National Post - Financial Post Magazine
VALERIEFOX
Chiefinnovationconsultant, ThePivotalPoint
Thereisstrategicbreadthanddepthin growingacompany.Ifbreadth—asinthe caseofgrowingthebusinessofTwentyOne Toys—isrepresentedbythesalesofEmpathy Toysetsanddepthisrepresentedbygetting experiencebuy-inandtrainingtrainers,then itislikelythatIlanaBen-Aricandowellby selectingeitheroftheoptionsdiscussed.But whichdirectionrepresentsthebeststrategic betforTwentyOneToys?
Ben-Arisaidadayoffacilitationatahigh schoolcouldgeneratesalesofupto100sets. Butgettingtothepointwheresalestohigh schoolstudentsandteachersiswidespread requiresalotmoreleadtime,coordination timeandenergy.Doesshehavethat?Shealso mentionsthatfacilitatortrainingsessionshave beensuccessful,butsalesoftheEmpathytool areonlyonetothreesetsperfacilitatorintotal. Atthisrate,salesofthetoyseemlimitedifshe reliesonthismodel.
Couldtherebeawaytorealizesynergiesby thinkingmorestrategicallyaboutthefacilitator trainingoption?Ben-Aricanleveragehercompany’srelationshipwiththetrainerstogeneratemoreunitsales.Ispeakfromexperience, havinghadthepleasureofparticipatinginone ofherfacilitatortrainingsessions.Iwassold ontheexperiencethatIhad,butIalsocouldn’t waittobringittomynextclients.AlthoughI onlypurchasedoneset,myintentionformy workshopsistohavethesamepositiveeffect formyclients.Asaconsultanttoeducators andcorporateleaders,thesecustomersegmentscouldbeadditionaltargetaudiences forsalesofEmpathy.
Perhapsbyintroducingvolumeincentivesforfacilitators,Ben-Aricanincreasethe numberofsetssoldthrougheachfacilitator. Byharnessingthepotentialforfacilitators tobedistributorsforTwentyOneToys,she willbetrainingfacilitatorstousethetoyand incentivizingfacilitatorstosellmoresetsto theirclients.Itseemslikeanaturalprogression tocapitalizeonfacilitatorsasanadditional distributionchannel. “Wedecidedto focusonfull-day trainingatschools intheshortterm,” saidTwentyOne Toys’IlanaBen-Ari. “Sincethetoys alreadyhavea strongpresence invariousschools aroundtheworld wehavebeenable toreachoutand partnerwiththem, meaningthat theywillhelpus withoutreachand wecanusetheir buildingtohostthe training.Wewillbe travellingtoWinnipeginMaytotrain 100teachersinone day.Wewillalso beinSwitzerland thesamemonth trainingover40educatorsinGeneva, andtheninAugust attheChinese UniversityofHong Kongtraining50 MBAstudents onempathyin business,usingthe EmpathyToy.”