Author: otherthings

An actress and an architect walk into a bar.

For those of you who know us, we come from very different backgrounds. Faith – an actor who spent more than half of her life “walking in other people’s shoes”. Stacy – an architect who learned she didn’t want to wear “an architect’s shoes” (the all black thing, it’s just too much). From the outside, we may look like the odd couple, but truth be told it’s our differing yet overlapping perspectives and passions that make PinPoint what it is today.

Where It All Began

The story began, not at a bar, but at one of the most prominent design thinking agencies in Chicago using human-centered research & design to improve the fortunes of the Fortune 500s. Faith was known for her innate ability to guide clients and her team through the art of connecting, researching and storytelling. Stacy was known for her talent to design a future not yet imagined driven by the research findings Faith and team were gathering. Our skills were not only complimentary, they were made for the other. One successful project led to another, followed by another, until we were essentially inseparable.

All that time together got us thinking. What if we could take some of the pain points we witnessed and turn them into PIN points? (Yes – that is actually where we got our name.) Our differing backgrounds crossed paths because of a simple, yet shared objective – get to know this world and the people in it so well that we couldn’t help but make an impact on their lives. 

Learning From the Pain Points

As two women, born and raised in Chicago (ok, ok, transparency is at our core, Stacy was in the suburbs – but close enough) the dream was to evolve the design thinking principles we had developed for Fortune 500s and make them accessible for people like us who truly needed them – small & medium sized business leaders who gave up everything to make the world a better place. So what was the first thing we did? We applied our process to ourselves and learned other business owners, like us, had core needs:

• They wanted to truly improve the lives of their customers
• They wanted their company & teams to be successful for years to come
• Cost of ‘entry’ into a design-thinking was thought of as ‘out of reach’ & only accessible to aspirational brands with aspirational budgets 
• If they did pursue, they were left with inactionable research and a deck that sat on a desk for years

Designing the Pin Points

So what did we do? We turned every one of those pain points into (yes, you guessed it) pin points. 

• We communicated like real people – no fancy language for fancy-sake
• We developed a model that met leaders no matter their business was at
• We created a pricing strategy that was fair, transparent, and most importantly simple
• We not only identified the right thing to do, but we gathered our Collective of designers to make sure we would execute things right

And here we are today, co-founders of the only design thinking studio for small & medium B2C companies. Not a day goes by that we couldn’t be more grateful for this journey, to be able to work with people who want to make a difference in the world. Although our stories started in very different shoes, we are grateful every day that they intersected and gave us the confidence to take the biggest risk of our lives. That risk, as big as it was, has been worth every moment of reward knowing we get to impact those who need it the most.

 Want to learn more about our story or how design thinking can solve similar pain points for your company? We’d love to chat about either! Schedule a chat or email us at ping@pinpointcollective.com.

Want More Customer Loyalty?
Start With Design Thinking.

Let’s be real: we ask ourselves this question daily, both for our clients and for ourselves. Why? Because having loyal customers means waking up everyday without that pit in your stomach. It means having more reliable profit and being able to grow your business, stability and freedom. And who doesn’t want that?! 

While we all wish there was a red Easy Button that magically granted us infinite customers purchasing infinitely, the truth is that button was nothing more than a piece of plastic marketing with an ROI far less than its alleged value of $9.99. 

What DOES exist is a process – “design thinking” – that (drumroll please) we built our collective around to attract the most loyal, repeat customers you could ask for. And better yet, it doesn’t take an ounce of magic. Just a little empathy.

When empathy is lost, your customer is another’s to gain.

Story time! We recently found ourselves a customer faced with a choice. To remain an existing client, or leave a company altogether, for a direct competitor no less. Spoiler alert: we left. This loss was preventable for our original vendor that, given the right approach, could have secured or even deepened our customer commitment. In the end, their competition earned our business with ease. What did the Competitor do differently? Simple: they listened. Ah ha… 

Rewind to two years ago, when we were searching for PinPoint’s first data storage provider. The company we initially chose kicked off the relationship by coming to our office, meeting face-to-face, showing us their product, and providing a team of engineers to get us set up and off to the races. However, what seemed like a personable and valuable partner soon revealed itself to be a time-consuming, greedy vendor. The final straw came when we reached out to expand our storage capacity. Two emails back and forth led to an invoice. We were being charged for asking if we could pay them more money.

The reason this gets under our skin is simple: as consumers, our last best experience informs our expectations moving forward. In comparison, when we recently had an issue with our Amazon Prime membership, not only was it fully taken care of with an online chat, we also received a discount for the hassle. That type of service is what we all expect at minimum now. 

And as human-centered designers, we also recognize the ease with which these types of situations can be circumvented altogether, resulting in a superior customer experience that ensures customer loyalty, retention or even furthers our financial commitment.

The moral: loyalty (or disloyalty) is determined by business design.

So what did the data storage competitor get right? Well, they know many of their target customers often start their data services with their competition and later choose to switch. They know prospective customers are fed up with price gouging. They know new customers are nervous about the time and effort it will take to transfer their existing data. And so they designed their service, their pricing model and their offering with every one of these pain points in mind. They did what we as human-centered designers do:

• Specified the demographics of their ideal data customer
• Identified the purchasing habits of those customers beyond data storage
• Learned what those customers’ “last best experience” is and continue to uphold that standard
• Deeply analyzed the competitive landscape in the data storage industry
• Determined the gap that needed to be filled 

And the important thing about these steps is that any business, including our original vendor, can accomplish all of this as well — they simply hadn’t yet. All it takes is a little design thinking and the determination to reevaluate how to better serve customers with ease.

It will come as no surprise that our new provider holds the second largest market share in their industry. Design thinking is what defines their product, their service, their marketing and their overall customer experience. Long story short, we love them as customers AND as design thinking nerds.

Are you gaining, maintaining or losing customer loyalty?

When a customer base begins to stagnate or shift, it’s important to start with empathy to understand what has changed before you can turn the tides in your favor. That’s the heart of design thinking — a process by which you can better define the relationship between your business, the customer and all points in between.

If you are asking how your company can gain more loyal, repeat customers or are interested in learning more about design thinking, please reach out to us at ping@pinpointcollective.com or schedule a virtual coffee to catch up!

Today we celebrate (albeit apart), with a glass of wine & donut in hand, two full years since PinPoint’s creation.

To say our first 24 months of business has been a rollercoaster would be an understatement of epic proportions (we find ourselves grappling with a global pandemic – just to list one of the many crises our world is facing at this very moment.), but we are grateful to say they are some of the most rewarding, inspirational and enthralling two years of our lives.

So we take a moment to reflect backwards and project forward some of PinPoint’s learnings with our friends, family, collaborators, clients & future partners.

Reflecting Backwards

A year ago today, we shared 12 learnings (one per month) from our first year of business. We didn’t stop there. We used those learnings in year two to progress even further, and this is how:

• RETURN TO WHY – At the core of our “why”, the PinPoint model was designed to make meaningful, powerful, and accelerated change in this world. As we wrap up year two, over 88 pins have done just that. But we know we can do more. So we looked back on the most successful pins, and equally so the least successful ones, and found an opportunity to evolve our pins. Welcome in the new twelve!
• REMAIN EMPATHETIC – Doing qualitative research allows us to meet some of the most inspiring humans on this planet. One of the most memorable of this past year was a dentist out of Phoenix. As a black female, her undergrad counselor told her she’d never get into dental school, she “then never met another African American dentist that looked like me until I was 20”. This harsh reality fueled her to become a practicing dentist in underserved populations to inspire others like herself. This story, and countless others are why we wake up & innovate. Every. Day.
• TRUE COLLABORATION – In year one, we learned the power of surrounding ourselves with people smarter than us. In year two, we made a system for that. We named ourselves PinPoint Collective to be just that, a curated group of honest and hardworking creators that worked together in true collaboration. Our collective is evolving, growing & becoming even more of a powerhouse in our industry – get ready!
• LEARN FROM ALL – One of our greatest strengths of year one was taking shared learnings across industry lines. Year two brought even more of that – showing how research for one client directly impacts the next. Working with TVL Culinary (evolution coming soon), we identified how their target customer defined a ‘mid-life crisis’. What was once purchasing a red Ferrari, is now renovating their kitchen into a chef’s dream. Now lean into our work with HeyDay Homes (evolution also coming), a local real estate team, who shared that same target buyer. Our work across industry lines led to innovative solutions for each of their business models to benefit from.
• WORK HARDER – At the end of year one, we gave gratitude for hustling harder than the day before to impact the lives of others. In year two, we took that to a new level amid a pandemic. Pins for Purpose allowed us to support clients when they needed design thinking most. To those who believed in us, even when times were tough, we thank you and commend you for investing in your business.
• CELEBRATE THE WINS – We admit, we can do better at this one (more wine, please?)! But we’ll start by sharing some of the incredibly thoughtful sentiments of our clients, each a major win in our eyes:

“Notably, their comprehensive interviews with numerous clinicians, prosthesis users, and technologists have exposed findings that may influence what we collectively do as a field and how we advance solutions for all stakeholders.” – CEO, Coapt Engineering

“I can’t thank you enough for believing in this project and being part of this exciting journey with me.” – Executive Director, Highwood Public Library

“Thank you again… I really appreciate all the work you guys have put into this. The info you provided gets me one step closer to getting this accomplished.” – Managing Partner, Columbia Street Roastery

“Can’t thank the lovely and talented women @pinpointcollective for the creativity, positivity and pure love of the game!!” Founder, TVL Culinary

Projecting Forward

Enough looking back, let’s manifest our future! Year three has a lot to live up to, but we’re not letting that hold us back. Year three… we’re coming for you:

• MAKE OUR CLIENTS THOUGHT LEADERS – Nothing makes us prouder than seeing our clients rewarded for disrupting their industry. They are experts in their field, but our role is to bring that to the forefront. Through our process, we will continue to put our clients first and champion them to greatness within their team, organization and industry at large.
• IMPACT SMALL BUSINESSES – When we started PinPoint, one of our core principles was the belief that small to medium size businesses would and should benefit from design thinking methodologies. We vow to continue to find ways to make this feasible. Because although in others’ eyes they may be “smaller”, in our eyes they are the ones doing big things by shaking up industries and impacting the world in large ways.
• DESIGN THINKING EQUALS ROI – We remain steadfast about the importance of design thinking, because it has proven measurable ROI. We will continue to be fueled by bringing outputs that are viable for our clients. Whether our clients speak in ROI, KPIs, projections, investments or just plain dollars & cents, we can’t wait to blow those metrics away.
• STRATEGIC ROADMAP – Our client’s greatest ROI comes when research & strategy is implemented into impactful touchpoints – beit a new offering, revenue stream, website or physical space. So we’re promising to make it even easier, cost effective and efficient to bring the defined strategic roadmap to life through fully designed & implemented outputs.
• GROW THE TEAM – Which leads us to growing our team. We are dedicated to expanding our collective of experts so that, together, we can evolve, grow & learn from each other to ideate concepts the world can’t live without.
• EXPAND INDUSTRIES – There are a few industries we have on our radar that we can’t wait to tap into 1) because they excite and inspire us and 2) because we are confident our research will greatly impact their industry, as well as knowing their learnings will influence our current clients – it’s a win/win all around. Cannabis might be at the top of the list… introductions welcomed!

We are beyond excited to enter year three! We cannot wait to see our current client’s work come to life, meet the future clients we don’t yet know, grow the relationships with our collective and continue making an impact in the world.

– Faith & Stacy, Co-Founders of PinPoint Collective