreciate to open a conversation.” Change for a phrase that’s more catchy or approachable.
KNOWLEDGE PARTNER WHAT CAN BE IMPROVED: • As you did in the cover letter for investment partners, before explaining the concept in detail (throughout three paragraphs), add a paragraph in between explaining why you are reaching out to them. In that way they can connect to what they are reading
CONCEPT TESTING REPORT COVER LETTER + FLYER
DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN COVER LETTER AND FLYER •
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Reading your cover letter definitely gave me more clarity into what exactly your organization does. From what I understand, the core part of what you do is developing a platform that collects employee feedback and then your team assess the feedback and aims to then work with the leadership of organizations to facilitate conversations and better address those concerns? If that’s the case, when I was looking at your flyer, I had a very different perception of what your organization does. In the flyer, with the exception of the ‘key features’, I don’t really see an explanation of the feedback platform. To me, it came across that you are a group of facilitators who work with organizations to better improve work culture, but I feel like the feedback platform is a key component that didn’t really come across. If that is accurate, I would love to know more about what that looks like. Perhaps things to think about are: what types of prompts are we giving employees? How can we gamify it? How can we give employees real time tips? Perhaps you could reword the section of “our facilitation group…..” to better clarify that point of what the organization does. In the cover letter, I was a bit thrown off when you mentioned that you help organizations solve these concerns by suggesting partners who can help them transform the work culture. From the flyer, I was under the impression that your team was involved in facilitating that change. I guess if I was an organization using your service, a question I would have is, if the output of my engagement with you is a report and suggested partnership that can help my work culture, how likely is it that will stimulate change in my organization? Suggestion could be to mention actionable strategies, playbook, or exercises that are facilitated with the team that would make me feel like there is a tangible end result. The cover letter is a great complement for the flyer, it has valuable information in the how and the value of the service. I recommend you to revise the structure of it because you are jumping from what you offer to what you want in multiple moments, like asking for investment and collaboration in paragraphs two and five. Also, I suggest you evaluate the term “meaningful” because it is abstract and open to interpretation, it would be powerful to explain what meaningful means in your service like improve communication, generate creative spaces or positive conflict among others.
Iteration
Iteration
CONCEPT TESTING REPORT
COVER LETTER
Dear [Recipient Surname], OR Hello <Recipient Firstname> <Fun Catchphrase> We are a team of facilitators excited to inform you about our new venture <venture name>. <Venture name> is a change management service for high growth organizations who want to transform their work culture experience by reducing employee disengagement and nurturing healthy work relationships. We are reaching out to you as we feel that your deep experience in adaptive leadership and cultural change practices will add immense value to our team. We are currently looking out for knowledge partners, investment partnerships, and other collaborators. Using mindfulness and behavioral science techniques, tools and practices ; <Venture name> helps organizations create create safe spaces for employees to share their concerns and to have meaningful conversations with their peers. We assess this valuable feedback and help organizations reflect/understand the underlying issues in the work culture experience in order to shape meaningful directions for a better future. Additionally, <Venture name> helps match partners who can help transform specific issues faced by the organization. The system of collecting data is anonymous and is built on a model of trust. Our business model involves strategic partnership with knowledge partners, who can benefit and grow their business with our help. I would like to invite you to explore the potential opportunity of collaborating with <Venture name>. We would love to have a conversation with you to discuss your thoughts.
Attached find more information about our service. Looking forward to hear back from you. Sincerely,
[NAME], [TITLE], [COMPANY NAME], [EMAIL] [MOBILE]
FLYER
Reach Out
CONCEPT TESTING REPORT
LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS REACH OUT
Reach Out
We began by reaching out to our network to better understand how companies within our landscape approached different processes within their industry. We began by explaining that we are students at Parsons working on our capstone project. We attached all relevant information and asked if we could speak to them in regard to better understanding practices that they use within their companies. We also sought out feedback on our flyer, and the project in general. We found that people were more receptive when we introduced ourselves as students looking for guidance. • • •
Reached out to contacts to better understand their companies We reached out as students developing this project in parsons Found that people were much more receptive
METHODS OF CONTACT • PHONE CALLS • Reached out to better understand company practices • LINKEDIN • EMAIL
CONTACT MATRIX REACH OUT In later steps, we began to reach out to potential investors/ partners by sending them the flyer and inviting them to collaborate. We reached out to individuals who were part of our competitors, as well in other industries, or individuals with specific expertise we felt would be beneficial to helping develop our concept. We reached out to 43 amount of people and 8 responded. We set up various options for contact, including zoom and phone calls. METHODS OF CONTACT • LINKEDIN • EMAIL • PHONE CALL • WEBSITE CONTACT FORM
01. Dear Meg, We are a team of facilitators excited to inform you about The Connection Collective. It is a change management service for high growth organizations who want to transform their work culture experience by reducing employee disengagement and nurturing healthy work relationships. We are reaching out to you as we feel that your deep experience in adaptive leadership and cultural change practices will add immense value to our team. We are currently looking out for knowledge partners, investment partnerships, and other collaborators.
Copy used for reachouts
Using mindfulness and behavioral science techniques, tools and practices; The Connection Collective helps organizations create create safe spaces for employees to share their concerns and to have meaningful conversations with their peers. We assess this valuable feedback and help organizations reflect/understand the underlying issues in the work culture experience in order to shape meaningful directions for a better future. Additionally, The Connection Collective helps match partners who can help transform specific issues faced by the organization. The system of collecting data is anonymous and is built on a model of trust. Our business model involves strategic partnership with knowledge partners, who can benefit and grow their business with our help. I would like to invite you to explore the potential opportunity of collaborating with The Connection Collective. We would love to have a conversation with you to discuss your thoughts. Attached find more information about our service.
02. Hello Janell, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m John Yohan John and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m part of a team of facilitators excited to inform you about our new venture; The Connection Collective ( a.k.a Co.Co ).
03. Hey Ali! I am a graduate student at Parsons, I am working on an organizational design project. I would love to connect and learn more, it will immensely help my capstone project. Your expertise in the field will guide me well, please let me know if we could connect and talk further.
Co.Co is a change management service for high growth organizations who want to transform their work culture experience by reducing employee disengagement Thank you and nurturing healthy work relationships. We are reaching out to you as we feel that your experience in applying design techniques with organizations to uncover valuable business models; will add immense value to our team. We are currently looking out for knowledge partners, investment partnerships, and other collaborators. Inspired by the techniques of design thinking and mindfulness practices ; Co.Co helps organizations create create safe spaces for employees to share their concerns and to have meaningful conversations with their peers. We assess this valuable feedback and help organizations reflect/understand the underlying issues in the work culture experience in order to shape meaningful directions for a better future. Additionally, Co.Co helps match partners who can help transform specific issues faced by the organization. The system of collecting data is anonymous and is built on a model of trust. Our business model involves strategic partnership with knowledge partners, who can benefit and grow their business with our help. I would like to invite you to explore the potential opportunity of collaborating with Co.Co. We would love to have a conversation with you to discuss your thoughts.
Looking forward to hear back from you. Looking forward to hear back from you.
35 NEGATIVES
43 PEOPLE
8 POSITIVE RESPONSES REACH OUT
NO. OF POSITIVE RESPONSES
SUCCESS RATE
PROFESSIONAL REACHOUT
22 EMAILS
1 / 22 EMAILS MESSAGES TURNED POSITIVE
4.54 %
STUDENT REACHOUTS
19 LINKEDIN MESSAGES
5 / 19 LINKEDIN MESSAGES TURNED POSITIVE
2 PHONE CALLS
2 / 2 PHONE CALLS TURNED POSITIVE
2 WEBSITE CONTACT FORMS
0 / 2 WEBSITE CONTACT FORMS TURNED POSITIVE
CHANNELS
PEER REACHOUTS
NO. OF POSITIVE RESPONSES
26.31 % 100 % 0%
14 THE CONNECTION COLLECTIVE
14 THE CONNECTION COLLECTIVE
19 STUDENT REACHING OUT FOR GUIDANCE
7 / 19 STUDENT REACHING OUT FOR GUIDANCE
2 REACHING OUT FOR POTENTIAL COLLABORATION
1 / 2 REACHING OUT FOR POTENTIAL COLLABORATION
SUBJECT LINE
NO. OF POSITIVE RESPONSES
1 - MID (5- 7 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE)
2 - EARLY (0 - 3 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE)
3 - SENIOR (20+YEARS OF EXPERIENCE)
2 MANAGEMENT CONSULTING
4 ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN
8 RESPONDANTS RESPONDANTS
1- MID (5- 7 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE)
1 - EARLY (0 - 3 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE)
1 DESIGN CONSULTING
1 FASHION
DEMOGRAPHICS OF RESPONDANTS
Average number of days for response
5 days 3 PHONE CALLS
1 COFFEE
2 LINKEDIN
1 WALK & TALK PREFERED MODE OF MEETING
2 ZOOM CALLS
Insights from conversations with experts
CONCEPT TESTING REPORT
Insights from conversations with experts Meg Luce & Yehudi Meshchaninov
YEHUDI MESHCHANINOV
More than a circular process this looks like a linear process.
Research more on liberating structures and tension cards.
The role should be more of a facilitator than trying to find solution for every aspect of the problem.
Try to understand expert mode, collaboration model, adaptive challenges and technical challenges. As this will help Co.Co. shape their competitive advantage.
It is better to make companies realize what they are doing wrong by involving them in the process to find the issue and figure out a solution.
General Insights MEG LUCE
WHAT WOULD BE AN INTERESTING CHALLENGE
Coming up with a business model that incentivizes third parties from joining our platform. She doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think the regular service fee model will work. She spoke of a referral system model. THERE IS OPPORTUNITY IN..
SHE CAN HELP WITH
This working for this Connecting us to a market of large clients number of boutique firms buying smaller innovative (third party clients). startups. Ideating and developing A number of boutique the feedback and firms like the one she assessment system. works for might see value in joining our platform. Ideating a business model.
General Insights
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CONCEPT TESTING REPORT
Personalized emails have a better chance of positive response than template ones.
We have very much to learn from frameworks and organizational design.
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One interested contact can lead to many other ones.
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MARCH 2019
CONCEPT TESTING REPORT