Reflection – Storytelling 

 Challenge 

 I work in sales for a consumer ’s electronic company that was designing the channel strategy to   improve the brand ’s performance and reduce dependency of sales with one of the three B2B   clients that represented 70 % of revenue . Our local team selected the smallest account as the   one who had the potential to disrupt the market and challenge the market leader since their 

 business objectives were aligned with our company ’s desire for growth , our local strategy of   affordability for the brand , and willingness to invest and provide differential value for our   customers . 

 Nevertheless , our regional sales leader was not on board with our strategy since there were no   recent benchmark of a best practice or significant results with this B2B client . Also , he was not   convinced that the strategy and actions we were defining were going to bring us the revenue   that would give us the return on investment of the resources we were asking to allocate ( brand   fixture and visibility in points of sale and a dedicated sales and operations team ) . 

 Selection 

 To face this challenge and get the approval we needed , we decided to use storytelling as the   main tool to present the account plan . Since we had no data that could back up our estimates   and could demonstrate that selecting this B2B client would solve our high dependency of   revenue with the market leader , we needed to make our case by addressing more qualitative   but profound statements that showed the brand alignment we had with this B2B client . Also , it   was important we presented it in a way that could appeal to emotions and inspire the regional   business leader to get his approval . 

 Application 

 We changed the structure of the presentation that was used in all the region . 

 First , we presented the story of our client ’s brand and the context of their business instead of   showcasing from the beginning the performance of our brand . We included examples of 1 ) 

 innovative and complementary services our client launched in our country that became a   reference for their industry , 2 ) investments they made to improve customer experience and 3 )   business objectives they had to increase market share in the country through financing   programs 

 With the above information , we were able to highlight the similarities and synergies between   our business : brands that think differently and have the customer and their needs at the center , 

 attracting and retaining high value young customers that seek strong connections with brands ,   commercial offers focused on financing vs low prices and discounts and goal to challenge the   market leader and gain some of its customers . 

 Then , we presented financial and business information of our B2B client , their main competitive   advantages and how the price segment mix had evolved to reflect their value strategy and   reinforce the alignment with our strategy . 

 Last , we presented how some small tactical campaigns had started to show results and which   were the sales estimation for the upcoming calendar year with a detailed 360 commercial   strategy . 

 Insight & Approach 

 With the storytelling tool we definitely captured the attention of the regional business leader   and his interest in evaluating and engaging with our proposed strategy . We demonstrated the   importance of seeing business opportunities beyond numbers , in understanding the cause of   our strategy and the strength behind the alignment of our brands knowing that both constantly   disrupted the market and could challenge the leader . We got the approval for the business   case and all the resources needed for the strategy . In applying this design thinking tool , we   were able to prove that we did not need a history of data to get people on board . We could   make up the data according to the potential we were seeing . 

 Nevertheless , after our presentation and the approval , the conversation was focused on our   sales estimates and we had to commit to higher results . We had no major argument to prove   that those results could not be met , so we had to accept them . 

 If we were to present this type of business case again , it will be advisable to continue with the 

 storytelling tool but I think it is important to include more context of the current state and how   not addressing the high dependency on the market leader and trying something different will be   more challenging , expensive and will not change the needle in results . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Reflection – Storytelling 

 Challenge 

 I work in sales for a consumer ’s electronic company that was designing the channel strategy to   improve the brand ’s performance and reduce dependency of sales with one of the three B2B   clients that represented 70 % of revenue . Our local team selected the smallest account as the   one who had the potential to disrupt the market and challenge the market leader since their 

 business objectives were aligned with our company ’s desire for growth , our local strategy of   affordability for the brand , and willingness to invest and provide differential value for our   customers . 

 Nevertheless , our regional sales leader was not on board with our strategy since there were no   recent benchmark of a best practice or significant results with this B2B client . Also , he was not   convinced that the strategy and actions we were defining were going to bring us the revenue   that would give us the return on investment of the resources we were asking to allocate ( brand   fixture and visibility in points of sale and a dedicated sales and operations team ) . 

 Selection 

 To face this challenge and get the approval we needed , we decided to use storytelling as the   main tool to present the account plan . Since we had no data that could back up our estimates   and could demonstrate that selecting this B2B client would solve our high dependency of   revenue with the market leader , we needed to make our case by addressing more qualitative   but profound statements that showed the brand alignment we had with this B2B client . Also , it   was important we presented it in a way that could appeal to emotions and inspire the regional   business leader to get his approval . 

 Application 

 We changed the structure of the presentation that was used in all the region . 

 First , we presented the story of our client ’s brand and the context of their business instead of   showcasing from the beginning the performance of our brand . We included examples of 1 ) 

 innovative and complementary services our client launched in our country that became a   reference for their industry , 2 ) investments they made to improve customer experience and 3 )   business objectives they had to increase market share in the country through financing   programs 

 With the above information , we were able to highlight the similarities and synergies between   our business : brands that think differently and have the customer and their needs at the center , 

 attracting and retaining high value young customers that seek strong connections with brands ,   commercial offers focused on financing vs low prices and discounts and goal to challenge the   market leader and gain some of its customers . 

 Then , we presented financial and business information of our B2B client , their main competitive   advantages and how the price segment mix had evolved to reflect their value strategy and   reinforce the alignment with our strategy . 

 Last , we presented how some small tactical campaigns had started to show results and which   were the sales estimation for the upcoming calendar year with a detailed 360 commercial   strategy . 

 Insight & Approach 

 With the storytelling tool we definitely captured the attention of the regional business leader   and his interest in evaluating and engaging with our proposed strategy . We demonstrated the   importance of seeing business opportunities beyond numbers , in understanding the cause of   our strategy and the strength behind the alignment of our brands knowing that both constantly   disrupted the market and could challenge the leader . We got the approval for the business   case and all the resources needed for the strategy . In applying this design thinking tool , we   were able to prove that we did not need a history of data to get people on board . We could   make up the data according to the potential we were seeing . 

 Nevertheless , after our presentation and the approval , the conversation was focused on our   sales estimates and we had to commit to higher results . We had no major argument to prove   that those results could not be met , so we had to accept them . 

 If we were to present this type of business case again , it will be advisable to continue with the 

 storytelling tool but I think it is important to include more context of the current state and how   not addressing the high dependency on the market leader and trying something different will be   more challenging , expensive and will not change the needle in results .
### Output: 