"After" Interaction Narrative - Customer Enagement

GOAL:

To help a developer | Ux designer | solution manager validate existing investment opportunities and discover new areas of opportunity by guiding he(r) to discover insights and build deep trusted relationships.

CUSTOMER:

ChemiCorp is amongst the world’s largest fast moving consumer goods company, making soaps shampoos and toothpastes

LOCATION, DURATION :

Location : ChemiCorp Research Labs, Newark, Duration : 12 weeks consisting of 3 cycles of 4 weeks each.

PROTAGONIST:

Simone Schmitt is 24 years old. A year ago she joined the recipe management product team within Product Lifecycle Management.

She is curious and interested in learning about how people really work and use her product. This is her first customer visit

TRIGGER

To be added.

STRUCTURE, SYSTEM, INSIGHTS – Each phase is constructed of Before, During and After building blocks,

KEY PHASES:

SUMMARY:

viz. Study | Understand (Before), Inquire | Observe (During) and Reflect (After) building blocks.

It is triggered by a real-time interaction with the customer representative, at a suitable level and ends with a report back to the same customer representative, serving the purpose of a feedback loop, value-addition & trust-forming and trigger for the next phase.

To be added.

ACT 1 : STRUCTURE PHASE PATTERN: STUDY (BEFORE), INQUIRE (DURING), REFLECT (AFTER)

SEQUENCE [before]

Before: Initiate contact with customer - set agenda - Explore collectively - Meet Senior Exec for high level overview of company

Beat : Initiate contact

Solution manager - call customer contact to check temperature. Open to an exploration visit by SAP, for a particular sub-system with reporting of discoveries back , but no development commitment-

Beat: First| contact pitch

If agreed, send value proposition - systems view and exploration outcomes. Call back to ask for email introduction to suitable VP, forwarding value proposition.

If not, close and look for another customer

Beat : Second | VP pitch

On receiving email introduction, schedule 30 min introduction to value proposition with suitable VP. Explain value proposition using systems diagram – insights into sub-system and deep, trusted relationships between end users and SAP. Set expectations – no development.

If in, ask for trigger meeting - 60 min introduction to company

by VP – done via WebEx. Explain trust-building cycle – feedback loop with 5 things you didn’t know about your company.

Beat : [trigger]Schedule structure

Schedule 60 min meeting, send structure framework to VP : Who - history, value What - products, Where - geography How Much –people, input, output, performance, How – structure – people, process – with sub-system under study highlighted.

Choose richest interaction medium possible. In decreasing order of richness - video conference, sap connect, skype, webex with cam, or webex without cam

Beat : Collective exploration

Read public and SAP domain information and collect into online Company Card - this follows the Who, What, Where, How Much, How and Why framework. Collect all available info.

Meet [often | at least once] before the trigger meeting to share current understanding of company and initial systems understanding, if any of sub-system under study.

Beat :[Trigger] meeting – first 180 degree view

Attend meeting. Listen to details of framework building blocks.

Probe details of each block listening for gaps in VP’s knowledge – these are possible entries into to the report card.

Ask: What are the recent challenges of his work? What kind of knowledge would he consider valuable? How does he stay

ACT 2 : SYSTEMS PHASE PATTERN: STUDY (BEFORE), INQUIRE (DURING), REFLECT (AFTER)

SEQUENCE [before]

Before: Trigger meeting with Manager –process( systems) overview of company, with focus on sub-system under study.

Promise 5 things you didn’t know in 4 weeks – ask for intermittent contact at short notice for clarifications – and schedule feedback meeting

Beat – Trigger meeting with sub-system manager

Beat – explore – what do we know about this sub-system already ?

Explore other companies with similar sub-systems. Speak to solution managers and AE’s for companies. Create coarse interaction system.

Beat – Meet manager online

Refine understanding of interaction system - outputs, rates, inputs, processes, inventories.

Explore current constraints and hurdles – not software related.

SEQUENCE [during]

During : Inquire and dialogue within team to dig out relevant information for report card – with strong focus on sub-systems to be studied. Use systems approach – conduct brainstorm – refine systems approach – create conceptual system (whole) and interaction system (parts). Discover 5 new things.

Beat – dialogue - what are the goals of the interaction system ?

Where do we already support their goals ?

Refine interaction system

Beat – Extract insights

Five facts about company sub-system. Look for lateral information – comparisions. Downward information only if we’re really thorough.

Best – send report

SEQUENCE [after]

After: Condense information into process report card - 5 things