Life Skills Arcade Middle school Family and Consumer Sciences, grades 6 to 8

Handout 7.8

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

Unit
Unit 7: Launch: Career Readiness and FACS Shark Tank
Handout
7.8

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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.

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

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): ____________________________

QuestionWhat 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: ____________________________

QuestionWhat 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: ____________________________

QuestionWhat 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: ______ ______ ______


Page 2: The numbers

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

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

LineAmount
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 buyCost 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

LineWhere the number comes fromAmount
UNIT COSTfrom the table above$
PRICEwhat your three customers said they would pay$
MARGINprice minus unit cost$
FIXED COSTanything 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 UNITSfixed cost divided by margin, rounded UPunits

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

LineMathAmount
Units we think we can sell in one monthunits
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

LineAt our priceAt $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: ____________________

NumberTheir check: right or fix itTheir 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

EnglishTurkishPortugueseSpanish
customermüştericlientecliente
target customerhedef müştericliente-alvocliente objetivo
unit costbirim maliyetcusto unitáriocosto unitario
pricefiyatpreçoprecio
marginkâr marjımargem de lucromargen de ganancia
break-evenbaşabaş noktasıponto de equilíbriopunto de equilibrio
projectiontahmin (öngörü)projeção (previsão)proyección
fixed costsabit maliyetcusto fixocosto 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."