Module One Description
In this first Module of Business Impact Accelerator©, you and your team will assess, measure, and examine the impact currently generated by your business or social enterprise. By completing these assessments, you will start to identify ways to create more social and economic value for stakeholders. You and your team will complete four Activities …
- Measure Baseline Impact
- Check Customer Impact
- Examine Business Model
- Evaluate Customer Engagement
… and produce seven Deliverables:
- B Impact Assessment
- Impact Value Chain
- Customer Impact Interviews
- Business Model SWOT Diagram
- Business Model Environment Map
- Strategy Canvas
- Customer Engagement SWOT Diagram
These Deliverables will enable you and your team to build a sustainable, high-impact enterprise that differentiates you from competitors focused only on maximizing short-term profit.
For each of the Deliverables in Module One, we provide step-by-step instructions, coaching tips for completion, and a Quick Start Action Plan. We also feature a Certified B Corporation to benchmark and offer a list of resources to help you manage the transition of your enterprise from one stage of growth to another. If you have any questions, please contact us directly through this website.
Measure Baseline Impact
Activity Description
In this Activity, you and your team will measure the current social and environmental impact of your enterprise. You’ll do this by completing the B Impact Assessment and establishing a baseline score.
Measuring and quantifying your business impact is important because as you learned in Gender Wealth Strategy©, Positive Impact is rapidly becoming a key driver of competitive advantage.
As one of the leaders of an impact-driven enterprise, it is incumbent on you to “measure what matters” and develop a sustainable brand and business that differentiates you from competitors focused only on short-term profit.
The B Impact Assessment will help your enterprise establish an initial baseline of its social and environmental impact. This Deliverable will enable you and your team to begin improving impact, make progress toward B Corp Certification, and gain recognition as an enterprise using “business as a force for good.”
B Impact Assessment
Required Materials:
To complete the B Impact Assessment, you will need financial, operating, and organizational documents specific to your enterprise (these will become evident as you work through the B Impact Assessment).
To Do List:
There are four actions for you and your team to complete:
- Sign up for and complete the Business Impact Assessment and create a B Impact Assessment Report after completing as many questions as possible.
- Benchmark results, review assessment scores for each section, and discuss answers to questions most important to you.
- Identify the “vital few” areas where you’d like to improve assessment results in the next three months.
- Save a copy of this baseline report for use in the first Activity of Module 2 (Continuously Improve Impact).
Coaching Tips:
The B Impact Assessment measures the overall impact of a business or social enterprise on its stakeholders. The Assessment enables enterprises–regardless of industry, age or size–to describe in tangible terms the depth and breadth of impact they generate for their family of stakeholders.
Examine the B Impact Assessment site before starting the assessment. Be sure to read through the FAQ questions available in the About section and watch this introduction to the B Impact Assessment. Also, be sure to visit the B Lab’s website at the first opportunity. On the B Lab website, you’ll find the B-Corp Declaration of Interdependence as well as videos discussing how enterprises are “doing well by doing good.”
You may not be able to answer all of the questions of the B Impact Assessment the first time. But no worries. You’ll be revisiting this assessment in Module 2 and on a regular basis as you work toward B Corp Certification (more on this in Module 4). After you finish as many questions of the assessment as you can, generate a B Impact Assessment Report and prepare to share results with the entire team.
Take the Next Step
Note that your organization’s assessment results will be maintained in the platform hosted by B Lab.
Have someone in your organization (perhaps yourself) assume the role of “change facilitator” or “change coach” and moderate a review/discussion of assessment scores in a followup meeting. With your leadership, management, or project team, discuss answers to questions most important to you. Ask team members which “vital few” areas they think will improve assessment scores in the next three months. You’ll be using this information in Module 2 to develop a customized 90-day improvement plan.
To see the result for this Deliverable, click on the link for the Ben & Jerry’s B Impact Assessment Report (see Featured Certified B Corporation). This impact-driven business, a subsidiary of $60 billion Unilever, has been able to preserve its commitment to creating positive impact while generating competitive financial returns inside a publicly traded global corporation recognized as a leader in sustainable business. We think that’s pretty special given the short-term “profit first” mindset of Wall Street banks, investment funds, and investors.
Review Questions:
- What did we learn about our current level of social and environmental impact?
- How do we compare against comparable business or social enterprises?
- Did we identify “vital few” areas we think will improve our assessment results in the next 90 days?
Estimated Time:
It will take approximately 4–5 hours (over several sessions) to complete the B Impact Assessment, generate a baseline report, and review results with the entire team.
Featured Certified B Corporation:
Recommended Resources:
To learn more about sustainable business and social entrepreneurship, we recommend the following:
- The B Corp Handbook: How to Use Business as a Force for Good by Ryan Honeyman.
- Ice Cream Social: The Struggle for the Soul of Ben & Jerry’s by Brad Edmondson.
- Be the Change, (articles on the Medium platform; sign-up available on B Lab’s home page).
- “What is a Social Entrepreneur?”
- “Social Entrepreneurship – Start a Business, Save the World, Create Wealth and Sustainable Profits”
Next Step
Check Customer Impact
Check Customer Impact
Activity Description
In this Activity, you and your team will check the impact your business or social enterprise delivers for customers. You’ll do this by developing an Impact Value Chain and conducting Customer Impact Interviews.
Checking customer impact is important because as you learned in Gender Wealth Strategy©, many enterprises focus only on maximizing profit, not positive impact. As one of the leaders of an impact-driven business, it is incumbent on you to understand the depth and breadth of impact you have on customers as well as all stakeholders.
The Impact Value Chain will help you define and describe the key outcomes or results of your enterprise. Customer Impact Interviews will help you understand the impact you’re making in the lives of customers.
Together, these Deliverables will enable you and your team to identify opportunities for designing a more profitable, scalable, and impactful value proposition and business model.
Impact Value Chain
Required Materials:
To develop an Impact Value Chain, you will need to visit the website of The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. You will also need to download a template from the Business Impact Accelerator Library and visit the website of SlideModel.com.
To Do List:
There are four actions for you and your team to complete:
- Download and review the Double Bottom Line Project Report from The Fuqua School of Business website
- Ensure understanding of “output, outcome, and impact” on pages 6-7 of the Double Bottom Line Project Report.
- Create an Impact Value Chain for your business or social enterprise.
- Save a copy of this Impact Value Chain for use in Customer Impact Interviews and for the Sustainable 10X Impact Business Plan you’ll be developing in Module 3.
Coaching Tips:
The Impact Value Chain is a “design tool” used by enterprises to communicate key outcomes and results generated for stakeholders. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a well-crafted Impact Value Chain (also called a logic model or theory of change) meets this standard. With attention spans at an all-time low, there’s something to be said for a simple one-page diagram that communicates the “why” and “so what” of your business or social enterprise.
Another benefit of the Impact Value Chain is that it will enable you and your team to clarify “means” and “ends.” In profit-driven enterprises, the bottom-line is considered the primary outcome. However, in impact-driven businesses, profit is just one of the means to a bigger end (i.e., positive impact–the intentional creation of enduring social and economic value).
To get started, first download the Double Bottom Line Project Report from the Fuqua School of Business website at Duke University. Then, identify a small group of 2–3 team members to develop a draft Impact Value Chain. Be sure to review pages 6–7 of the Double Bottom Line Project Report and ensure understanding of the terms “output, outcome, and impact.”
What is an Impact Value Chain?
Next, download the Impact Value Chain template.
There are five sections of the template to complete:
- Key Resources: important assets required to make your business model work (you will revisit this section later in the Module).
- Key Activities: important activities enabling you to deliver value and generate impact (you will revisit this section later in the Module).
- Main Outputs: significant results generated by your enterprise (focus more on external results).
- Primary Outcomes: “meaningful changes” your business creates in the lives of customers (this section gets to the “so what” behind your purpose or mission and the problem you solve as an enterprise).
- Positive Impact: this is the “ultimate change” you aim to create in the world (note that you may not be able to attach a monetary value to this impact right now).
Feel free to customize the design of your Impact Value Chain. Do a quick Google search to see the variety of creative ways that business and social enterprises from around the world are communicating their primary outcomes with impact value chains, logic models, or theory of change diagrams.
To help you do this, visit the website of SlideModel.com to purchase an appropriate template for displaying your Impact Value Chain results. You’ll be visiting SlideModel.com many times during Business Impact Accelerator© to look for templates that will help you communicate the results of your business improvement and development work. SlideModel.com has over 12,000 templates and two affordable subscription plans ranging from $100–$200 per year.
After the small group has developed a draft Impact Value Chain, ask them to schedule a review meeting with the entire team and moderate the discussion. Make any improvements as necessary to the Impact Value Chain.
You’ll be reviewing the outcomes of your Impact Value Chain in Module 2 as you create a ten-year Vision Story of Sustainable 10X Impact and design a Sustainable 10X Impact Business Model. Also, you will need this Impact Value Chain for the Sustainable 10X Impact Business Plan you and your team will be developing in Module 3.
Review Questions:
Before moving to the Next Step, ask these questions:
- Did we address all five sections of the Impact Value Chain?
- Did we distinguish outputs from the outcomes and impact we create?
- Are there any assumptions we need to confirm or validate with customers?
Estimated Time:
It will take approximately 3–4 hours to draft and review an Impact Value Chain. If your enterprise already has a logic model or theory of change diagram, then use this Activity to review and improve the work previously completed.
Featured Certified B Corporation:
Recommended Resources:
To learn more about measuring impact and developing impact value chains, logic models, or theory of change diagrams, we recommend the following:
- “Measuring Your Social Impact: Theory of Change”.
- IRIS (or Impact Reporting and Investment Standards; provides a database of metrics used by the B Impact Assessment and impact investors).
- Stakeholder Map by the design team at WRKSHP.
- Logic Model Development Guide.
- Social Impact Analysis and Introduction to Human-Centered Design (two free online courses from +Acumen on the NovoEd learning platform).
Next Step
Customer Impact Interviews
Customer Impact Interviews
Required Materials:
To conduct Customer Impact Interviews, you will need the Design a Better Business and Value Proposition Design books. You will also need the Impact Value Chain developed in the first part of this Activity.
To Do List:
There are five actions for you and your team to complete:
- Review pages 106–119 in Value Proposition Design (Understanding Customers) and pages 88–89 in Design a Better Business (Master Questioning).
- Download and review The Lean Data Field Guide: Tips for Collecting Data to Build More Impactful Businesses from the Acumen website.
- Develop a set of 5–10 questions to assess the depth and breadth of impact your enterprise is currently delivering to customers.
- Identify 2–3 customers for each team member to interview in the next two weeks (in-person or by phone).
- Conduct the interviews and summarize key findings for use in Module 2 of Business Impact Accelerator.
Coaching Tips:
In his four-phase customer development process, Steve Blank reminds us to “get out of the building” and go talk to customers to learn, measure, and build solutions that exceed their expectations. In this Activity, you will use the same idea to have a conversation with your customers and learn about the impact your enterprise is creating in their lives.
To prepare for this discussion, start with a review of pages 106–119 in Value Proposition Design and pages 88–89 in Design a Better Business (these are two of the five books you’ll need to purchase for every member of your team participating in Business Impact Accelerator©). These pages will provide you with clear guidelines for interviewing customers and asking the right questions.
Next, download The Lean Data Field Guide from the Acumen website and focus on pages 9 and 11. You’ll find six question sets to customize. You’ll also see six desired actions you can take as a result of your customer impact interviews. Note this comment from the Guide: “The question sets in the guide are linked to the desired action and enable companies to make better, informed decisions. This ultimately drives higher sales and more impactful businesses.”
Use the Acumen Guide to identify 5–10 questions for your customer impact interviews. Then, select 2–3 customers for each team member to interview in the next two weeks by phone or in-person (if possible). Explain to these customers that you are seeking their feedback to improve the impact of your enterprise. Listen carefully to their comments and be sure to follow-up on any issues raised during the interview.
Close the Loop
This simple act of following-up is called “closed-loop feedback” (it’s one of the key topics in Module 4 of Business Impact Accelerator). You might be surprised at the number of enterprises that ask customers (or employees) for feedback and then fail to do anything about the information they receive. Ask your key customer contacts if they would be willing to keep the conversation going in the next few months. By doing this, you’ll identify potential “earlyevangelists” or “early adopters” to test and validate the Sustainable 10X Impact Business Model you and your team will be designing in Module 2 of Business Impact Accelerator.
After completing your customer impact interviews, compile and summarize key findings for review by the entire team. Be sure to save this information for use in Module 2. In this Module, you will be asked to create a vision, value proposition, and business model that sustainably grows and scales the breadth and depth of your impact over the next ten years.
Review Questions:
Before moving to the Next Step, ask these questions:
- Did we leave our customers with a positive impression?
- Did we identify “earlyevangelists” or “early adopters” willing to continue the conversation?
- What were the key findings from our customer impact interviews?
Estimated Time:
It will take approximately two weeks to schedule and conduct customer interviews as well as compile, summarize, and review key findings.
Featured Certified B Corporation:
Next Step
Examine Business Model
Examine Business Model
Activity Description
In this Activity, you and your team will examine the current business model of your enterprise. You’ll do this by creating a Business Model SWOT Diagram and Business Model Environment Map.
Examining your business model is important because as you learned in Gender Wealth Strategy©, conventional finance and investment models prioritize profit over impact. As one of the leaders of an impact-driven enterprise, it is incumbent on you to explain the rationale for how your organization creates enduring social and economic value.
The Business Model SWOT Diagram will help you identify the priority strengths and weaknesses of your model as well as assess potential threats and improvement opportunities. The Business Model Environment Map will help you describe the macro environment in which your business model operates and identify key forces shaping your future.
Together, these Deliverables will enable you and your team to identify opportunities for designing a more profitable, scalable, and impactful business model.
Business Model SWOT Diagram
Required Materials:
To create a Business Model SWOT Diagram, you will need the Business Model Generation book. You will also need to access free resources from the Strategyzer website.
To Do List:
There are six actions for you and your team to complete:
- Review the nine building blocks of the Business Model Canvas on pages 14–51 of Business Model Generation.
- Download and examine the Business Model Canvas Instruction Manual from the Resources section of the Strategyzer website.
- Use the Manual to sketch the current business model of your enterprise (if you do not currently have one).
- Review the SWOT process and assessment questions on pages 212–225 of Business Model Generation (note the preview copy from the Strategyzer website does not contain this section).
- Develop a Business Model SWOT Diagram using a template purchased from the SlideModel.com website.
- Save a copy of your SWOT Diagram for use in Modules 2 and 3 of Business Impact Accelerator.
Coaching Tips:
The Business Model Canvas is rapidly becoming the “gold standard” for describing how business and social enterprises create, deliver, and capture value. The canvas was created by Alex Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur and introduced in 2010. Osterwalder leads the consulting firm Strategyzer, which counts many of the world’s biggest corporations as clients.
If your enterprise has previously developed a Business Model Canvas, then use this activity to strengthen the model as well as involve all team members in the SWOT assessment process. Remember the Principle of Involvement from Gender Wealth Strategy©? This activity will develop the capability of your team to improve and transform the business model into one capable of generating higher impact and delivering greater economic value.
If you do not have a Business Model Canvas, then download The Business Model Canvas Instruction Manual from the Strategyzer website (after creating a free account) and sketch a canvas before reviewing the questions on pages 217–223 of Business Model Generation. Note that you have already started this process by completing the first two columns of the Impact Value Chain in the previous Activity (i.e., the Key Resources and Activities sections).
Strengthen Your Business Model
Be sure to discuss these seven areas with your team as you go into the assessment. Each of the areas offer valuable clues for designing a more sustainable, scalable, profitable, and impactful business model:
- Switching Costs
- Recurring Revenues
- Earning vs. Spending
- Game-Changing Cost Structure
- Others Who Do the Work
- Scalability
- Protection from Competition
As you review assessment questions, record scores and take notes of the discussion. After completing the evaluation, summarize results and with 1–2 other team members, prioritize the top 5–6 Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
You can capture this information in a Business Model SWOT Diagram by purchasing a template from SlideModel.com (e.g, Flat SWOT Analysis Design for PowerPoint). SlideModel.com offers two levels of affordable subscriptions ranging in price from $100–$200 per year. You’ll be using this service throughout the Business Impact Accelerator© program and on an ongoing basis.
After compiling assessment results and creating a Business Model SWOT Diagram specific to your business or social enterprise, review this draft with the entire team and make any adjustments as necessary. Be sure each item on the SWOT Diagram is understandable and clearly stated.
Review Questions:
Before moving to the Next Step, ask these questions:
- Did we adequately describe all nine building blocks of our business model?
- What did we learn about our current business model?
- Are the SWOT Diagram statements stated clearly?
Estimated Time:
It will take approximately 3–4 hours for the entire team to complete the Business Model SWOT Assessment process and another 1–2 hours to document and summarize results.
Featured Certified B Corporation:
Recommended Resources:
To learn more about the Business Model Canvas, we recommend reviewing the Resources section of the Strategyzer website. This consulting and training firm offers a number of free videos and webinars in addition to several high-quality and affordable online learning programs. We also suggest subscribing to the free Strategyzer Channel on YouTube and signing up for the Strategy Blog on their homepage.
We also recommend taking Business Models for Social Enterprise, a free course from +Acumen on the NovoEd online learning platform that discusses the integration of your impact model (Impact Value Chain) with the Business Model Canvas.
And, we advise taking How to Build a Startup (a free course by Steve Blank on Udacity).
Next Step
Business Model Environment Map
Business Model Environment Map
Required Materials:
To create a Business Model Environment Map, you will need the Business Model Generation book. You will also need to visit the Strategyzer website.
To Do List:
There are five actions for you and your team to complete:
- Review pages 200–211 of Business Model Generation on mapping your business model environment.
- Download The Business Model Design Space Card Deck from the Resources section of the Strategyzer website.
- Conduct a four-hour business model mapping workshop based on the Card Deck.
- Identify and record the top 6–8 forces appropriate for each of the four areas identified on the Business Model Environment Map.
- Save a copy of the Map for use in Modules 2 and 3 of Business Impact Accelerator.
Coaching Tips:
One of the mantras frequently shared by Alex Osterwalder of Strategyzer (and co-author of Business Model Generation, Value Proposition Design, Testing Business Ideas, and The Invincible Company) is: “Every enterprise has a business model … and every business model has an expiration date.” The real question behind this question is: “Do you know the expiration date of your business model?” Osterwalder’s mantra is a reminder for every business or social enterprise to get on with the work of innovating their business model before competition and external forces in the environment render it obsolete.
So, what forces will shape and influence the strategic direction of your business or social enterprise during its ten-year journey of growth, change, and transformation?
To answer this question, download The Business Model Design Space Card Deck from the Strategyzer website and identify the top 6–8 “forces” in each of the four quadrants of the Environment Map. These quadrants correspond to the four areas identified in Business Model Generation on page 201: Key Trends, Market Forces, Industry Forces, and Macro-Economic Forces.
Then, organize and facilitate a four-hour workshop using the agenda presented in the Card Deck. Have everyone review over the factors and questions highlighted on pages 202, 204, 206, and 208 of Business Model Generation before the workshop. Consider what forces and trends will shape and influence the direction of your business or social enterprise in the next ten years.
Be sure to take 30 minutes at the end of the workshop to prioritize and rank order the top 6–8 issues, factors, or trends in each of the four areas. These are the issues you and your team will need to consider as you design your Sustainable 10X Impact Business Model in Module 2 of Business Impact Accelerator. Use a 3-point scale for determining the importance of these issues, trends or factors (e.g., 3=super critical/address, 2=important/study and 1=relevant/monitor).
Then, display your results using one of the SWOT Diagram templates available from SlideModel.com.
Review Questions:
Before moving to the Next Step, ask these questions:
- Did we address all issues in the business model assessment process?
- What did we learn about the external environment that could potentially impact our enterprise?
- What other information do we need to confirm our assumptions and hypotheses?
Estimated Time:
It will take approximately four hours to complete the workshop and another 1–2 hours for the change coaches to tabulate and summarize results for the entire team.
Featured Certified B Corporation:
Recommended Resources:
To learn more about analyzing forces and trends, we recommend the following:
- Force Field Analysis and Threat-Opportunity Matrix tools from the Change Accelerator© Toolkit.
- Visual Capitalist (daily infographic on future trends in business and investment).
- “Lewin’s Force Field Analysis Model” (the Force Field Analysis tool introduced at the end of the New Paradigms section in Gender Wealth Strategy).
- “Episode 156: Lewin’s Force Field Analysis” (be sure to check out the Alanis Business Academy YouTube Channel).
Next Step
Evaluate Customer Engagement
Evaluate Customer Engagement
Activity Description
In this Activity, you and your team will evaluate the effectiveness of your enterprise in engaging customers. You’ll do this by creating a Strategy Canvas and Customer Engagement SWOT Diagram.
Assessing your capability to transform customers into trusted partners is important because as you learned in Gender Wealth Strategy, less than 10% of enterprises achieve sustained organic growth over a ten-year period. As one of the leaders of an impact-driven business, it is incumbent on you to build mutually beneficial, profitable, and enduring relationships with your most loyal promoters and customer advocates.
Strategy Canvas will help you compare your value proposition to those of your competitors. Customer Engagement SWOT Diagram will contribute to strengthening the engagement level of customers.
Together, these Deliverables will enable you and your team to build a robust and loyal customer base, more predictable revenue stream, and attract women and HeForShe investors.
Strategy Canvas
Required Materials:
To create a Strategy Canvas, you will need the Value Proposition Design book. You will also need to visit the Strategyzer website.
To Do List:
There are five actions for you and your team to complete:
- Review the six building blocks of the Value Proposition Canvas on pages 3–61 of Value Proposition Design.
- Download and review The Value Proposition Canvas Instruction Manual from the Resources section of the Strategyzer website.
- Use this Manual to sketch the current value proposition of your enterprise (if you do not currently have one).
- Review the process for creating a Strategy Canvas on pages 128–131 of Value Proposition Design and create a Strategy Canvas for one or more customer segments served by your enterprise.
- Save a copy of your Strategy Canvas(es) for use in Modules 2 and 3 of Business Impact Accelerator.
Coaching Tips:
The Value Proposition Canvas is rapidly becoming the “gold standard” for describing how enterprises create value for customers. The canvas is a critical part of the Business Model Canvas you and your team examined in the previous Activity of Module 1.
If you have a Value Proposition Canvas for your business or social enterprise, then use this Activity to sharpen your focus on the “benefits package” offered to customers.
If you don’t have a Value Proposition Canvas, take the opportunity now to sketch one before creating a Strategy Canvas. To do this, you’ll need to download the Value Proposition Canvas Instruction Manual from the Strategyzer website.
Then, organize and facilitate a workshop with the entire team. The manual from Strategyzer will guide you through the process step-by-step. Don’t worry if this Value Proposition Canvas isn’t perfect or appears “too general.” This is common during the initial stages of defining, designing, and prototyping value propositions and business models. Be comfortable with the ambiguity and know there will be many iterations ahead as you put your “value map” under the microscope and improve the fit/alignment between what you offer customers and what these customers are really expecting.
Focus on the Vital Few
The Strategy Canvas is a tool from the book, Blue Ocean Strategy. On pages 128–131 of Value Proposition Design, the Strategyzer team has laid out an excellent example of how to use this tool. Notice in the book, the Strategyzer team has focused on three pain relievers and three gain creators from their value map to compare against two major competitors. Use the “less is more” principle here. Focus on the “vital few” pain relievers or gain creators with the most impact on the lives of your customers. Your customer impact interview notes will offer guidance.
Be sure to assess the performance of your benefits honestly. Chances are good your main competitors just completed their Strategy Canvas using your enterprise as one of their benchmarks!
You will need this information for Module 3 of Business Impact Accelerator and the Sustainable 10X Impact Business Plan that is needed to prepare and launch a winning 3X-in-10™ Growth Capital Campaign as well as advertise your 3X-in-10™ Revenue Sharing Offer to women and HeForShe investors. There are two sections of this impact-driven business plan outline which focus on “customer and business model development” and “competitive differentiation and advantage.”
Review Questions:
Before moving to the Next Step, ask these questions:
- Did we describe all six building blocks in our Value Proposition Canvas?
- What did we learn about our current value proposition?
- Is it clear how we differentiate our enterprise from competitors (or competitive offerings)?
Estimated Time:
It will take approximately 2–3 hours to develop a Value Proposition Canvas (if you’re starting from scratch) and 2–3 hours to conduct the Strategy Canvas exercise.
Featured Certified B Corporation:
Recommended Resources:
To learn more about the Value Proposition Canvas, we recommend the free resources available on the Strategyzer website. They offer a number of free videos and webinars in addition to several high-quality and affordable training programs. We also suggest subscribing to the free Strategyzer Channel on YouTube and the Strategyzer Blog (sign-up is available on the Homepage).
We also advise two free courses from +Acumen to learn more about developing high-impact value propositions:
- Business Models for Social Enterprise
- Human-Centered Design
Next Step
Customer Engagement SWOT Diagram
Customer Engagement SWOT Diagram
Required Materials:
To create a Customer Engagement SWOT Diagram, you will need The Hidden Wealth of Customers book. You will also need to visit the Center for Customer Engagement’s website.
To Do List:
There are five actions for you and your team to complete:
- Ensure everyone has a copy of The Hidden Wealth of Customers (you’ll also need this book for Modules 4 and 5 of Business Impact Accelerator).
- Download and read two free reports from the Center for Customer Engagement website (Find Your Rock Star Customers and The Level 4 Customer Value Proposition) as well as watch “The Hidden Wealth of Customers”.
- Review and answer the 40-item Customer Engagement Questionnaire found in the appendix of The Hidden Wealth of Customers.
- Identify priority areas for improving and strengthening customer engagement and create a Customer Engagement SWOT Diagram using the SWOT Diagram template you purchased previously from SlideModel.com.
- Save a copy of your Customer Engagement SWOT Diagram for ongoing use with Business Impact Accelerator©.
Coaching Tips:
According to Bill Lee, author of The Hidden Wealth of Customers, “The best person to find your next customer is a current customer.” Lee writes: “The time has come to move beyond delighting customers or measuring their loyalty. Typical customer engagement initiatives do nothing to expand the notion of value a company can provide its customers.”
How about your business or social enterprise? Has it identified and engaged its most valuable customers and transformed them into loyal promoters to assist you in scaling the positive impact of your enterprise?
In this Activity, you will assess how effective your organization has been in engaging and building loyal promoters and customer advocates. First, however, you will need to learn more about Bill Lee’s work in helping companies stimulate organic growth through mutually beneficial relationships with “rock star customers.”
Visit Mr. Lee’s website, and download two free reports titled Find Your Rock Star Customers and The Level 4 Customer Value Proposition. You’ll find these short reports in Free Stuff/Reports. Be sure to click on Book and then Skip to Video Links to watch “The Hidden Wealth of Customers.” Also, you’ll need to access The Hidden Wealth of Customers book to review and complete the Customer Engagement Questionnaire found in the appendix.
Diagnosis Before Prescription
Team members can individually view the video and review the reports, but you’ll need to meet as a team to complete the questionnaire. Read through the questions, record scores, and capture critical notes from the team’s discussion.
Keep the conversation focused and offer concrete examples and details. In particular, note questions in the Customer Retention and Creating a Better Value Proposition sections.
Using results from the Customer Engagement Questionnaire, identify and prioritize 5–6 items in each of the four quadrants (look for items that score 6 or below). These priorities will help you in Module 2 to design a more impactful value proposition, as well as improve the repeatability and scalability of your lead generation, lead conversion, and customer retention strategies.
Capture your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats in a SWOT Diagram. Use the template you purchased previously from SlideModel.com (Flat SWOT Analysis Design for PowerPoint). And, be sure to factor these priorities into your Sustainable 10X Impact Business Model and Business Plan (to be designed and developed in Modules 2 and 3 of Business Impact Accelerator).
Review Questions:
Before moving to the Next Step, ask these questions:
- Did we review and score all of the items on the Customer Engagement Questionnaire?
- What did we learn about our customer engagement capabilities?
- Is there any “low-hanging fruit” we can address immediately?
Estimated Time:
It will take approximately 3–4 hours to watch the video, read both articles, and create a Customer Engagement SWOT Diagram specific to your business or social enterprise.
Featured Certified B Corporation:
Recommended Resources:
To learn more about customer growth, strategy, and engagement, we recommend the following:
- “How to Grow Your Business and Sales Faster” (YouTube video about four revenue growth strategies and the power of 80-20).
- The 80-20 Principle: The Secret to Achieving More with Less by Richard Koch.
- 80-20 Sales and Marketing: The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More by Perry Marshall.
- Strategy from the Outside-In: Profiting from Customer Value by George Day and Christine Moorman.
- The Customer-Funded Business: Start, Finance, or Grow Your Company with Your Customer’s Cash by John Mullins.
- Outside-In: The Power of Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business by Harley Manning and Kerry Bodine.
We also suggest three free courses from +Acumen to learn more about customer discovery:
- Introduction to Human-Centered Design
- Social Impact Analysis
- Lean Startup Principles for the Social Sector
Next Step
Module One Review
Module One Review
Module One Review
Module One of Business Impact Accelerator© focused on these Deliverables and Outcomes:
- B Impact Assessment (establish an initial baseline of your enterprises’ social and environmental impact)
- Impact Value Chain (define and describe the key outcomes of your enterprise)
- Customer Impact Interviews (understand the specific impact you’re making in the lives of customers)
- Business Model SWOT Diagram (identify the priority strengths and weakness of your business model as well as assess potential threats and improvement opportunities)
- Business Model Environment Map (describe the macro environment in which your business model operates and identify key forces shaping your future)
- Strategy Canvas (compare your value proposition to those of your competitors)
- Stakeholder Engagement SWOT Diagram (strengthen the engagement level of your customers)
So, how did you and your team do? Were you able to complete all of these deliverables and generate the intended outcomes?
Now, on to Module 2 and Transform Business Impact!