The way I did my interviews this time, I got three of my friends together and we all sat in a room together and basically just had a conversation about what they idea would be and its potential. I started off with my idea and what it could hopefully turn into one day and I got some useful feedback. One of them added that I could even use the extra money to raffle off scholarships to current customers. Another added that maybe instead of making it a service that you pay for monthly, I could even have a one time flat rate that will allow you a years worth of calling or 6 months, etc. This was because she said maybe most people will only need a few calls to fully grasp their student loan.
In terms of my venture, I think makes the most logical sense to initially dump all of the money back into growing the business, but once we become highly profitable, something like giving back money would be ideal to attract more customers and help people at the same time.
A radically different market than my current would be to target the student loan companies themselves and offer to cover their customer service for them. This will lead to happier reviews for them and more people willing to take out loans from their company. Not only that, but these people will have a better understanding of how the loan works so they can pay it off efficiently and easily. It was tough to actually interview companies, so I watched a couple videos and documentaries on this topic and I found that these businesses will have employee competitions to see who can answer the most calls. This would mean that they are rushing people off the phone which means these people aren’t getting the service they need. My solution could solve this problem and make both parties happy.
I find it interesting how these student loan companies work and how they really don’t care about the people they are offering loans to as long as they are able to make money off of them. It is a problem that needs to be solved soon because of how fast student debt is growing.
Hi Jaiden,
ReplyDeleteit was very interesting to hear different variations you had in mind for your B2C market, e.g. scholarship offers or changing up the rate for your service. As we talked about it in our consumer behavior class - I think a smaller monthly fee might be better to initially attract customers as the threshold is lower to pay for the service versus having to pay a bigger one time fee. I am also very curious about the B2B option you mentioned. Good customer service is definitely sometimes very hard to find and companies underestimate the value of customer service and happiness, especially when it comes to reviews and recommendations. I think the B2B plan could definitely be an interesting backup option.
Ollie
Hi Jaiden,
ReplyDeleteI like how you notice many student loan companies are not in it for the success of the student, but only for the money. I like how your company is focused on the student more and wants to help their needs. Customer service is very important and could be very valuable in your company. Not having any automated calls and having people who fluently speak many languages could be very helpful.
Sarah