The ULTRA BrainStorm Workbook

7/27/2019 The ULTRA BrainStorm Workbook

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ULTRABrainStorm

Workbook

Easily create a strategic plan tounleash your small business today.

By: Steve Anderson


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The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. Walt Disney, Disney founder2

Contents!

What is ULTRA?!.....................................................................................................................!3!Understand Your Customers!................................................................................................!4!

Learn Your Unique Advantage!...........................................................................................!6!

Trace Your Business!...............................................................................................................!8!

Recognize Opportunity!......................................................................................................!11!Action!.....................................................................................................................................!14!The Innovation Workshop!..................................................................................................!16!

Idea + Validation + Execution = Growth


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You don't need to have a 100-person company to develop that idea. Larry Page, Google Founder3

ULTRA BrainStorm WorkbookThe speed of business increases every day and successful companies need to make

important decisions and implement them quickly. Your business has a unique storythat makes it different than all of its competitors. After thousands of hours of researchthe ULTRA BrainStorm Workbook makes it easy for you to analyze your business andcreate a strategic plan based on your current business model.

In order to get the most out of this workbook make sure that you complete theexercises as you read. The process of writing this down will help refine yourknowledge and allow others to collaborate later on. When you are done you willhave a better understanding of your customers background, experience, viewpoint,buying decision, and what you can do to influence them.

What is ULTRA?The ULTRA BrainStorm Workbook is built around an analytical framework popular

in the technology startup community. Venture capital firms in Silicon Valley usedsimilar philosophies to jumpstart companies like Google and YouTube. To come upwith new ideas you need to be creative. This framework will help you develop andsharpen those ideas.

Understand your customers

Learn your unique advantage

Trace your business

Recognize opportunity

Action


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U nderstand Your CustomersAt its core every business delivers something of value that a customer pays for. If

you can identify your unique advantage, you can learn to more effectively operateyour business. This exercise will help you unlock your hidden knowledge and pinpointexactly what your customers are looking for.

Write down what you know about each of the f lowing areas . Theprocess of writing this down will help refine your knowledge and allow others tocollaborate later on. When you are done, you will have a better understanding ofyour customers background, experience, viewpoint, and buying decision.

1) Who are our current customers? What common characterist ics dothey have? Who influences their decisions? What do they l ike anddisl ike? Where do they l ive? Where do they hangout? What type ofeducation do they have? How can we contact them?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2) Who are our ideal customers? Who influences their decisions? Whatdo they l ike and disl ike? Where do they l ive? Where do theyhangout? What type of education do they have? How can wecontact them?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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3) What other types of customer do we have? How old are they? Whoinfluences their decisions? What do they l ike and disl ike? Wheredo they l ive? Where do they hangout? What type of education dothey have? How can we contact them?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4) Why do we usually lose customers? Do they f ind an alternativeproduct and/or service? Do they choose our competit ion? Can theyafford our products and/or service? Do our products and/orservices appropriately serve their needs?_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________5) What are the common characterist ics of lost customers we miss? Listtheir concerns, motivations, and what prevents them from buying ourproducts and/or services.

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6) What changes have occurred in the market over the last year?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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7) How have we reacted to these changes?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

L earn Your Unique AdvantageMost successful companies have a strong value proposition that resonates withtheir customers. Your business survives because customers are willing to pay for thatvalue. When you understand who the potential customers are and how they findvalue, you are suddenly in the drivers seat.

8) What is your value proposit ion? A value proposition isa promise of value to be delivered and experienced by the customer.__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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9) Who is the competit ion and what do they do really well?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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10) How are we different from the competit ion?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

11) Are there substi tutes for my product and services?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

12) Why do customers choose my company instead of the competit ion oravailable substi tutes?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

13) How does our company compete? (Circle one).Premium Value or Low Cost


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T race Your BusinessTo understand your business fill out your business model canvas on the next page.This simple tool will help you get your creative juices flowing. It connects all the partsof your business in an easy to understand visual format.

(Make your own at www.wordle.net)


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Trace your customers buying decisions. This is often referred to as yoursales funnel. Learn what motivates your customer and how you acquire newbusiness. Follow the steps below.

1. Identify your buyers.2. Diagram their buying processes.3. Define the organizational resources responsible for each step (orange in this

example).

4. Define external resources use in the process (orange in this example).Example

Need help? Get custom in-depth analysis.

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R ecognize OpportunityYour business is a collection of processes that work together to provide value to

your customers. You execute these processes over and over and continue to driveyour business. In order to recognize your opportunities for growth, we will add youractions into the diagram from the previous step.

14) Add the steps where you are currently involved in the customersbuying process to your diagram. Add the actions that you take.Mark these steps in a dist inct color (green).15) Mark where your ideal customers leave your sales funnel. Refer to

your answers to questions 1 and 3.16) Examine each step in the sales funnel and identify the customermotivations to move to the next step. Write them on our sales funnelin a dist inct color (blue).17) Where are blockage points in our sales funnel? Why do we miss thecustomer we identif ied in question number 4 and 5?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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19) Based on your answer to question number 4 and 5 what additionalmotivational tools can we use to get these customers to use ourproducts and/or services?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________20) Why cant we quadruple the number of prospects at each stage?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________21) Based on your business model canvas, which actions drive the mostvalue to our current customers? How can we provide more value toour customers?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________22) Are there segments in the market that are underserved? What canwe do to reach these market segments? What current tools do wehave to motivate them? What additional tools might motivatecustomers in these segments? Refer to questions 3 and 6.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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24) I f you had to quadruple sales in the ne xt six months, what wouldstop you from accomplishing that?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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A ction25) Start with current customers and work backwards through our salesfunnel. Look at each step. Brainstorm to see if there are creativeways to improve conversion rates. Note these on the sales funneland here.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________26) What additional actions could we take to motivate prospects throughthe sales funnel? Note these on the sales funnel and here.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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27) Are there cheaper ways to perform each action you identif ied inquestion 14 (marked in green on the sales funnel)? Can we replacesome of the outside sales people with inside sales people? Can wereplace some of the inside sales function with cheaper telemarketingresources? Can we create sales tools to automate some of thesetouch points? Note these on the sales funnel and here.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

28) How long does it take to complete the whole sales cycle? What arecreative ways to shorten any of the phases? Note these on the salesfunnel and here.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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The Innovation WorkshopExperience the power of collaborative brainstorming. Sign up today and

create a comprehensive strategic plan in 1 day. Book an Innovation

Workshop for your small business!

Additional Benefits

Professional analysis tools

Map customer buying decisions

Identify core competency

Optimized sales funnel

Professional facilitation

Personal attention

100% Satisfaction Guarantee

Contact Laylines Consulting [email protected]

!www.LaylinesConsulting.com

262-352-3200

The input and guidance that Laylines Consultingprovided proved to be extremely valuable.

Drew Fink, CEO Captifeye

The ULTRA BrainStorm Workbook

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