22/7/2021

Exploring your revenue model with the Business Impact Model

Serra Alink

B2B Marketer

You have a concept. A good concept, if you do say so yourself, with a strong proposition, a clear target audience, and a catchy name: Lekker Bezig. So, it's time to bring it to the market. But how? Lars Blaauw from Centraal Beheer asked us for help with this, which he received in the form of our business designer, Alex. Together, we look back on how that went.

Let's start at the beginning: what is Lekker Bezig?


Lars: "Lekker Bezig is an app that contributes to sustainable employability of employees. In the app you can find all kinds of training courses, from mindfulness to career guidance and from coaching to a nutrition coach. Employees can choose a training course that appeals to them. That makes it very accessible.


Sounds good! Where did this idea come from?


Lars: "The seed for Lekker Bezig was planted sometime in 2016, during one of the co-creation sessions with members of Centraal Beheer Open. This is a knowledge network for HR professionals, where everyone collectively thinks about issues affecting the job market.

One of the questions was: How do I get my employees moving in the area of sustainable employability? That's where it all started.


And when did you appear on the scene, Alex?


Alex: "That was last year. At that time, we were thinking about the next phase: scaling. So, there was already a well-thought-out concept, but that's not the end of it. You also need to consider the business side of the proposition.'


Lars: 'Certainly, we didn't yet know precisely which aspects to zoom in on to sharpen and validate the product-market fit. Alex helped us with that.'


How did you guys handle that?


Alex: "We started to investigate how the value streams flow. So, where does the value exactly come from? How will you earn from this? For this, we have used the Business Impact Model. In this model, you literally map out those value streams. This way, they become visible.' 


Lars: "This allows you to see exactly what you already know, but also what questions you still need to answer. That makes it easier to draw conclusions.'


What were those conclusions?


Lars: "Our proposition was too broad. We tried to address every issue we encountered in the process of sustainable employability - onboarding, HR training, and so on. Very admirable, of course, but it makes it difficult to explain what you actually do and what you excel at. With so many different angles, you end up with a convoluted story. The proposition loses its strength, and you lose conviction.' 


Alex: "The concept was indeed very broad. While this does reach a large group of people, it's unclear to them exactly what you're doing. Then you lose them. If customers don't understand it, scaling becomes difficult.'


How did you deal with that?


Alex: "We have created focus. That makes it easier to validate your proposition. And to explore where the opportunities are, where you can make money.'


'Our target audience is now smaller, but we are able to get this group moving more quickly.' - Lars 


Lars: 'Alex really bulldozed through it, haha. In a good way, though, being critical and sharp. In the end, we went from six to two value streams.' 


Did you find that difficult?


Lars: "It is quite challenging, yes. You see, we've been at this for about two, three years now. That's when you start to develop a sort of tunnel vision. We were completely convinced of our own value proposition. An external perspective becomes incredibly relevant at that point. Now, we are forced to keep it small and get much closer to the core of our proposition.


Alex: "But we did that together. We discovered as a team what we needed to focus on. That also caused us all to start speaking the same language.'


How did this go down in the rest of the organization?


Lars: "We were working very hard towards a grand launch. Just before that launch, I had to hit the brakes because it turned out that we simply weren't ready yet. We wanted to explain this first to our internal stakeholders. And then, it's best to have a very compelling story.'

And did you?


Lars: "Absolutely. That is also the beauty of that model of course: you can demonstrate everything just fine. However, continuous validation, testing, and qualification are quite new for Centraal Beheer. So, you really need to involve the organization well in that.


Alex: "But again, that keeps you on your toes. You have to keep demonstrating that something actually has potential. The plan is still to scale, but step by step. Draw lessons from each step and then move on.'


Lars: "Do you know what it is? Suppose we go past a hundred customers today and only three want to start Lekker Bezig. Then we as Centraal Beheer can invest 5 million euros in it now, but then in a few years we can start explaining why this project is not profitable enough. Then it would be better to wait to launch now until all the elements of the service are right.'

Read more about this case and our approach here.