# Handout 7.8: Customer Profile, Interview Sheet, and Numbers Page

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________ Period: ______

Team: ____________________ My role: CEO / CFO / CMO

Unit 7, Lesson 7.8. **Page 1 is the customer work. Page 2 is the money. Calculators for everybody, all period, no permission needed.**

* * *

# Page 1: The customer

## What we think we know (fill this in BEFORE you ask anybody)

This is the before picture. At least one of these three lines is going to turn out wrong, and that is the point.

| | Our guess |
|---|---|
| Who is our customer? | |
| What will they pay? | $ |
| What do they do about this problem right now? | |

## The customer profile: five specifics

**"Everybody" is not a customer. Everybody is what you say when you have not asked anybody.**

| # | Specific | Ours |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | **Who?** (a role, not a name: a parent, a grade 6 student, a coach, a neighbor) | |
| 2 | **Age or stage of life?** | |
| 3 | **What do they already do about this problem?** (this is your real competition) | |
| 4 | **How much can they spend on this?** | $ |
| 5 | **Where would they hear about you?** | |

**Example of a weak profile:** people who are hungry.
**Example of a strong profile:** a parent picking up a child at 3:15 who has 20 minutes and $6.00 and right now buys a bag of chips at the deli.

## The three questions. Same three for every team.

1. **Do you have this problem? Tell me about the last time.**
2. **What do you do about it right now?**
3. **If this existed, what would you pay for it, and what would make you not buy it?**

| English | Turkish | Portuguese | Spanish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do you have this problem? Tell me about the last time. | Bu sorun sizde var mı? Son yaşadığınız zamanı anlatın. | Você tem esse problema? Me conte a última vez. | ¿Tiene usted este problema? Cuénteme la última vez. |
| What do you do about it right now? | Şu anda bu konuda ne yapıyorsunuz? | O que você faz sobre isso hoje? | ¿Qué hace usted al respecto ahora? |
| If this existed, what would you pay for it? | Bu var olsaydı, buna ne kadar ödersiniz? | Se isso existisse, quanto você pagaria? | Si esto existiera, ¿cuánto pagaría? |
| What would make you not buy it? | Sizi bunu almaktan ne vazgeçirir? | O que faria você não comprar? | ¿Qué haría que no lo comprara? |

**[check with a native speaker]**

## The recording rule

**Write down what they said, not what you think they meant.**

- Weak note: *he liked it.*
- Strong note: *he said "I would pay two dollars but not three, and only if it fits in my bag."*

Use quotation marks. If the interview happens in Turkish, Portuguese, or Spanish, **write it in that language** and translate one line later for the poster.

## Interview 1

Who I talked to (a role, not a name): ____________________________

| Question | What they actually said |
|---|---|
| 1. Do you have this problem? Last time? | |
| 2. What do you do about it now? | |
| 3. What would you pay? What would stop you? | $ |

## Interview 2

Who I talked to: ____________________________

| Question | What they actually said |
|---|---|
| 1. Do you have this problem? Last time? | |
| 2. What do you do about it now? | |
| 3. What would you pay? What would stop you? | $ |

## Interview 3

Who I talked to: ____________________________

| Question | What they actually said |
|---|---|
| 1. Do you have this problem? Last time? | |
| 2. What do you do about it now? | |
| 3. What would you pay? What would stop you? | $ |

## What changed

**The three prices we heard:** $________ $________ $________

**One thing we now know that we did not know at the start of this period:**

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

**One thing we are changing about our idea because of it:**

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

**Team initials:** ______ ______ ______

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# Page 2: The numbers

## Part A: The worked example, done with the whole class

**A custom drawstring tote bag** (this uses Unit 5 skills).

| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Fabric for one bag | $1.80 |
| Cord | $0.30 |
| Thread and needle share | $0.10 |
| Printed paper tag | $0.05 |
| **UNIT COST** (add it up: what one costs you to make) | $________ |
| **PRICE** (what you charge for one) | $6.00 |
| **MARGIN** (price minus unit cost: your profit on one) | $________ |
| **FIXED COST** (paid once, no matter how many you make): a stencil kit | $15.00 |
| **BREAK-EVEN IN UNITS** (fixed cost divided by margin, **rounded UP** to a whole bag) | ________ bags |

**Say it out loud with the class:** "We stop losing money after the ______ bag."

**Why rounded up?** ___________________________________________________

## Part B: Your own numbers

### Unit cost: every single thing it takes to make ONE. Be annoying about it. Include the bag, the tape, the tag.

| # | What you have to buy | Cost for one unit |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | | $ |
| 2 | | $ |
| 3 | | $ |
| 4 | | $ |
| 5 | | $ |
| 6 | | $ |
| | **UNIT COST (total)** | **$** |

*If your idea is a service and there is nothing to buy, your unit cost is your supplies plus anything you have to replace. Write "time" on a line and leave the dollar amount at $0.00, then write how many minutes one job takes: ______ minutes.*

### Price, margin, fixed cost, break-even

| Line | Where the number comes from | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| **UNIT COST** | from the table above | $ |
| **PRICE** | what your three customers said they would pay | $ |
| **MARGIN** | price minus unit cost | $ |
| **FIXED COST** | anything you pay once, no matter how many you make (a kit, a stencil, a sign, a table fee). Write $0.00 if there is none | $ |
| **BREAK-EVEN IN UNITS** | fixed cost divided by margin, rounded **UP** | units |

**Our sentence:** "We stop losing money after the ______ unit."

*If your fixed cost is $0.00, your break-even is 1 unit, and you say so: "We are profitable on the first one, because we have no fixed cost."*

### The one-month projection

| Line | Math | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Units we think we can sell in one month | | units |
| times MARGIN | | $ |
| minus FIXED COST | | $ |
| **= ONE MONTH'S PROFIT** | | **$** |

**The rule that makes this honest: the number of units needs a reason that is not a guess.**

- **A guess:** "We will sell 200."
- **A reason:** "There are 88 students in our grade. All three people we interviewed said they would buy. We projected 30, which is about a third of the grade."

**Our reason for the unit number:**

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

### Grade 8 line: the same break-even at a lower price

| Line | At our price | At $1.00 less |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $ | $ |
| Margin | $ | $ |
| Break-even in units | | |

**One sentence: what does dropping the price by a dollar do to how many you have to sell?**

____________________________________________________________________

### Grade 8 line: fixed and variable, separated

| Fixed (same no matter how many) | $ | Variable (changes with how many) | $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| | | | |
| | | | |

## Peer number check

Read your four numbers out loud to another team. They check the arithmetic and ask you one question.

Checking team: ____________________

| Number | Their check: right or fix it | Their one question |
|---|---|---|
| Unit cost | | |
| Margin | | |
| Break-even | | |
| One month's profit | | |

**Fix any error in red. Then:**

**CFO signature (this means the arithmetic is right):** ____________________

**Teacher initials (the gate):** ______

## Word bank [check with a native speaker]

| English | Turkish | Portuguese | Spanish |
|---|---|---|---|
| customer | müşteri | cliente | cliente |
| target customer | hedef müşteri | cliente-alvo | cliente objetivo |
| unit cost | birim maliyet | custo unitário | costo unitario |
| price | fiyat | preço | precio |
| margin | kâr marjı | margem de lucro | margen de ganancia |
| break-even | başabaş noktası | ponto de equilíbrio | punto de equilibrio |
| projection | tahmin (öngörü) | projeção (previsão) | proyección |
| fixed cost | sabit maliyet | custo fixo | costo fijo |

**Sentence frame:** "We stop losing money after ___ units." / "___ adet sattıktan sonra para kaybetmeyi bırakıyoruz." / "Paramos de perder dinheiro depois de ___ unidades." / "Dejamos de perder dinero después de ___ unidades."

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## Teacher key

### Part A, the worked example

| Line | Answer |
|---|---|
| Unit cost | **$2.25** ($1.80 + $0.30 + $0.10 + $0.05) |
| Margin | **$3.75** ($6.00 minus $2.25) |
| Break-even in units | **4 bags.** $15.00 divided by $3.75 is exactly 4.0 |
| The sentence | "We stop losing money after the fourth bag." |

**Why rounded up:** you cannot sell part of a bag. If the division comes out to 4.2, the answer is 5, because at 4 bags you are still behind. Make the class say this out loud; it is the single most common error on the numbers page.

**A second version with an uglier number, for the reteach if the class needs it:** fabric $2.10, cord $0.35, thread $0.10, tag $0.05, unit cost **$2.60**; price $6.00, margin **$3.40**; fixed cost $15.00; break-even $15.00 divided by $3.40 = 4.41, so **5 bags.**

### Part B, what to look for when scoring `Rubric 07` criterion 4

- **Not Yet:** unit cost is a single guessed number with no lines behind it, or the arithmetic is wrong in more than one place, or there is no price, or break-even is missing, or the page is unsigned.
- **Approaching:** unit cost itemized and price and margin present, but one line of unit cost is missing (**almost always packaging, the bag, the tag, or the sign**), or break-even was divided the wrong way, or the projection's unit number has no reason, or panel 4's numbers do not match this page.
- **Meets:** unit cost itemized and adds up; price traceable to the customer interviews; margin is the right subtraction; fixed cost named; break-even in units, rounded up, and the team can say the sentence; projection is units times margin minus fixed cost with a reason that is not a guess; CFO signed and panel 4 matches.
- **Exceeds:** Meets plus break-even at two prices with a sentence on the effect, or fixed and variable separated in a labeled column, and the team caught and fixed one of its own errors in red during the peer check.

### The three errors to expect, in order of frequency

1. **A missing unit cost line.** It is the packaging, the bag, the tape, the tag, or the sign, every time. The do-now on Day 2 ("include the tape") exists for this. When you circulate, ask exactly one question: **"What did you forget to count?"**
2. **Break-even divided the wrong way.** Students divide margin by fixed cost and get 0.25 bags. The fix is the sentence: "Say it out loud. 'We stop losing money after point two five bags.' Does that make sense?" They hear it immediately.
3. **Break-even rounded down.** 4.41 becomes 4. Ask: "At four bags, are you ahead or behind?"

A fourth, less common: **forgetting the fixed cost in the projection.** The peer number check catches it, which is why the peer check exists.

### On a service idea with no unit cost

Some teams will have a real service (tutoring, organizing, repair, childcare) where the unit cost is close to zero. That is fine and it is a real business model. Have them do three things instead: write "time" on a unit cost line with the minutes per job, name any supply they have to replace, and treat their fixed cost as anything they had to buy to start (a sewing kit, a set of tools, printed cards). Their break-even is then in jobs, not items, and the sentence still works: "We stop losing money after the third haircut."

### Scoring and gates

- Page 1 is scored on `Rubric 07` criterion 3 (the business brief and the customer research).
- Page 2 is scored on `Rubric 07` criterion 4 (the numbers).
- **Both pages are collected in the team folder at the end of Lesson 7.10 Day 2.**
- The **CFO signature and the teacher initials on page 2 are a gate,** not a grade: no signed numbers page, no deck. Say so on Day 1.

### If the unit is running the one-period version of Lesson 7.8

Page 1 and Part A of page 2 happen on day 175. **Part B, the projection, and the peer check happen in the Numbers Clinic in the first 15 minutes of Lesson 7.10 Day 1,** which is written into that lesson's timed procedure. Tell students that at the start of the period. Students tolerate compression fine; they do not tolerate finding out that something they were promised is not happening.