18A- Create a Customer Avatar

The customer I would like to use for this exercise will be Dr. Doe. Dr. Doe is forty years old and has ten plus years of experience in his medical field. He is the head decision maker for his medical practice. He also runs a charity that offers medical services to the less fortunate in impoverished countries. He is very passionate about his work and helping others. He is open minded and easy to talk to. He makes his patients very comfortable and always administers the utmost quality of care. He is always looking for out of the box ways to help improve his patients care. He drives a fully loaded black Range Rover. He has a wife and two children. His children are seven and nine years old and go to private school. He helps them with their homework most nights a week. They have a golden retriever named buddy. Dr. Doe enjoys outdoor activities such as boating, and fishing since he lives in south Florida.

What I have in common with my avatar is our personality. We are an open door. I try to make people feel comfortable and am very approachable. 

No, I don’t believe this is a coincidence. When finding a need to correct you tend to pull from your personal experiences. Part of you will shine through even if it is a small amount.

15A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

Interviews

1.       Dr. Miller- When purchasing new medical equipment, he looks for products that are cutting edge and have great results. Depending on the price of the purchase he is most likely to finance his equipment. His decisions are based on need and efficiency. He only purchases from reputable companies since safety is paramount. He believes if the machine lasts and works to his expectations then he is satisfied with the purchase.

2.       Dr. Raymond- When purchasing new medical equipment, he makes the decision with the other doctors in his practice. They weigh out the purchase based on need, how many patients will this benefit, and if the purchase can be used by multiple physicians in the practice. They are more likely to buy equipment that has been thoroughly vetted. Hands on training is always an advantage. Larger pieces of equipment must be financed, smaller pieces are purchased straight out. They value equipment that serves it purpose and can help further diagnose patients.

3.       Dr. Daniels- When purchasing new medical equipment, she likes to see it in action. She enjoys going to medical trade shows to see the latest and greatest technology. She is the most likely out of my interviewees to try the latest technologies. This is a double-edged sword because she has purchased equipment that didn’t live up to its hype in the past. She has had more successful purchases than not. Her purchases are primarily financed because medical equipment is extremely expensive.

These interviews confirmed my product is a B2B type purchase. When selling this product demos will be a must. Financing is the general method for purchasing such items. Ultimately customer will be happy with a product that has great results.

14A- Halfway Reflection

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

I’ve had to set strict times that I dedicate to this class. I try reading ahead to stay on top of my assignments. I’ve had to keep myself disciplined.

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?

There have been a couple assignments where I’m like how am I going to do this? For example, I get anxious when I have to find people to interview. After working forty hours a week and taking care of a family, I don’t know how to do it sometimes.  What pulls me through is reminding myself after this just four more classes and you’re finally done. You’re so close just push through. Honestly, I know I don’t have the tenacious attitude. I have the let’s get it over with attitude.

Three tips. What are three tips you would offer next semester's student?

Advice I’d give to next semester’s students would be trying to read ahead/ work ahead. If you procrastinate you won’t do well in this class. Second don’t get comfortable skipping an assignment here and there. Those three-point assignments add up quick. Lastly, I would say, make sure you have time to dedicate to this class. There is a lot of work and you can’t slack off.

12A- Figure out Buyer Behavior

To test out my idea I decided to contact my primary care doctor’s office. I spoke with My doctor and his two nurses who draw blood.

The common consensus from all three interviews was good. The two nurses have 15 years of experience between them. They perform up to 100 draws a week. Our of those draws 30% of the patients had to be stuck more than one time to extract a sample. Now when they can’t achieve a good draw, they send the patient out to a lab such as Quest. They agreed if the doctor purchased such a device, they would use it. They believe it would make the process less anxiety filled for the patient.  When I spoke with the doctor, he enjoyed my idea. He felt the acquisition of this new tool would improve experience for staff and patients. He thought if stress from the patient was lifted, they might be more likely to come in and not avoid the office. This would result in better care and more profits for the office. He also said if the price point was reasonable, he would purchase the device for his offices.  

After conducting these interviews I’ve found there is always a want to improve current processes. While some customer my not be aware of the need, when the solution is explained to them, they get excited. This technology can make this arduous process more efficient. More efficiency means less time and more money.

11A- Idea Napkin #1

You?

My name is Danielle Losquadro and I am a business major at UF. I’ve worked in banking and finance for the past 10 years. I have a very social and happy personally which makes it easy for people to gravitate towards me. I enjoy learning from others. I believe this business would take up a big chunk of my life especially in the beginning. Getting a business of the ground takes tremendous work.

What are you offering to customers?

I’m offering innovative technology. I’m offering a had held device that shows healthcare providers where a person’s veins and arteries are located. This will ease the blood collection and medicine administration process. Currently providers assess where to stick the needle based on touch. If they can clearly see where the target is, there will be less pain and discomfort for patients.

Who are you offering this to?

I am offering this device to health care providers specifically primary care physicians, labs specializing in hematology, hospitals, and EMS. The commonality in these customers is they are all in the medical field dealing one on one with patients.

Why do they care?

This device will make their jobs more efficient. It will also improve the patients experience relieving a layer of stress. It will make the process more efficient cutting down mistakes.

What are your core competencies?

What sets me apart is my dedication and knowledge on the subject matter. I have lived through the stress, pain, and nervousness of being stuck multiple times by multiple providers until they were able to complete the task. I never want to go through that again. No one should have to if we can make a device that can improve the process.

I think my concepts work great together. I know I’m not perfect and this isn’t a perfect plan. I know I will need to improve my channels of outreach. Find a way to set the meeting with the actual decision makers. I believe my best approach would be to infiltrate local primary care providers then break into a more corporate setting. 

9A- Testing the Opportunity Hypothesis

Who:

I interviewed two nurses who thought this technology was a great idea. They explained since they’ve been doing this for years, they have a relatively high success rate.  There’s always that one patient whose veins are difficult to find. They would use this tool if it was available to them.

I interviewed a primary care physician who offers lab services in his office. While he wouldn’t use the tool directly, he would consider purchasing it for his office to give patients a better experience. Whatever he can do to calm patients feel of needles is a plus to him.  

I interviewed two EMTs. They agreed this would be a great tool to have since they usually see people in critical condition. It would make their lives easier when having to administer immediate care.

What:

The need I presented was a more efficient way to administer IVs and perform blood work on all patients. This need stems from the pain and unease of patients being stuck multiple times by needles to conduct testing or administer medication. The alternative to this technology would be continuous practice by service providers.

Why:

There could be outliers for this need. These outliers would be providers who don’t provide these services.

Inside the Boundary	Outside the Boundary
Who is in: Labs such as Quest, & Labcorp Phlebotomist, Nurses, Emergency Medial Services	Who is excluded: Doctors who don’t offer these services in house.
What is Needed: An easier way to administer tests and medications though needles and IVs.	What the need not: The need is not to replace training and manual blood service. Providers must still learn the current method in the event the new solution isn’t available.
Why does this need exist: Humans make mistakes. More often than not when giving blood or getting an IV you will be stuck more than once because the provider is having a hard time with the veins.	Alternative: The alternative would be continuing to use current methods to pull blood or administer IVs.

8A- Solving The Problem

I would like to create a cost-effective device that shows healthcare providers and lab technicians exactly where your veins are located to increase the success rate of being stuck with a needle and/or IV. This technology would help the providers and ease the patient by only being stuck once instead of multiple times. I believe a couple pediatric hospitals currently have a similar technology. It was originally created because children’s veins are smaller and its harder to reach successful outcomes. Also, who wants to stick a child more than once if it isn’t necessary? I would like to improve on the technology by making it into a handheld device at a lower price point. This way we can get it into every doctor’s office, lab, EMS, and hospital that typically perform these services. This technology could be used across all age groups to lessen the discomfort of receiving blood work and IVs.