Wim GE De Vos

Small businesses with a BIG impact

7 Questions to assess your business model

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To make sure you are going somewhere, you better start by knowing where you are.

In order to look at your business from all sides and then map where you are I strongly recommend to use the following checklist. It can be a harsh confrontation but truth brings insight if you face it head on.

This insight will help you to move beyond mere differentiation of products or services and craft superior business models instead. Just having a product or a service people want is simply not enough anymore.

Great value propositions need to be embedded in great business models. Start building yours today.

Growth strategy 2019 – Genesis, home technology architects

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write it down
on Wall street – watching the craze

For us at Genesis wanting to make an impact implies growth 🚀. And growth has many dimensions. Continuous learning, improvements, more resources, more responsibilities for stakeholders,…

And being serious about growth means to have a plan for growth. Such a plan needs to be written down, shared, discussed, reviewed and adapted as we progress along our journey.

As an exercise in transparency and example here you have Genesis Technologies operational growth plan for 2019. It has 4 pillars and they come in order of priority.

Grow Market Share

  • WOW our customer. We focus on simplifying matters and exceptional service to do so. You can see us apply #theARTof SIMPLE and #makeWOWthestandard every day.
  • Share the experience of what can be. Everyone passing by our VIPLounges gets a taste of what is possible in homes of today and tomorrow. From end-clients over to the FEDEX guy.
  • System design service. We compile knowledge and standardise best practices in designing world class systems. Only to share this again with our partners and guarantee superior systems to home owners.

Make our Partners Stronger

  • Training and support mechanisms. As we continue to build our knowledge and training resources our partners will benefit daily in delivering better systems and serving their clients.
  • Toolbox for success. Our PartnerZone platform is growing in terms of tools and features to make our partners more successful in their own business.
  • Marketing and sales. Genesis Technologies partners get free access to the VIPlounges.club network and benefits. This helps them sell more and better solutions.

Expand share of Project

  • Audio and Video. Has always been our passion and this is where we started out. Music is our religion and cinemas where we go to church…
  • Control and Comfort. Since a few years we have successfully added home control of AV, light, comfort,… to our portfolio.
  • Networked infrastructure. The true foundation of technology in the home. Control systems, AV distribution over IP, wireless. Everything has become network centric.
  • KNX lighting control. Light is the next frontier for us. We have a laser-focussed approach in this competitive market.

Develop new partners and channels

  • AV and CI expert installers. This is the market we all come from and believe in long term. Every day we still onboard new partners to grow together. Especially in larger markets like France and Italy.
  • KNX and HVAC engineering companies. Companies with a strong engineering foundation that offer complete solutions. All wanting to differentiate from electricians and retail electronic outlets.

So now 3 things can happen…

First, that our clients and suppliers perfectly understand why we do what we do every day of 2018. Second, that internally we as a team are focussed on executing our growth plan. Thirdly, that the competition will copy or sabotage us.

I´ll take my chances and will keep you informed on all 3 accounts 🏄‍♂️.

May the Force be with you.

Business models

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I use the Business Canvas Model app frequently. It cristallyzes my thinking when looking at businesses and opportunities, while at the same time empowers design thinking* as I move forward with some of my ventures.

Highly recommend to take the online training modules (or study rather than read the book): Because as with all lightsabers you have to know how to use them if you want to be effective.

When discussing business strategies and models have a go at using the canvas as a common language to avoid confusion or getting stuck. And try to look for relationships between elements. Pretty sure you will enjoy the clarity it brings and key questions it raises.

*more on design thinking in a later blog post.