To be successful, your product or service must appeal to the customer and it must outweigh the cons of not investing in it. By mapping out the pros and cons from the customers' perspective you may discover something that is of great value to the customer but has not been considered in your business model. You may also discover that something you thought was valuable to this customer segment, is insignificant. It is crucial that the entrepreneur choose a niche market to start out, with the best customer segment(s) targeted. By doing this exercise, it is possible to figure out which segment(s) will find the most value in your proposition.
Smart Parking Grid
For residents of Boston, who park downtown, have trouble finding metered parking spots, and frequently find themselves without change, the Smart Parking Grid is an infrastructure change to the city of Boston along with a mobile application that alerts residents where open parking spots are and allows them to pay meters with credit cards or bank accounts through their mobile phones instead of change. Unlike residents who live in cities with traditional, change-only parking meters, residents of Boston will experience an improved quality of life in that they will be able to easier find parking spots in the city and enjoy the convenience of paying with their mobile phones.
I love your comment:'You may also discover that something you thought was valuable to this customer segment, is insignificant.' This is so true!
ReplyDeleteWith the new 'online parking meters', is the city of Boston going to raise the prices of the meters, or charge a monthly fee? It seems there there would be a high cost in implementing these changes, as well as maintaing the online system. Plus parking fines are hefty in Boston, the tickets have to account for a pretty large part of the city budget, I would assume they would have to find those moneies somewhere. Although, I am unsure how much meter maids make per year, would they still need them??
Jeanine - Great analysis!
ReplyDeleteJoe - Great question! I would think if everything is automated that meter maids would no longer exsist. At the same time, unless there is a sensor somewhere near that spot, how does the meter know when the car left (and therefore what spots are available)? I guess the engineers/techs could figure this out, but thats a good point about the meter maids.
Jeanine,
ReplyDeleteI think that your smart meter idea is such a unique one with a great value proposition. The first thing came to my mind is “Wow! How come no one ever thought of that before? ”
When I made a decision to move from New York to Connecticut 4 years ago, there was a key gain item in my gain-pain decision map which that I no longer have to pay all these parking tickets or being stressed out because I’m half hour late for my class in upper Manhattan while I’m still driving around to find a parking spot or late to pick-up my son but still can’t find parking.
Your pain-gain map is right on the money.