4A – Forming an Opportunity Belief

So in this exercise this is where we take one of our problems from the bug list and try to define if it's a problem worth solving. I believe there’s an unmet need for business owners, professionals, and entrepreneurs to have their business or contact information ready to share with others. When traveling for business, at a conference, or sometimes even in an airport I find myself meeting individuals I would like to follow up with regarding a business opportunity. The problem I run into is either I or the person I am talking to doesn’t have a business card on them. To solve this problem, I must write down their details on paper, notes or temporary in my personal contacts, and later transfer the information to my own digital contact spreadsheet on Google Drive. What I would like to do is always have this information ready to share and store it in a location that I keep all my business contact information. I am 75% certain this need exists.

#1 – VP of Sales

Q: Do you find yourself being asked or asking for business contacts, colleagues, or potential business leads for their contact information?

A: Absolutely. All the time. It’s part of my job and you never know when that person could become a lead or a prospect.

Q: How often do you find yourself in a situation where you don’t have a business card or contact information you want to share?

A: Almost never. I always have cards on me. Even when I go to my daughter’s recital I will bring business cards.

Q: When do you typically find yourself in a situation where you don’t have business cards on you?

A: Eh. To be honest it happens so rarely but when it does it is usually because I forgot to order more, or they are in my luggage or bag somewhere that I can’t get to. Maybe if I run to the grocery store, I am not sure really. Actually – one time I was on a business trip and spilled coffee on my bag which leaked onto my cards and ruined them. I had to get my secretary to put an order in and overnight them to me.

Q: How do currently share your information if you don’t have a business card on you?

A: If I don’t have a card on me I would typically get their card and send a follow up email with my details.

Q: On a scale of 1-10 – how happy are you with sharing your information this way?

A: I would say 8. I don’t really have a big problem. I have been doing it for 25 years so maybe I am just old school.

Q: What would be your ideal way to manage your business contact information?

A: [Laugh] – If they magically appeared on my contact list. Seriously though, the problem for me comes later when I try to remember the conversation and specifics I discussed with the person. If I don’t write these details down it’s hard to nurture a lead.

#2 – Product Manager, Marketing

Q: Do you find yourself being asked or asking for business contacts, colleagues, or potential business leads for their contact information?

A: On occasion. Colleagues I can easily find within our company and I don’t really work with leads.

Q: How often do you find yourself in a situation where you don’t have a business card or contact information you want to share?

A: For me I don’t carry them with me all the time. When I do talk to someone, like a customer using my product, that’s when I want to provide my contact details, so they can contact me and provide feedback about the product. If I go to visit a customer I always make sure that I have business cards with me.

Q: When do you typically find yourself in a situation where you don’t have business cards on you?

A: Most of the time really.

Q: How do currently share your information if you don’t have a business card on you?

A: This has only happened to me a couple of times maybe. Rather than write something down I went back to the office and sent an email to the customer with my contact information.

Q: On a scale of 1-10 – how happy are you with sharing your information this way?

A: I would say 9. It doesn’t bother me really.

Q: What would be your ideal way to manage your business contact information?

A: I would like a better way to track the ongoing communication with each customer and somehow tie that back to their satisfaction with the product.

#3 – Chief Technology Officer

Q: Do you find yourself being asked or asking for business contacts, colleagues, or potential business leads for their contact information?

A: Quite often, yes.

Q: How often do you find yourself in a situation where you don’t have a business card or contact information you want to share?

A: I don’t like to carry business cards. I would prefer to take the individuals information and then get back to them.

Q: When do you typically find yourself in a situation where you don’t have business cards on you?

A: As I said before I don’t typically carry them in bulk. If I am going to a speaking arrangement or a conference I bring along a bunch but mainly for networking.

Q: How do currently share your information if you don’t have a business card on you?

A: I typically get an email address or ask them to send their details to my email address.

Q: On a scale of 1-10 – how happy are you with sharing your information this way?

A: I would maybe give it a 7 as I get enough emails and a lot of time these types of email get a low priority in my day.

Q: What would be your ideal way to manage your business contact information?

A: Some way to rank it for relevancy so I can go back to it when a situation comes up that I need to engage with a person I met previously who could possibly help with a situation.

REFLECTION:

Reflecting on this exercise I was really surprised with some of the answers I received. I expected higher level executive types to be always ready to share information not be restrictive, but I guess it makes sense given their position and focus on their business. Product Managers and Sales people are two different animals. Sales people are more engaging and seem willing to strike up a conversation and share information at will without really caring too much about the method or tools they use. Product Managers are all about the feedback so whatever way the customer wants to communicate with them they are open to it.

SUMMARY:

I went into this with a belief that the business community had a problem with sharing contact information using the old method of business cards. When I look back on it I think I also went into it being tied to an idea on how to solve the problem that I hadn’t fully vetted ‘was’ a problem. My belief has gone from 75% to 45%. However, this was a great exercise that taught me to detach or not think about how to solve a problem before defining the problem. I still believe there’s an opportunity there but not exactly what I thought it was. I am now leaning toward the most important thing is not about how we share this contact information but recall as to why it was important in the first place to capture it. If I am going to move forward on this I need to adapt.