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upstream
07-19-2010, 05:26 PM
Hello,

I’ve been perusing the forum for awhile now and would really appreciate your thoughts. About two years ago I became very intrigued with service design and design thinking. I had the opportunity to study under one of the best in the world as part of my MBA curriculum. I learned how to apply a lot of the techniques, such as idea mapping, prototyping, observation techniques, as well as other empathy tools. I’ve also had the chance to apply some of the methods within my current job.

I am now trying to determine if there is a market for such services in the small business world. I realize that service design is not that popular in the US, especially among smaller organizations, but I strongly believe in the service design methods as a way to innovate and really understand the personal element (empathy!) of services….which of course is meaningless if it doesn’t translate into a better overall customer experience and more revenue in the long run.

So that’s the gist of it, and now I’m interested to see what you think? What do you think about the idea of designing a service?

Harold Mansfield
07-19-2010, 06:49 PM
I'm a little lost as to what exactly "service design" is. Could give a brief synapses of what it entails?

Marco Santori
07-19-2010, 07:41 PM
I'm also interested to know this.

Steve B
07-20-2010, 07:22 AM
I have no idea what these things are. Please explain and maybe give examples.

upstream
07-20-2010, 01:14 PM
Thanks all, as I expected the concept of service design is not that well known. The field of service design is an emerging discipline and there is no all inclusive agreed upon definition. I would define it as taking the methods used in various design fields, such as graphic, product, and interaction, and applying the methods to services. The idea of “design thinking” is similar; it’s about applying a design approach to problems. To me it is also about getting away from the numbers, whether financial or operational, and looking at how people interact, more specifically how they interact with a service and within it. The end goal is usually to add value, which could be measured financially but also by customer satisfaction.

This isn’t the most glamorous example but it illustrates some of the techniques. The human resources department at a fairly large organization (5,000 full-time employees) was getting numerous complaints about the service they received. The complaints were all over the board, and as you can imagine, most people want to visit HR about as much as they want to go to the dentist.
So we started to look at the “touchpoints” to see how customers interacted with the department. Touchpoints are where customers interact with the service, it could be online, the phone, or in person. Sometimes they would call, sometimes could visit in person, and sometimes online. We then started to watch people come into the office, and quickly realized they had no idea where to go, and we also found that this was an issue when they tried to call someone, or find information on the department’s website.
The group also defined customer groups, such as job applicants, staff employees, managers, and executive…and looked at how they all interacted with the department and what their needs were. Long story short, the group proposed reorganizing the department to better align with the different customer groups and proposed ways to change how customers interact with the department.
This is a somewhat dry example, but by observing what customers do and how they interact, opportunities can be identified, new services can be created, and customer satisfaction improved.
That’s a brief example, and I can give more, but I have to run for now.
Thanks all!

Steve B
07-21-2010, 05:51 AM
In short, Yes, I think it's too far out there for small businesses. I would think it's too hard for the average person to even understand. I really don't understand it (and like 95 percent of other people, I consider myself above average :) )

It sounds like the fluffy stuff that large corporations will spend ungodly amounts of money on from over priced consultants. I think large corporations would be your market.

Or, you could use all the same techniques, but just market yourself as a business coach and tell small businesses you can "help them improve the effectiveness of their _____". For instance, VanGogh does all my website work and custom database programming, but I really don't care what programs he uses to do them. I try to be polite if he goes into too much detail, but I really only care if things work and look better when he's done.

upstream
07-21-2010, 02:52 PM
Thanks Steve, I really appreciate your feedback, you make a lot of great points. You made me realize that I’m doing a horrible job of explaining service design too! I appreciate your suggestions about going after large corporations, but for some reason that just doesn’t interest me. My attraction to service design is to see it make a difference, and at large companies I don’t see that happening, I don’t see it being anything more than fluff.

I’m doing a poor job of explaining what I have in mind, and thank you for pointing that out, it’s really helpful. Service design, business design, design thinking, it’s all too much jargon. The idea itself is simple; let’s look at your business (or proposed business) and design it, or redesign it. Business plans are great, but most people are visual, so let’s draw it out, what it looks like, how it works, who handles what, and so on. Then maybe we can look at ways to add more services to increase revenue, for example. This is the point at which different techniques come into play.

I cringe at calling myself a business coach, because that not exactly what I have in mind. My vision is to offer an online course, which would last about a month, and would cover the topics mentioned in my post above. I like the course approach because it would be affordable, and I also think collaboration is very important.

So maybe I’m not that far out there, it could be that I’m just not doing a very good job of telling my story…but of course, let me know what you think! Thanks!

Four94
07-23-2010, 03:16 PM
Thanks all, as I expected the concept of service design is not that well known. The field of service design is an emerging discipline and there is no all inclusive agreed upon definition. I would define it as taking the methods used in various design fields, such as graphic, product, and interaction, and applying the methods to services. The idea of “design thinking” is similar; it’s about applying a design approach to problems. To me it is also about getting away from the numbers, whether financial or operational, and looking at how people interact, more specifically how they interact with a service and within it. The end goal is usually to add value, which could be measured financially but also by customer satisfaction.

This isn’t the most glamorous example but it illustrates some of the techniques. The human resources department at a fairly large organization (5,000 full-time employees) was getting numerous complaints about the service they received. The complaints were all over the board, and as you can imagine, most people want to visit HR about as much as they want to go to the dentist.
So we started to look at the “touchpoints” to see how customers interacted with the department. Touchpoints are where customers interact with the service, it could be online, the phone, or in person. Sometimes they would call, sometimes could visit in person, and sometimes online. We then started to watch people come into the office, and quickly realized they had no idea where to go, and we also found that this was an issue when they tried to call someone, or find information on the department’s website.
The group also defined customer groups, such as job applicants, staff employees, managers, and executive…and looked at how they all interacted with the department and what their needs were. Long story short, the group proposed reorganizing the department to better align with the different customer groups and proposed ways to change how customers interact with the department.
This is a somewhat dry example, but by observing what customers do and how they interact, opportunities can be identified, new services can be created, and customer satisfaction improved.
That’s a brief example, and I can give more, but I have to run for now.
Thanks all!

Just my two cents here.

The fact that you have to write a long paragraph in
explaining what you do means that in it's current state, your idea won't do to well.

If you can get your point across in a few "simple" words that the
average person can understand. Than you would have a lot better chance of hitting the market you are looking to hit.

I suggest you work on your "Value Proposition" to shorten and simplify it.
I am confused in what you are selling.

If you can get your point across in a more simplistic point of view.
You odds will increase greatly.

Thanks,
Mark Richardson

upstream
07-23-2010, 04:55 PM
Thank you Mark, I couldn’t agree with you more. As you can tell this is something I’ve been struggling with, explaining what service design is, and why it’s worthwhile. Below is a crack at a better explanation:


Grow your business by design. Create more value for your customers by designing new services and redesigning existing services.

Service design is a process of designing, prototyping, and launching new or improved services which create more value for your customers, and more revenue for your business.


That’s really the gist of service design…but I still have some work to do to clarify my message. Thanks for your help!

jrobconsult
07-23-2010, 06:09 PM
Like the previous mentioned posters, I do not think it would go well with small businesses. If you can't explain it a few words and the owner does not understand it are valid concerns. I would like to add many small business owners are conservative and will not change their way of doing business. This is especially true for the small business owners who need the most help.

Four94
07-23-2010, 06:10 PM
Thank you Mark, I couldn’t agree with you more. As you can tell this is something I’ve been struggling with, explaining what service design is, and why it’s worthwhile. Below is a crack at a better explanation:


Grow your business by design. Create more value for your customers by designing new services and redesigning existing services.

Service design is a process of designing, prototyping, and launching new or improved services which create more value for your customers, and more revenue for your business.


That’s really the gist of service design…but I still have some work to do to clarify my message. Thanks for your help!

It sounds like you are basically selling a service that gets a company to bring out their "Inner Entrepreneur" to create new products/services to generate new streams of revenues?

Am I getting this correctly?

If so, it sounds like you are basically trying to become a R&D
department for some company.

If I am getting this correct.

I don't think small businesses would be your good bet at all.

Most small business are still "trying to grow" themselves.

A service like yours might cause the "smaller guy" to "lose focus" on what they are trying to accomplish in the first place.

You might want to try to partner up with other "Entrepreneurs" who are on the brink of giving up their initial idea.

From my perspective, "most" Entrepreneurs have a "Spirit" inside them to "create" and "innovate".

A lot of Entrepreneurs will move from venture to venture in hoping an idea will stick.

You could help Entrepreneurs who are struggling with their ideas and inject a
"fresh perspective" of hope into them to try something else.

What you might want to get good at if you aren't good at it already is
"Talent Evaluation"

If you could determine what talents these Entrepreneurs who are in the brink of giving up have.

You might be able to help them come up with a new idea
that gives them their fire back.

From a pricing structure of this, since most Entrepreneurs don't have a lot of money.
I would avoid doing an "Hourly" rate that might scare them off.

But you could do a "flat" rate of something like for $400, you get the following?

I hope this makes sense.

This is just my opinions of course :) :)

Take Care,
Mark Richardson

Harold Mansfield
07-23-2010, 06:40 PM
I think if you package it correctly with the right presentation both online and offline it has just as good a shot as any other to make it. It just has to be clear what you mission is, you can't have people guessing and thinking it's some new concept that hasn't been proven or embraced yet.

Many times I have seen businesses...some of them my own clients....and said to myself, "Wow, you can make money doing that?", or "I had no idea that there was a market for that."
It sounds long the lines of an efficiency and development expert...so I think it is a good idea to freelance or open a business with because everyone wants to know how to do more with less...it's kind of the whole reason we kick ideas back and forth around here.

I like it, but the presentation of it is going to be key. Keep it simple.

lav
07-23-2010, 07:54 PM
I understood what you were doing after your second post and I think your concept is not all that new. Like eborg said if you can get a package together I think there are businesses who will be interested as long as it is priced right.

The problem with this type of service is that the business owner will always think "What can they do that I cant do myself?" So I think you should be focussing your marketing on what you will be doing that the business owner wont think of or why you can do it better.

Remember to ask questions (Im sure you already do) but instead of going in and telling someone what to do, ask them what they think they should be doing to improve. You will be surprised at how many BO's (business owners) will have a good idea of whats going on (or wrong) but just dont have the time or resources to implement a plan to solve the problems. In most cases they will see it as "Oh I dont have time for this because I have to solve these current issues first" when in reality your services will free up their time more...... right? ;)

upstream
07-26-2010, 02:28 PM
Thank you all for the great feedback, again, I really appreciate it! You’ve given me a lot to think about, everything from pricing to how to package the service(s). I still don’t think I’m getting the message across clearly about what I would do, and what service design is all about. Four94, to an extent you’re correct, it is somewhat like R&D, but for services. Eborg, to an extent you’re right too, and lav, you too.

This is my challenge, service design can be applied to so many scenarios that it’s hard to clearly define what it’s all about. Maybe in the end that’s ok, maybe it’s best defined as a broad category, like branding and strategy?

Harold Mansfield
07-26-2010, 02:49 PM
When you figure out how to present it so that it is clear in all directions, then will you be able to properly promote and market it. Basically you have to get your "Elevator Speech" together in a way that translates well online.

upstream
07-27-2010, 08:45 AM
Thanks eborg, I think you're right on.