Illustrating Customer Segments & Value Propositions with Ridiculous Toys. Based on the Business Model Canvas and three years of experience teaching interactive workshops throughout Chile. Originally presented in Chile in 2011, this presentation has been incredibly popular here on SlideShare and I've just updated it with cleaner design and more details about how it can be used to run memorable and fun workshops. Enjoy!

1. Illustrating
Customer Segments
& Value Propositions
with RidiculousToys
an interactive workshop
based on the Business Model Canvas
Leslie Forman
@leslieforman — leslie@leslieforman.com
Updated August 2014

2. This presentation is based on the
book Business Model Generation,
by Alexander Osterwalder, Yves
Pigneur and hundreds of co-
authors from all over the world
AND
my experiences teaching these
topics to a wide variety of
audiences in Chile.

3. The core of Business Model
Generation is the Business
Model Canvas, a visual tool
with 9 blocks for the 9 most
important elements of any
business.

4. This is what it looks like:

6. Today we'll focus on these
two blocks:

8. Customer Segments
These are specific groups of people or
organizations that your enterprise aims to
reach and serve.
It may be tempting to say "everyone who
can afford it!" but you must decide
which people to focus on and which to
ignore.

9. You might focus on
demographic factors, such as::
age
ethnicity
gender
income
location
nationality
season of life
profession
etc.

10. Or psychographic factors
(related to how people see the
world) such as:
is she a risk-taker??
... early adopter??
... evangelist?
... investor?
... spontaneous buyer??
... traditionalist?
... trendsetter??

11. The best way I've found to
teach this concept is by
presenting each pair of
students with a photo of a
ridiculous toy...
... like these!

12. Barnoculars via FunSlurp.com

13. Handlebar Wine Opener
via Funslurp.com

14. Frozen Smiles Ice Mold
via FunSlurp.com

15. Activity One:
Each pair will answer these questions.
1. What are the demographics of the
segment that needs this product?
2. What are the psychographics?
3. How might you reach these people?

16. What is a Value
Proposition?
A Value Proposition is the specific way
that your product or service helps people
in your Customer Segment.

17. A Simple Example
The Value Proposition is the end result
when a Customer in a certain Segment uses
it.
If you have a cold…
Product: XYZ Remedy
Customer Segment: busy people aged 15-65
who wake up in the morning with a cold
but need to go to school/work
Value Proposition: feeling good enough to
go out and enjoy the day instead of having
to stay home feeling sick

18. Here are a few examples
of Value Propositions:

19. 1. Newness
New technology.
New invention.
New product category.

20. 2. Performance
Bigger.
Better.
Faster.
More effective.

21. 3. Customization
Product or service designed for
specific customer
Technology recommends products or
services for specific customer (like
how Amazon recommends books)

22. 4. “Getting the Job Done”
Enhances customer’s productivity
Gives customer time and space
to focus on other things

23. 5. Design
Style
Look
Feel
Color

24. 6. Price
Priced to sell to a new customer segment
Similar to existing products and
services at a lower price

25. 7. Risk Reduction
Makes people safer
Makes people feel safer
Guarantees to fix problems for a certain
amount of time

26. 8. Status
Makes customers look
powerful, important or cool

27. What other Value Propositions
can you think of?
1. Newness
2. Performance
3. Customization
4. “Getting the job done”
5. Design
6. Price
7. Risk Reduction
8. Status
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
……………………

28. Activity Two:
Describe the value proposition
for your pair's product in as
much detail as possible.
Get ready to share this with the
group.

29. I've led this workshop with many groups
of students, executives and entrepreneurs
in Chile, often extending the questions to
cover all 9 blocks of the Business Model
Canvas. It's memorable and fun!
If you'd like to do a similar activity
with your organization, I'd love to
hear about it. Write to me any time:
leslie@leslieforman.com :)

30. Thank you!!