Transforming B2B Customer Engagement at 3M Transactions between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer Aruna Naik

Case Overview 3M’s Electronics and Energy business: serves electrical, electronics and communications industries The business problem: Challenge in Material science business is, how to help customers appreciate the new end used products Lee Fain, a design strategist and Bert Haldin, a business development manager at 3M constantly struggling To make their products cost effective To mange their supply chain more efficiently, and To make meaningful technical developments Solution: Design thinking and tools Lee said we have great technology but it can difficult to articulate that and develop key messaging that’s meaningful to different people for different uses Lee Fein embraced design thinking, which empowers sales staff in new ways to engage customers in a deeper and more compelling dialogue about new product possibilities

Design for growth (D4G) process and tools

Myth about design thinking B2B Space (Customer co-creation) B2B Space (Customer co-creation) B2B Space (Customer co-creation) B2B Space (Customer co-creation) B2B Space (Customer co-creation) Design Thinking Consumer Products Companies (only)

Design tools for customers engagement process Reimagining the sales process Selling design in the B2B space Design provocation The really big show Finding the right partners and opportunities Demonstrating design’s value

Reimagining the sales process Salesperson is a primary stakeholder who needed help creating a different kind of sales process Using mobile handled devices would seem less forced, more natural Customized approach to interact with customers Portable device helps activating vision Having videos on your mobile device, in your back pocket, promotes spontaneous collaborations with customers. If I’m in a meeting, I pull out my phone and start showing them3M’s innovation concept designs in videos . This would be very different from opening a laptop, waiting for it to start, and finding the right file. Lee envisioned the enhanced tools would instead foster deeper dialogue about new product possibilities the customer envisioned Each sales person needed to be able to customize the approach to each customer in real time, but some consistency was also essential Lee said I make the experience for sales people elegant and comfortable. If they are uncomfortable presenting, it’s going to show. I don’t want them to be worried about how they are going to present than what they are presenting The tools have to be portable. They need to both elevate and simplify the dialogue. It’s about activating vision

Selling design in B2B space What role design could play in a material science company and how it could improve customer relationships is the major challenge Framework: DOES Desires: Do what you want to do Obstacles: What is preventing you from achieving your desires Effects: what are the side effects of those obstacles Solution: What could the answers look like from your perspective Storytelling Gaylon White (Director of Eastern Chemical Company’s design industry program) coached Lee on using storytelling to communicate message Lee used simple frameworks that allowed him to cut through the conversation and highlight the points where design could contribute. Lee had developed his own framework for doing this, which he calls DOES He said before engaging in any project I ask those four questions to understand how I can use design to help articulate a path forward. From every angle you try to understand where the team finds the most important solution and how you can design that into your deliverable White visited 3M to tell some stories of his own and case examples which was a tipping point for Lee’s team

Technical experts and sales Contd… Ethonography Research methodology brought from the field of anthropology Focuses on studying people in their natural environment Uses both observation and in depth interviewing Assumption testing: An effective engagement strategy required creating deliverables appealed to all profiles Business professionals: technology Sales professionals: numbers and timings Technical experts: capabilities of innovation Designers: enabling aspect of technology Five appealing deliverables to all profiles Designers In customers meeting Lee played the role of anthropologist, sitting in the corner and observing how his colleagues engaged. He reads people’s body language: if customers were not excited what was missing?? If designers seemed bored during a meeting what was the reason An appearance model, a technical demonstrator, an educational video, an educational material sampl and future use case video (inspirational video) Business professional wanted a sense of where the technology was headed sales professionals were concerned with the numbers and timings. Technical experts wanted to understand the capabilities of innovation and designers cared about the enabling aspects of technology itself He identitied five deliverables that would appeal to various profiles Technical experts and sales

Design Provocation If customers wanted to do X with their product and we had Y we our technology, what might our customers do ??? Ability to cerate something visual to react to such as stories, videos or physical mock ups Make the future feel real Much more engaging conversation with customers and wider audience 3M’s decision to debut a new product “Patterned Transparent Conductor” at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), one of the largest trade shows in the world was a great success in terms if customers engagement. As Lee recalled, “I had people internally coming to me and saying, “Wow, I never knew we could do something like that or they would say, “now I can finally show my children what I do, besides saying I work on Patterned Transparent Conductors.” 3M today announces a new portfolio of 3M Transparent Conductors used in consumer mobile devices for electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and touch sensor applications. The portfolio provides designers and engineers a range of solutions to address the increasingly demanding construction of electronic devices by alleviating EMI interface issues and improving touch sensor performance, ultimately bringing products to the market faster.

Finding the right partners and opportunities Forward thinking: futuristic yet grounded in today’s technology Science fiction: Projecting something which is not been tested in lab Investment should be proportional and weighted based on the opportunity Choosing the right partners is equally important Propose new ideas and new solutions I am a big fan of asking, “what’s the business opportunity”??

Demonstrating design’s value The design approach doesn’t compete with data – It complements it Design’s value started with uncovering gaps, identifying what was missing, and then finding opportunities to fill those gaps If you can see an opportunity and take it! Creating a new future requires us first to envision in mind’s eye Quantitative approach by scientists + qualitative approach by designers = technology more humanistic At the end of the day customers have to see how we are going to meet their specs and what the actual numbers show Lee believed that design’s value started with uncovering gaps, identifying what was missing, and then finding opportunities to fill those gaps If you can see an opportunity and take it! Even if it’s outside of your job description

What Lee didn’t do… He didn’t preach the gospel of design thinking instead, he helps people solve problems He avoided getting cut in wars between functions, which is especially important in a diversified organization He refused to waste his time in the wrong culture. Instead, he finds a home in an organization open to experimentation

Great advice from great design thinker! Observer Protagonist vs. antagonist Context Take yourself out of situation. Be an observer- don’t take it personally Identify who is protagonist or an antagonist and align yourself with like minded individuals Keep in mind that context enhances meaning for design and innovation Reduce complexity, remove the noise, and focus on what’s meaningful Develop frameworks that help articulate opportunities and vision complexity/noise Frameworks