MIT Entrepreneurship and

Maker Skills Integrator

Making Money, Part 1

January 2018

Marina Chan

DE Themes, again

DE3: How does your customer

acquire your product?

Who is in your “Decision Making Unit” (DMU), and how

do they make decisions to buy your product?

• Economic Buyer

• Champion

• Influencers

• Veto powers

• Users

Who is in your “Decision Making Unit” (DMU)?How do they make decisions to buy your product?

Economic Buyer Who’s paying

Champion Who loves it

Influencers Who’s opinion counts the most

Veto Powers Who has the authority to say NO

Users Who will be the ultimate user for the product

Mobile phone example

• Economic Buyer

• Champion

• Influencers

• Veto powers

• Users

What about robots in the factory?

• Economic Buyer

• Champion

• Influencers

• Veto powers

• Users

In class exercise: DMU. Who are they? What is

the process with which they decide to buy?

• Economic Buyer

• Champion

• Influencers

• Veto powers

• Users

8

Sharing!

9

Let’s talk about awareness generation

In class exercise: How will you raise awareness

of your product to the people who matter?

• Economic Buyer

• Champion

• Influencers

• Veto powers

• End user(s)

11

Sharing!

12

13

14

The sales funnel

15

SUSPECTS

PROSPECTS

LEADS

CUSTOMERS

$$$

The sales funnel

16

SUSPECTS

PROSPECTS

LEADS

CUSTOMERS

$$$

Conversion

Rate %

1

7

18

The sales funnel

19

SUSPECTS

• Age

• Location

• Gender

• Occupation

• Mobile vs. PC

• Education

• Behaviours

• Income

• Language

• Interests

IDENTIFYING AUDIENCE

Variables

KPI: Cost per click

(“I want to learn more”)

20

SUSPECTS

PROSPECTS• Tone/voice

• Color

• Image

• Price

• Format

• Features

• Benefits

• Tagline

TESTING MESSAGE

KPI: Cost Per Email Acquisition

(“I’m interested in purchasing”)

Variables

21

TESTING MESSAGE: IMAGES

22

$0.87 per acquisition $2.44 per acquisition $3.83 per acquisition

TESTING MESSAGE

23

SUSPECTS

PROSPECTS

LEADS

• Stay top-of-mind

• Build credibility & relationship

• Demonstrate value of product

• Create urgency & excitement

CULTIVATING LEADS

Variables

KPI: CTR to Purchase Page

(“I intend to buy”)

24

20,000+MINUTES OF LIVE STREAMING

1,500+ LIVE Q&A INTERACTIONS

300+MEDIA MENTIONS

25

SUSPECTS

PROSPECTS

LEADS

CUSTOMERS

$$$

• Price properly

• Bonus / add-ons

• Remove friction from purchase

• Address remaining questions

DRIVING PURCHASE

Variables

KPI: On-Page Conversion

(“I will buy”)

26

SUSPECTS

PROSPECTS

LEADS

CUSTOMERS

US$330K

Saw ad and

clicked on it

Came to page

and purchased

3%

2%

Came to page

and gave email40%

Go-To-Market Strategy

2

7

STRATEGY CONSIDERATIONS

SELF-SERVICE

SALES

Low cost, self serve model

High volume product sales

Marketing driven

INSIDE SALES Lowest cost human touch model

Inbound / Outbound Marketing

Increasingly good for enterprise

CHANNEL SALES Fast track geographic coverage

Low initial investment

Limited customer contact

FIELD SALES Direct customer feedback

Expensive

Sell high ASP products

What we talked about

• Decision making unit aka buyer personas

• Buying process

• Awareness generation

• Sales funnel

• Sales processes

28

Questions?

29

Appendix

30

3

1

3

2

Case: Groupon

3

3

Case: Groupon

3

4

35

SUSPECTS

The sales funnel

36

SUSPECTS

PROSPECTSThe sales funnel

37

SUSPECTS

PROSPECTS

LEADS

The sales funnel

38

SUSPECTS

PROSPECTS

LEADS

CUSTOMERS

$$$

Conversion

Rate %