Share your story:
I had my first conversation about the MVP with a real life lead. I have not got a yes, but a lots of tips on how to find my potential customers and where. I also got a warm lead with online retailer selling dog begs who needs help with aligning supply and demand, demand forecasting and inventory management for drop shipment worldwide. It is an SME based in Netherlands. They started growing and need ongoing support with their supply chain. I followed through the Netherlands dog beds seller and drawn a blank. To be more precise, I decided to say "No".
Although, the company pain is the type which I can definitely help them with, but they need someone on ongoing bases to manage on operational level at the time the owner needs to do some major strategic changes in order to improve their situation. The company started growing by entering new markets using drop shipping directly from suppliers and recruited new suppliers in China. The dog beds products the company offers are expensive and aimed at a highly demanding market. They got hit by overwhelming one start reviews from the customers in US, UK and Europe due to poor quality of the beds, lack of consistent customer friendly communication, delays in shipping and no proper plans for reverse logistics. They offer their unhappy customers to pay for the shipment to China and offer 15% refund on the items people paid £150 and plus. The solution from owner perspective is to hire a part time supply chain freelancer to monitor supply chain activities and manage the data without changing anything from supply chain end or their terms of returns. What they need is systems and supply chain redesign to match the needs of their customers.
I don't want to be part of organisation which focuses of their profits more than their customers needs.
Back to the drawing board....
In that process, I realised that there are quite a few similar companies which got hit by trust pilot low ratings due to fast and poorly planned growth.
What's been the biggest change in your business?
This experience did three important things for me:
- It clarified the kind of client I don’t want to work with.
- It sharpened my language around the problem I solve (systems vs. patchwork).
- It revealed a broader market segment with the same underlying pain.
How has EPM and your success impacted your life?
I realise that I can say no to a business relationship I do not feel aligned with. This freedom feels good.
What's your biggest takeaway from EPM?
MVP approach
What's now possible for you because of your Experience Product?
Having clarity to come home to my true self rather than being an enabler of someone else's' plans.