The makers of Business Model Generation recently shared a handy tool: testing-your-business-model-a-reference-guide.
Some tests, like A/B testing and posting “fake ads” were familiar to me. But I really enjoyed reading about “Innovation Games”, a powerful technique popularized by Luke Hohmann that help you unearth, describe, and prioritize value propositions and features by using collaborative play with your customers. These games can be played by customers online or in person. One of the recommended games is “Prune the Product Tree”:
Prune the Product Tree uses the metaphor of a gardener pruning a tree to map out how customers would like to see the features of a value proposition grow over time. In this game customers use “virtual garden shears” by placing index cards with features on the drawing of a tree to shape its growth. Cards on the outer edges of the tree are considered longer term features and represent the future. Cards placed closest represent features to add in the near term. I shared this game with a friend who is working on growing his mid-size business. He learned what many customer’s viewed as the “root” of his value proposition – a great way to focus his efforts on what matters most.
So go ahead – and give your customer’s some garden shears and tell them to start pruning.
The Growth Hack Lab 