15 A

Demographics

1) Find three people who would fit that segment and arrange to interview them. Just like last time, these interviews, if conducted properly, should take about 10-15 minutes. Any less, and you won't be able to obtain adequate information. These three people may NOT be the same people you interviewed last time. 

Single mom: Middle Class with 14 year old daughter - The highlight of your club is the location, for us to be driving over 40 minutes to allow her to practice for two hours, we are running out of time in the day, or I’m running out people to ask for help to get her to and from practice. She’s only 14, so I want her to still do what she wants and have fun, but I also want her to succeed in school, and driving that long is starting to cut into homework time.

Upper Income Dad: 9 year old son - Currently we are looking to help him grow with the right club, and although the prices for an elite team are more than we’ve spent on a program, starting him young in something he’s passionate about and good at is a great idea to me. With him being in elementary, this is the prime time to discover what he likes and what he doesn’t like. We will experiment later, so having an option to do a month by month payment would be ideal.

Freshman in college: 19 year old - I’d love to join an elite program during the summer, but I’m hoping for a scholarship or something. I can’t afford to pay over $300 a month just for training when other clubs will let me train for that much for the entire summer. My mom and dad will help me if I really prove that I need the training, but I have to pay out of pocket for something like this more likely, especially because there are cheaper options. They just won’t get why I want to train under certain coaches.

3) Begin with alternative evaluation. In the last case exercise, you determined how customers sought information related to solving their need. The outcome of this step is to produce a set of alternatives. Customers pick from among this set of alternatives. In this step, your job is to figure out how they do their picking. Does price matter the most? Does quality? Does style? Is there more than one factor that is important to your customer segment?

The determination of using our club for competition need basis is based on the amount of athletes, the performance of these athletes, the performance outcome abilities of the coaches, and the location. Price plays a part in the lower income family, but generally for middle and upper class income families, the price are around the same for other common elite programs.

4) How/where do they buy? Elements of the actual transaction can help characterize your segment. Is your segment more likely to buy online or in a store? Are they more likely to use cash or will they finance the purchase? Etc. If this is a B2B purchase, who's involved in the purchase decision? 

My actual transition is hands on, in person only. Swim lessons videos can be an option for online, but this product is strictly in person. More than likely parents will sign up with an automatic billing, as USA swimming requires a form of automatic billing and we would be partnering with them for our organization. The purchasers, dependent on family, will be strictly to the parents with the opinion of their children. 

5) Post-purchase evaluation. What matters most to your customers when they think back on the 'rightness' of the purchase? What helps them determine the purchase was a good idea? What sorts of things make them think a purchase was a bad idea? 

Ultimately, it’s something of the “right” experience. If the customer is unsatisfied with the performance levels from the coaches or the athletes recruited into the program, then we aren’t offering the product of being “elite” to them. Our performance is what is judged as what is worth the purchase or not. Granted we should offer something like a trial week to see if the athlete’s are comfortable and receiving what they are hoping to obtain. 

6) Report the findings. Simply summarize your interviews. 

Location and price seem to still be the stand-alone concerns with starting a new club. I, honestly, thought that the status of being “elite” would be the scarier subject, but money always seems to shine through. 

7) Draw conclusions. Based on what you know about this segment and what you learned in your interviews, how would you succinctly describe this segment in terms of alternative evaluation, purchase decision, and post-purchase evaluation? 

The highlight of the interviews was money concerns, so offering a trial period to allow athletes and parents alike to become comfortable with the program is more than likely the next big move to make. Next would be deal packages. Monthly, Seasonal, Summer only, and school year only option can be made available to those who may be in current financial struggles. Also, initiating a scholarship opportunity plan should be something in the works as well. Post-purchase is something that can’t really be applied in full to a subscription and performance based purchase.