Key Activities and Your Business Model

When it comes to the Business Model Canvas, important activities, according to Strategyzer, are any activity that your company engages in with the main goal of profit. Operations, marketing, production, problem-solving, and administration are all examples of business activity.

Depending on the kind of company you run, your main activities will vary. If you work as a web developer, you'll be doing a lot of UI design and code.

Problem-solving and customer service, on the other hand, are essential skills for a business coach.

When mentoring clients about the role of the key activities block, I take a different approach. While your means of production, problem-solving, and platforms or networks are all important considerations when defining your key activities, I take a different approach when mentoring clients about the role of the key activities block.

It's all about searching for methods to discover an uncontested blue ocean to conduct business in by assessing your business model from a cost, value proposition, and customer viewpoint, much like the other blocks on the business model canvas. As a result, I think the ultimate objective of identifying your core activities is to assist you in determining which activities you need to address in order to successfully deliver your Value Proposition and distinguish your product or service from the competition.

When it comes to evaluating your company's main operations, I recommend looking at the relevant business model canvas blocks. While any of the blocks may be used to find important activities, I think there are two in particular that need your attention.

Because essential activities serve as a link between your value offer and your client segment, you'll want to think carefully about your channels and customer connections while creating them.

If we look at Amazon's business strategy, for example, the assessment phase of the channels block is a crucial action that distinguishes them from brick and mortar shops like Walmart. Amazon helps buyers choose between comparable items by collecting and presenting product review information.

Because Walmart does not allow customers to read product evaluations, gathering and presenting review data is a crucial activity that distinguishes Amazon from many of its rivals.

Another example is delivery, where two-day, next-day Prime, and even drone deliveries are reducing the time between buying and getting the goods in your hands, making the delivery phase of Amazon's channels a crucial activity to distinguish it from other online e-commerce sites.

Phases of the 5 channels

Here are some example questions to consider while creating the main activities block for the five phases that make up the channel block of the business model canvas.

• Awareness - How can you raise awareness of the fact that you have something to sell? Will getting selected as a speaker at your industry's annual trade exhibition be a crucial activity?
• Assess - How can you allow a prospect to evaluate your product before making a purchase? Will adding a 30-day try-before-you-buy option be a significant activity?
• Purchase - How can you influence a customer's purchasing behavior? Will using cameras and artificial intelligence (AI) to remove the need for cashiers be a major activity?
• Deliver - How can you make your product or service delivery stand out? Will one of your main activities be to provide free pick-up and delivery services, as opposed to your rivals who need consumers to visit their stores?
• Client Service - How can you alter the way a customer is handled after the transaction has been made? Will offering native-language instructions, as Clorox does, or offering an incentive for workers to leave to test their devotion, as Zappos does, be a major activity?

Relationships with customers

Another area where important actions may assist your company in locating its blue ocean is by altering the customer connection it has with its consumers.

While other computer shops, such as Best Buy, depend on educated salesmen, which may vary and be costly, Dell took a different approach with its client relationships. Dell utilizes an online application rather of relying on a salesperson's expertise and a customer's access depending on store hours. Dell assists customers in understanding all of their configuration choices when building a custom PC by evaluating how they will use it.

There's even a running total and a list of special offers. so that the client may run a series of "what-ifs" to create a computer that meets their specific requirements while staying within their budget

Will providing an automated service, like Dell, a dedicated personal assistant for the duration of the relationship, like Wells Fargo's Private Client Services, or allowing consumers to participate in the development of your product, like YouTube, be a major activity?

Finally, although reviewing the nine basic blocks of your business model canvas may assist you in defining your main activities, you must ask yourself three fundamental questions:

• What are the essential tasks that your value propositions necessitate?
• What are the main actions that your channels necessitate?
• What are the essential actions that your customer connections necessitate?

Do you have a clear vision of all of the essential actions you'll need to do in order to deliver your product?

Thanks to Steven Imke at Business 2 Community whose reporting provided the original basis for this story.