Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

I conducted a series of interviews that revealed to me the desirability of my product and how I can alter it in order for it to seem more desirable to potential buyers. My first interview with Steve was particularly insightful, as he brought it to my attention that the system I want to implement seems to be naturally catering to a higher income audience, as it requires owning a Fitbit/Apple Watch in order to track activity. He suggested to me that maybe it would be better to pair up with local gyms that track attendance and send it to insurance companies, but the possibility of individuals taking advantage of this system and just sitting at the gym worries me.

One of my other interviews with Sam was particularly insightful. She is an active CrossFit member, and her gym is currently competing in a world-wide competition with all other CrossFit gyms. They are responsible for completing certain activities in a certain amount of time, and trying to do the maximum amount of different exercises that they can do. This is all monitored by coaches, and all individuals are ranked on an app against all other people competing. I think this approach might be a unique way to do things, by giving participating individuals an exercise to complete and having someone monitor their completion. Lastly, my last interview with Nicole made me wonder how this opportunity would be marketed to individuals, considering it is mostly a business to business transaction.

This assignment definitely made me more aware of the holes in my business plan. This would definitely be a really difficult idea to develop, especially with established insurance agencies that do not want to expand into another sector outside of the insurance/financial services sector.

Halfway Reflection

1. Tenaciousness is a competency. What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course? 

I have definitely honed my time management skills in this course. I find myself completing assignments early very often, instead of the day of, which is very out of character for me. Additionally, I think I am more invested in the work in this course because it has applications to my real life and it might affect my future.

2. Tenaciousness is also about attitude. Talk about a moment or two when you felt like "giving up." What pulled you through? Do you feel like you've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months? What experience or experiences most contributed to this? 

I felt like giving up on this course when I had a bunch of assignments due for this class the day after I had a nine hour interview and an exam earlier in the week so I could not prepare efficiently. I pulled myself through and motivated myself to finish my assignments because I wanted to ensure I had good grades for the course and finished every assignment I could just in case something happened later on and I was unable to.

3. Three tips. What are three tips you would offer next semester's student about (1) fostering the skills that support tenacity and (2) developing the 'tenacious mindset'? 

I think I would recommend to the future students to think about their potential business idea before the semester and within the first week. It is hard to do a lot of assignments about a prospective business opportunity that you are not particularly interested or invested in.

Reading Reflection

I chose to read The Wright Brothers by David McCullough, and I had the following thoughts:

1. What surprised you the most?

I was most surprised to learn that, after developing the Wright Flyer and attempting to contact the United States Department of War about their invention,  the department ignored their letter because they were not interested. Additionally, it intrigued me that the media dismissed the Wright brothers, as they believe man was not meant to fly.

2. What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

I most admired their dedication to trying to figure out a way to fly. The Wright brothers had little education and every time they flew the newest version of their plane they risked being killed, but they pursued their dreams without fear of the outcome and ultimately succeeded.

3. What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

I do not believe that there is anything I do not admire about the Wright brothers. They changed the course of history forever with hard work and dedication.

4. Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure?

The Wright brothers encountered adversity and failure multiple times. They were forced to rebuild the model of their plane hundreds of times, as it kept crashing, and they also were denied by the media and ignored by the U.S. government when they were successful.

5. What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?

I think the Wright brothers showed an amazing level of courage and dedication. They did not allow themselves to slow down or give up just because they experienced failure, and the results are enormous.

6. Identify one part of the reading that was confusing.

I was confused with the part in the book that discusses how the Wright brother’s community was originally alarmed by the use of bicycles, as they felt that they would cause children to get into trouble. This surprised me because I did not fully comprehend how modest society was back then.

7. If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

• How were you so fearless in your endeavors of creating the first flying machine?
• What was your favorite part of it all?

8. For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur’s opinion of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

I believe the Wright Brothers felt that hard work was being fully dedicated and invested in whatever endeavor you wanted to accomplish. I think that they were believers in the phrase “all or nothing,” as reflected in their willingness to die in order to perfect the invention of the first flying machine.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior

Choosing a segment:

• For this assignment, I chose a segment of middle-aged individuals that have their own insurance policies. One, my dad, has his own insurance plan that covers his entire family, which is covered by his job as a police officer. My aunt, on the other hand, does not work and has her own insurance policy. Additionally, my grandma also has her own insurance policy that she has purchased from an insurance agency.

Interviews

• What I learned:
• I learned that capturing the demand for this product is going to be very difficult. Something I did not think about before is that a lot of people have their insurance provided through their jobs, and a lot of middle-aged individuals are insurance carriers for their entire family. Insurance is not necessarily the type of product that many customers seek out to find the best possible, especially employed individuals, who usually just deal with what is provided by their employers. So, I think I have to reevaluate the mission of the business of marketing it towards individuals that are seeking higher insurance deductibles, and purely market it towards insurance companies that are trying to optimize their screening of potential clients in order to increase their financial gain.
• How I would describe this segment:
• I think that there are a lot of individuals that struggle with the cost of insurance and think about how they can lower their rates. But, this segment may not necessarily have the means to pursue other insurance options unless they are employed individuals that do not have an adequate insurance plan through their employers or if they are unemployed individuals that had to purchase their own insurance policies.

Idea Napkin

1. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?

My name is Meghan Wren and I am a third year Finance student at the University of Florida. I have goals to attain my MBA in the near future, and I am interested in pursuing a career in the financial services industry. I have a strong desire to pursue amazing experiences and enhance my life through travel. I have a strong passion for helping people, and I often feel like a caretaker for others. I believe that my business idea will allow me to maximize my passion for the financial services industry, as well as help others by motivating them to exercise and become healthier individuals.

2. What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs).

There are two segments of customers I am targeting, insurance companies and individual customers. To insurance companies, I am marketing a product that tracks the physical fitness of their clients and sends this information to them in order for them to offer deductibles/premiums to their clients. To individual customers, we are offering the opportunity to receive financial benefits from exercising more.

3. Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?

We are offering this product to all clients within America. More specifically, we are targeting customers that use the gym often, or feel like they need an extra incentive to go to the gym. Additionally, we are targeting those who are looking to save money and live healthier.

4. Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe it's valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service.

The idea is that insurance companies will buy our product and we will help them implement the software into their company. We believe that they will buy this product because it allows them to get more insight on the potential health risks of clients in order to possibly determine how much money you will have to allocate towards covering them. Additionally, I believe that this will help insurance companies because it will encourage more of their clients to exercise more, thus saving them money in the long run.

5. What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has?

I believe that we offer a really unique product that is very different than anything on the market being offered by other health companies right now. Because of this, I think we have great potential to grow and take over this market before it becomes a popular business idea. I believe that I have a more technology-oriented view of the fitness industry than any of the other leaders.

In addition to these five elements, please spend a paragraph evaluating whether you believe these elements fit together or whether there are aspects of your business concept that are weaker / out-of-joint with the others.

• I believe that all five elements of my business work really well together. However, the problem I am noticing is that we are selling ourselves as a product that is being offered to insurance companies, not individual customers. So, how do we market our product in a way that intrigues insurance companies but also lets individual customers know about the program? It’s almost wasteful to market towards individual customers, because they are not the ones that can buy our product, but we need to have a high consumer awareness so that they can opt in to the program at their respective insurance companies.

Elevator Pitch

https://youtu.be/pZClRCXboso

Testing the Hypothesis Part 2

• Who: My interviews revealed that there are groups of people that may fall outside of my market. These people that fall outside my market are individuals that, because of the state of the economy, do not have insurance. It is estimated that 44 million people in America do not have health insurance, and 38 million people have inadequate health insurance. This means my idea would essentially be entering a broken market and could hinder its success and implementation. Additionally, this idea may not particularly cater to the super rich who are not invested in the miniscule financial impact a higher deductible would have.
• It was also brought to my attention that it may be difficult for individuals that have insurance from their respective unions to get on board with this idea. I think it would be accepted by these unions, but it may be much more difficult to implement.  
• What: One interviewee brought up the point that many insurance companies have a system in place that they check your weight and pre-existing conditions before they agree to take you on to be insured. Why do they favor this system rather than tracking physical fitness? Is it because these policies have not been updated to match modern times, or simply because that is all the information they need to know?
• Why: I do not believe the need is different because the modern day insurance system needs to be modified to be on track with the current times.
• 
  

	Inside the Boundary	Outside the Boundary
Who	American individuals seeking a deduction in insurance, as well as insurance companies looking to modernize.	The uninsured and the super rich individuals who do not care about deductibles.
What	Insurance companies need a screening process for individuals that can reduce future claims.	Insurance companies that are content with their current screening process.
Why	Insurance companies want to modernize in order to gain a greater market share by reducing claims and increasing deductions by enforcing healthy behavior.	Insurance companies do not want to make the initial investment to experience payoffs down the road.

Solving The Problem

• My selected opportunity is to have insurance companies exploit the rising epidemic of obesity and the recent trend of physical fitness (which is a result of the rise of social media). I believe that insurance companies could have a lot more financial gain if they elevated their screening process, while also keeping up with trends in society and adjusting their business as such.
• My product is a technology system that provides insurance companies with a system to track the physical activity of their clients. This product can be used to determine insurance deductions or premiums for different clients with varying levels of activity. My plan is to set up a software system that is compatible with FitBit and Apple Watch softwares to track all physical activity. The individuals register with their insurance company, send in their group ID and etc. and all of their physical activity information is now sent to their insurance company. This could be used to deduct insurance payments for healthier individuals. This can also help insurance companies more accurately predict expenses. Additionally, if individuals are more closely tracking their health they may be able to catch diseases and other ailments early on.
• I think insurance companies will want to buy this idea because it will allow them to more accurately predict costs, as well as reduce costs long-term because it will encourage their clients to exercise more frequently, thus reducing the risks of having health problems.

Testing the Hypothesis

Health Insurance Program with Exercise Incentives

• Opportunity:
• Obesity is becoming a prominent issue in America, as it now surpasses car accidents and malnutrition in related deaths.
• The who: All Americans
• The what: Companies are unable to develop an effective program to improve the health of their clients and therefore, reduce the amount they have to pay to care for these individuals.
• The why: Logistical issues in being able to effectively build/implement these programs.
• Testing the who: While Americans are struggling the most with obesity, individuals throughout the world could benefit from this type of incentive program. Now that I am reflecting further, I think healthier societies would especially benefit from this program because they would be more interested in utilizing it.
• Testing the what: I do not believe the need has any boundaries. I believe that all individuals, whether healthy or extremely active, can benefit from this program.
• Testing the why: Obesity is a huge problem in society because our capitalistic society makes it so much faster, cheaper, and easier to buy food from a fast food drive thru than it is to buy organic produce from the grocery store.
• Interview #1:
• In this interview, I spoke with a middle-aged man that does not exercise very often, but enjoys his time at the gym when he is there. He thinks obesity/ general unhealthy living is a huge problem for Americans, as many are forced to work such long hours and simply do not have the time or resources to properly care for themselves.  He stated that he just does not feel enough intrinsic motivation to go to the gym even though he deeply enjoys it, so he tries to focus on eating clean foods.
• Interview #2:
• During this interview, I spoke with a pre-med student studying to be a physician at UF. He told me that as an aspiring primary care physician, he is very well aware of how many individuals he will probably have to treat in the future for obesity. He also understands how hard it is to get to the gym because he is so busy studying and being in class.
• Interview #3:
• This interviewee is a young college woman who frequents CrossFit. While she does not fully comprehend why people do not make time for the gym in their daily lives, she understands that people have different priorities, especially those with young families. She thinks that there might be a greater incentive for people to exercise of their were other motivators besides intrinsic.  
• Interview #4:
• This interview was held with a middle-aged woman who admits she never goes to the gym and eats generally poorly. She says that her biggest issue with exercising is that because of health issues, it is really hard on her body to participate in even basic workouts because it causes so much back pain and occasionally causes her sugar to spike because of the pressure she feels.
• Interview #5:
• This interview was with a freshman studying at an Ivy League institution. He says that he goes to the gym 2-3 times a week, but struggles often because of how much homework/work he has to do. He says that he’s not often incentivized to go to the gym because he prioritizes grades over physical fitness. He said that if he were to gain financial compensation for exercising, he would.
• Given your interviews, what do you know about the opportunity that you didn't know before?

The interviews definitely gave me a new perspective on this opportunity. It definitely made me realize that, if looking at the opportunity market from a pessimistic perspective, that it may be hard to get working adults and younger individuals to participate. College students, or young adults in general, tend to be on the parents insurance and may not be necessary compelled to exercise because the financial benefits do not directly benefit them. Additionally, working adults may not be as compelled to join the program because it is likely they will receive superior financial benefits from working harder/ more hours at their job than they would from an insurance deduction.