20A growing your social capital

Domain expert

I spoke with my sisters friend's dad, David, who owns his own independent phone repair shop in our hometown. He has been running his business for the last 5 years. He has seen many phone repairs, especially in the college aged demographic. He just reassured my research on the demographic for this venture. He also gave some insight on the day to day tasks of running a business like this. Having David as a resource will be a great benefit. We are now able to work together in this business. It is also beneficial that we are not after the same market, as his market is in Delray, and mine is in Gainesville. 

Expert on market 

I went and spoke with Rick who works for Gatortech in Gainesville. He is an expert in this market since he primarily deals with UF students. I went into the Gatortech store on Archer, and asked if I could speak with someone. He gave me advice on how to market and advertise to college aged students. Hearing his input is valuable information. 

Supplier to industry 

I went into the Reitz Union tech center (for computers) and spoke to Christina. Again, I was able to walk in and talk with her. She is a supplier in the industry. She gave e advice on the amount of products they receive every day. She gave me insight on the companies that they typically order from. Her information was very valuable. 

Finally: Reflect.

It has shown me the importance of wanting to learn more. Going into all of these networking opportunities, I had an open mind. I took notes at them all. It was also important to understand the value of another person's time. 

19A- Idea napkin #2

1) You. 

We are the solution to one problem that many students face. 

We are fast, convenient and reliable.

2) What are you offering to customers? 

We are providing low cost, on-campus, and convenient phone screen repairs to the UF community. We are the answer to the hassle students and faculty face when they shatter their phone screen.

3) Who are you offering it to? 

We are targeting college students who are price conscious and who have a higher disposable income. We realize that college students in general do not have a lot of money, and we also have realized that quality is something they value. Our typical consumer is probably heavily involved on campus and lives an active and healthy lifestyle. Our consumers all have the same issue: a broken phone screen. 

4) Why do they care? 

We are reliable, fast, efficient, and reasonably priced. Students should trust us to take care of their phones and give them the best price. 

5) What are your core competencies? 

We are on campus in the Reitz union. UF currently does not have a phone repair service on campus. We are founded on UF students, and it is our goal to properly serve them. 

feedback memo
The feedback that I received was positive overall. One peer revealed something that I did not think of before, he said that this venture might be hard to execute in practice if we had insurance by other providers included. He then said that it could cost us more money in the long run. When I did this idea napkin, I took his feedback into consideration. Another peer pointed out that regardless if phones were covered by insurance, some students may opt to have a cracked screen. This is because most college kids don't have money.

18A- Create Customer Avatar

My customer avatar for my project is a male or female college student who is active and always on the move.

He/she is heavily involved on campus through clubs, greek life, student government, philanthropies, and working part time. He/she loves being active through sports and going to the gym. With their fast paced lives, they simply do not have the time to travel off campus to get their phones fixed. They do not have the time in their day to devote to going off campus. They also have a high disposable income and are price conscious, as described in the previous post on the specific segment. He or she can range from the age of 18-24, pretty much college aged. He or she has also lived on campus at some point in their college career. Currently, he or she lives very close to campus. There is also a high chance that neither of them have a car to get them off campus either. You can find them at any gator sporting event cheering on the Florida Gators. They strive for greatness and perfection, which comes down to the look of their cell phones. They are trend savvy and also strive to have the latest and most updated items. He or she watches the news every morning with their coffee.

I have a lot in common with these avatars, and I don't think it is a coincidence. I relate to this avatar because when creating my service, I had to put myself into it. As a result, this avatar is a part of me and what I would want to see in a service offered.

17A Elevator Pitch #2

Some feedback that I received from my previous elevator pitch was to focus more on my closing. This was something that I was aware of, and I am glad that my peer pointed it out to me. In this pitch #2 I focused on improving that aspect. I was glad to hear that my peer found my wording to be concise and that my hook in the beginning was strong. The feedback that I got was very insightful and information that I have incorporated in this most recent take. 

15A buying behavior #2

1) Find three people who would fit that segment and arrange to interview them. 

Sarah, Jacob, Nicholas 

2) Begin with alternative evaluation. 

Majority of the people I interviewed are in college, which means they do not have the highest disposable income. They are price conscious and evaluate alternatives based on the cheapest price. In this segment, price is the most important factor. 

4) How/where do they buy? 

These people are more likely to buy online or at the touch of a button. They are also more likely to use a credit or debit card rather than cash. All in all, they are looking for the most convenient option. 

5) Post-purchase evaluation. 

This demographic values price, experience, convenience, and overall value that they got from the transaction. If they got a good deal and good quality from it, they would classify the purchase as a good idea. A negative experience or costly price would classify as a bad idea. 

Draw conclusions. 

From the people that I interviewed, I could gather that they are an experiential group of customers who are looking for the best price and most cost effective alternative. They are not band loyal and base their decisions mainly on pricing and quality. The way they evaluate a good purchase is through positive experience and overall value that they receive. 

16A - What's your secret sauce

1. I am determined and I will go that extra mile to achieve a goal of mine 
2. I read both adweek and adage every day to keep up to date in the advertising marketing world - I also read both of those publications because I truly enjoy it 
3. I write out and tell someone about every goal of mine because I learned that you are more likely to achieve a goal if you write it down and share it with someone else 
4. I am easy to go with the flow and embrace change 
5. I tend to look at the silver lining in every situation and see the best in everything instead of the negatives 

Interview #1 

https://soundcloud.com/elizabeth-thompson-908822592/interview-1/s-uyua9

Nick says that I have good interpersonal skills, organization skills, and social skills. 

Interview #2 

https://soundcloud.com/elizabeth-thompson-908822592/interview-2/s-aQsnA

Jackie says that I look at the big picture and overview of things before taking a course of action and jumping to a solution. 

Interview #3

https://soundcloud.com/elizabeth-thompson-908822592/cvs-pharmacy-2

Jordan talked about my dedication and passion in tasks that I do. 

Interview #4

https://soundcloud.com/elizabeth-thompson-908822592/cvs-pharmacy-3

Morgan talks about how I don't let fear or adversity take away from the work I set out to do. 

Interview #5

https://soundcloud.com/elizabeth-thompson-908822592/cvs-pharmacy-5

Rachel said that a strength of mine is putting other people first. 

It is alway interesting to see how people view you compared to how you view yourself. I was definitely surprised by some of the qualities and strength that my friends said about me. I think sometimes, we are too critical on ourselves and what we might view as a flaw is actually a strength.  Based off of what people said about me, a common strength was my dedication. I would add that to my list.