How to gain the trust of a potential client? Everything starts on your initiative. First you show that the product or service actually has the promised properties, and then the person decides whether to open the wallet.
Of course, we can say that you are increasing sales very sharply, and in terms of saving energy or using environmentally friendly materials, you are generally light years ahead of your competitors. But these are just words. What you really need to win new clients is clear, irrefutable proof.
One of the best ways confirm your advantage - make a convincing case that clearly shows how your product or service helped the client. How can you gather information for your potential buyers that they can trust? will help you step by step guide how to write a business case.
Instructions for creating a case
Step 1. Choose what to focus on
To give your sales team a truly valuable case study, you need to choose a "candidate" - a situation that shows your business in the best light.
For example:
● Product knowledge. The more consumers know about your product, the better. Sales managers should be able to talk about product features that are valuable to the future buyer, and a detailed case will arm them with practical examples.
● A worthy result. The strongest cases come from companies that have achieved impressive results. If your product or service has actually helped someone solve a problem or increase their profits, then the potential customer will quickly become inspired to come to you.
● Unexpected success. Cases that stand out from the general picture will help rid potential clients of any doubts. For example, when a positive result came faster or the effect turned out to be better than expected. Here, for example, interesting case about the use of retargeting.
● Recognizable name. Large brands will help increase your credibility. As they do, for example, the names of clients “Optimizm.ru” in the descriptions of our services -.
● Clients who came from a competitor. Stories from consumers who ultimately chose you will highlight your competitive advantage and will help others come to the right decision, that is, turn to you.
Step 2. Get case participants
To present your company's experience in the form of an attractive case, invite a satisfied client to work with you. Formulate your expectations from the case and agree on a work schedule in advance.
The main reason why the process of creating a case is usually delayed is that the client does not have a clear schedule or rights to access the necessary data (for example, a marketer does not have access to Google Analytics). So before you dive into developing a case, give it a solid foundation.
To avoid delays, carefully ask the management of the client company whether they want to disclose the results of their work with you to the world. Then you can write an e-mail to someone who was directly involved in the project. Like that:
"Hello!
We are pleased to hear that your management is interested in us featuring you in our client's success story. I am the manager of this case, Vasily Ivanov. Attached to this letter you will find two important documents. Please review them and we can get started. Please sign the first document, key data on the case, and send it to us before we begin collecting information for the case. This will be confirmation of participation.
The second document, a letter about a success story, is an outline of the process of creating a case.
Usually the case is prepared within 1-2 weeks, depending on how quickly we collect and process the information.
Once I receive your confirmation, I will send you an online questionnaire that will help us create a unique case. Could you fill it out before March 7th?
I'm excited to get started and learn more about your successes. You can contact me with any questions.
Best regards, Vasily."
What are “case release” and “success story writing”?
Let's start with the release of the case.
It includes:
● a clear explanation of why you are creating a case and how you will use it;
● information you are going to include in the case - names, logos, numbers, positions, photographs, etc.;
● your intentions regarding the client’s participation in working with the case beyond the actual completion (is your client willing to link to the case on your website or share feedback with you; can you distribute contact information your client in his interests?);
● information about remuneration. The contents of this document may vary depending on the size of your business, area of activity and what you intend to do with the finished case.
Success story letter
This is a outline of the entire process. It should briefly explain how the client will benefit from participating in the development of the case, and describe all the main stages.
● Acceptance. First, you need to get internal buy-in from the company's marketing team. They should then send you a signed release. At this stage, you need to determine a timeline that will meet the needs and capabilities of both teams - yours and the client.
● Survey. To get a productive interview for an interesting business case, invite the client to participate in a telephone survey. This will give your team a foundation for the main interview from which you can get as much information as possible.
● Interview. After completing the survey sheet, you contact the client to schedule an interview. It may last half an hour, an hour or more. The purpose of the interview is to get answers to questions about the customer's experience with your product or service.
● Checking the draft. When the case is completed, a draft is sent to the client so that he can give feedback and make edits.
● Final approval. After making all the necessary changes, the client checks the final version of the case and finally approves it.
Once this plan begins to come to fruition, it is best to follow it together with the client. Send him a link to the page in Google.Docs where the draft case “lives”. It will be great if the client joins the task.
Step 3: Ask the right questions
During the telephone survey and the main interview, you need to ask not just questions, but the _right_ questions.
To get started, you can ask by phone:
● What are your goals?
● What challenges did you face before purchasing our product?
● What makes our product different from our competitors?
● How did your company decide to work with us?
● How have you succeeded with our product or service (preferably with specific numbers if possible)?
Remember that the questionnaire is designed so that you can ask strong, success-oriented questions during the main interview.
The golden rule of interviews is to ask open-ended questions.
If you want to write a compelling story, yes and no answers will get you nowhere. Ask in such a way that the answers are broad, and you can supplement them with clarifying questions. The simplest start for the question is “Please describe...” or "Tell me about...".
To ensure that the interview gives you all the information you need for a rich, comprehensive case study (and doesn't drag on for hours), try to keep it as planned as possible.
Interview structure:
1. Your client's business. The purpose of this section is to understand the company's current goals and challenges and where it stands in its industry.
Sample questions:
How long have you been in this business? How many employees do you have? What goals do you set for yourself in this moment?
2. Need for a solution. To write a compelling story, you need context. It will help you understand how the client's needs and your solution fit together.
Sample questions:
What problems and goals led you to find a solution? What would happen if you didn't find a solution? Have you tried other solutions that didn't work? If yes, what happened?
3. Decision making process. Finding out how the client came to the decision to work with you will help you understand how the process works for potential customers.
Sample questions:
How did you hear about our product or service? Who participated in the selection? What was most important to you when evaluating your options?
4. Implementation. Focus on how the customer got started with your product.
Sample questions:
How long did it take you to get started? Were your expectations met? Who was involved in the implementation process?
5. Solution in action. The purpose of this section is to better understand how a customer uses your product or service.
Sample questions:
Is there one aspect of our product or service that you rely on most? Who exactly is using the product or service?
6. Results. At this stage, you need to find out what the impressive (and necessarily measurable!) result is. How more numbers, all the better.
Sample questions:
How does our product or service help you save time and increase productivity? How does our product improve your competitive advantage? How much have parameters A, B, C improved?
Step 4. Present the case in an attractive way
It's time to take all the information received about how the client responds to your service and turn it into something - write a business case that is concise in form and capacious in content.
Where to begin? What to include in the case and what can be left out? How to structure a case?
1. Heading. Keep it short. Highlight your most compelling benefit.
2. Summary. Start with the main thing - 2-4 sentences about the results of the work. It’s good to supplement your resume with 2-3 indicators that demonstrate success (you can format them in bulletins).
3. About the company. Introduce your client's audience - a company or person. Brief information can be taken from the company website or from the profile in in social networks.
4. Challenges. 2-3 paragraphs about the problems and challenges that the client faced before he began using your product or service, as well as about the goals that the company set for itself.
5. How your solution helped the client. 2-3 paragraphs describing how your product or service solved the problem.
6. Client results. 2-3 paragraphs that prove that your product has had a significant impact on the company or person and helped achieve its goals. Add numbers to make your contribution to success measurable.
7. Additional illustrations, quotes. Choose one or two strong quotes to include in your conclusion. Photos of satisfied customers or infographics will also perfectly complement your story.
When preparing your case, remember that the information collected must be conveyed in the clearest and most concise manner possible. The case should be easy to read and understand. Most importantly, be sure to include a call to action at the end so that your audience has the opportunity to learn more about your products or services.
P.S. The text is based on the publication “How to Create a Compelling Business Case Study: The Ultimate Guide & Template”.
P.P.S. Some more useful information on the topic in our blog.
A case study is an example of how you resolve a problematic business situation: your own or a client’s. It serves as social proof, relieves potential customers' fears and helps promote the product.
What happened
Describe the background information in detail:
Information about the customer. Tell readers about the client - who he is, what he does, why he decided to contact you.
Problem. Describe the situation the client came to you with. Consider the cause of the problem and the pros and cons of the project. Perhaps the client has already tried to do something on his own or turned to other specialists.
Goal of the work. Be specific about the end result you planned to achieve.
Tasks. Outline ways to solve the problem. Show what methods you chose to achieve your goal.
Not all situations can be described by numbers. Ringostat blog editor Olga Feoktistova is confident that materials without quantitative results can also be useful and interesting. You can do without numbers even when introducing new ones or setting up inefficient business processes.
What did you do
Consistently present all your actions, confirm them with screenshots, tables and graphs. The case will be easier to read if the process is divided into several stages, which are accompanied by conclusions. This way, the client will see the benefit of every step you take.
Maintain chronological order. Describe difficulties, if any. The challenges you face give the project credibility and engage the reader. You prove your professionalism by revealing ways to solve problems.
If there was a team working on the project, introduce it to your potential clients. Explain:
- Why certain specialists were involved
- What tools and technologies were used
- Was the action plan standard or individual?
As the story progresses, insert client reviews and comments from your specialists in the form of sidebars. Exchange of views in live» will show how you organize interaction.
What happened
The result can be presented in absolute or relative terms. Absolute values are expressed in rubles, pieces, tons, kilometers, users.
Give exact numbers, but don't overdo it:
Complete the numbers and graphs with information:
- Did everything work out as planned?
- How long did the work take
- Have the client’s costs been recouped and how soon?
- This is the final result, or improvements will continue
A good conclusion to this section would be an extended customer review: text or video.
The result of a case can be both successful and failure. Don’t be afraid to write anti-cases - they are also part of your experience. You've already learned from failure and are telling clients how to avoid mistakes—for example, when promoting a children's summer camp.
Conclusions from the work
Create a small summary:
- Why is the project interesting?
- What goal did you strive for and what did you get?
- Brief recommendations on the topic of the case
A reader who has not had the time or inclination to study the main text will quickly judge the outcome of the project by its conclusions.
Highlight the benefits your customer received. Consider who can use your expertise and how. If the reader faces a similar problem, he will need your advice and tips for independent work. End the case with an invitation to cooperate, for example: “Do you want to achieve the same results? Contact us!”
Checklist for a compelling case
Before publishing the text, check that:
- You have the client's permission to publish. Clarify what information can be disclosed and what constitutes a trade secret. Show the text to the client before publishing.
- The case contains all the elements of the structure. There is an engaging title and announcement, initial data, a description of the work process and the result. End the text with a short summary and a proposal for cooperation.
- The quality of your service/product is confirmed by facts, figures and customer reviews. Cross out all the general phrases like: “the company’s position has improved,” “website conversion has increased,” “costs have decreased significantly.” Provide irrefutable evidence in the form of diagrams and screenshots. Ask the client to give detailed feedback on your work.
- All terms and abbreviations mentioned in the text are understandable to readers. Speak your customers' language. Explain unfamiliar words and decipher abbreviations.
- The case is interesting to read. Dilute tables and diagrams with storytelling elements: dialogues, emotions, personal impressions of the client. The head of the First Storytelling Studio, Elizaveta Vikulova, believes that a case can and should be turned into a fascinating story.
- The case is well designed: the text is structured, there are subheadings and lists, screenshots and graphics are used. Results or Comparative characteristics“before-after” are highlighted visually.
- The case format corresponds to the site, on which you will place it. Publish cases on your own blog, on social networks, in specialized online publications - attract maximum attention to your business.
Do you read case studies of companies and specialists? Why? Write in the comments why the cases are interesting to you - this will be useful to everyone who writes them.
Publishing case studies is one of the most effective B2B marketing tactics. This is not surprising, since such content is valued for describing real-life experiences of successfully using the product and acting as social proof.
Therefore, if you do not have enough facts, it is better to postpone writing it until better times. Otherwise, the reader will not believe the story about an abstract client who, with your help, achieved generally high results. Of course, you can “think of something” on your own, but if you are caught doing it, it will be more difficult to regain the trust of the audience.
Your case should be useful and describe a solution to a common problem, not a highly specialized case. This is not the type of content that is read “just like that.” The potential customer, as it were, “tryes on” the described situation for himself. Although readers may also be interested in well-written cases that talk about solving non-standard problems and rare cases.
It is important to understand why cases are written at all:
- draw attention to your product and show it in action;
- prove with a real example that the product really works;
- illustrate what results can be achieved with its help;
- convince a reader with a similar problem that with your help he will solve it;
- emphasize your competitive advantage so that the client switches to you from a competitor.
Keep this in mind, and it will be easier for you to choose a title, write abstracts and create a text structure.
Cases do not necessarily have to contain numbers in their conclusions. Often the customer sets the contractor the task of establishing work processes, implementing and customizing something. Such experience is no less valuable. Therefore, if you do not have quantitative results of working with a client, this is not a reason to refuse to work on the material. Here's an example.
How to write a compelling case study in 6 steps
Step #1: Select a demonstration project
How do you know that your topic is “ripe” for a case study? Ask yourself or your colleagues a few questions:
- Do you have a satisfied client and good results from cooperation with him?
- Would he be against publishing the case?
- How relevant is the problem we solved? Will readers be interested in learning about ways to solve it?
- Perhaps you found a new use for your product along the way?
- Are the results really impressive? Will they show your product from its advantageous side?
If you answered yes to at least one of these points, you can proceed. By the way, sometimes a good case is not necessarily a success story. The ability to admit your mistakes and describe ways to correct them can inspire no less confidence. That’s why anti-cases are now popular.
Step #2: Collect data
Some difficulties may arise here:
- the customer may not make contact;
- may not want to release numbers, reports, etc.
- does not know what data to provide.
How we usually solve these problems:
- We understand well that in 99% of cases the case is not needed by the client, but by us. Therefore, first we establish communication. Our Customer Success Manager or Support conducts regular project audits and advises on how to set up the service so that the client gets the maximum result. It is important to maintain communication all the time so that the user gets used to communication. Only after making sure that the client is happy with everything and is easy to contact, we offer to write a case.
- The main thing is not to give in to the temptation to “draw” everything yourself - this way you will get a truly “fantasy” case. Most companies agree to publish their reports if you hide confidential information in them. Or replace absolute numbers with relative ones, showing the dynamics of growth of indicators. If the client does not agree to make the numbers public, you can compromise - not mention the company name in the text.
- In our experience, sometimes the client simply does not understand that the words he has spoken can be illustrated with numbers or the dynamics of a graph. In this case, we ask him for access, for example, to Google Analytics or obtain permission to publish screenshots from reports. And we collect this data ourselves.
When all problematic issues have been resolved, you can send a special questionnaire. It is convenient when you have a list of questions for such a case in advance and they can only be slightly modified, depending on the specifics of the project. For example, a template from Ringostat is the basis, which we supplement with questions unique to a specific project.
Step #3: Write the text
As they say: “The eyes are afraid, but the hands do.” You have collected information, and now you need to organize it. The easiest way to do this is when you already have the structure of the future text.
It is not necessary to blindly copy this diagram, but keep in mind that the reader will usually expect to see answers to these questions in the case. You can write it in the form of a story, but you need to be sure that your narrative is on point and that you are not just “pouring water.”
It would be useful to see how experts in your or related fields write and format texts. A good example is cases. We recommend that you read what they write. Although the information is in English, it is very useful and simply described.
In addition, consider where the text will be published, on your blog or an external resource. The presentation will differ from this. In the first case, the user already knows about your product and is more loyal in advance. In the second, you need to write material that is as impartial as possible, but that “catches” an audience that may have never heard of you or uses the services of your competitors. Here is an example of this on the Vc.ru portal, which was written together with partners.
Step No. 4: Check and supplement
So, your text is ready. Now you need to check:
- Are the main points substantiated by facts? For example, which wording gives you more confidence? “The client began to miss fewer calls” or “The LETS online store reduced the number of missed calls by a little more than 3 times from 24.6% to 6.9%.”
- Are you presenting the numbers correctly? In the example above, we could have rounded them, but we didn't. If you are writing a case, it is better to indicate clear numbers. It has been verified that, as evidence, a person will find the figure 24.6% more convincing than 30%. But at the same time, do not overdo it, numbers in the format 87.56% or 47,561 complicate the perception of information. In addition, if a change in some indicator occurs by more than 100%, it is better to use the word “times” instead of the word “percent”. For example, the increase is not 150%, but 2.5 times.
- Does the case have enough screenshots, graphs, infographics to confirm your words and numbers.
- Is the text divided into subparagraphs and semantic blocks - this makes it easier to perceive the information.
- Are you objective when presenting information or is your case more like obvious PR? Describe not only successes, but also difficulties that arose during the work process. Write not only about yourself, but also about the tools or partners that helped you achieve your goals.
- Does it contain links to authoritative sources or at least to the client’s website. This way, the reader can click on the link and see with their own eyes what kind of project you worked on.
- Do the results of the case correspond to the stated objectives? If the introduction and goals include “increasing sales by 50%,” that’s what the reader will want to read about.
- Doesn't your text look like a dry report that makes you want to yawn? Remember that storytelling is known to increase loyalty. Your goal is to tell your potential client a success story that will captivate him, and not to lull him to sleep from the first sentence with a stream of boring facts.
- Are there quotes or customer reviews in the text? It is not always possible to get them, but if there is such an opportunity, it is better to use it. We always try to include “live” speech from our clients in our cases. It is more credible and easier to read than an impersonal statement of facts.
Don’t forget that by publishing a case, you are positioning yourself as an expert, and you will be assessed accordingly.
Step #5. Engaging the collective mind
Sometimes, to write a good case study, you need to involve other people who can help you spot the flaws:
Show your partner agency or client the finished text. It is advisable to specify edits in writing so that later there will be no complaints about the material you published. In this regard, Google Docs is convenient, in which you can provide other users with access, the ability to comment and correct text.
conclusions
Let's summarize what it takes to create a case that truly inspires confidence.
Remember that no matter how valuable your experience is, no one wants to read a dry summary of facts. And most importantly, the case must contain useful information for the reader, and not be just a “wrapper” for your company’s PR.
Every business manager and HR manager is interested in getting their hands on a specific tool that allows them to determine the level of professional competencies of sales managers and potential candidates for this position. Cases will help him with this.
Case (English) case study– research, case analysis) is a simulated practical situation that provokes discussion, requiring analysis and proposals for effective solution Problems.
Any case must contain complete information about what is happening, who is involved in it, when the result should be obtained and what resources the person solving this problem has. The specialist who solves the case needs to answer one question: how to achieve the goal?
Why are cases needed?
Using cases allows:
- test certain knowledge and skills of a specialist;
- get an idea of his values and views;
- judge the behavior pattern and individual personal qualities of a person.
Cases are also used when certifying existing employees, they are used to solve practical problems and to form a managerial personnel reserve. The use of cases in this case helps to carry out an objective assessment of the managerial experience of existing employees, identify the presence of management competencies and make decisions on the development and training of employees for management positions.
Dignity this method– realism, absence of socially desirable answers from the specialist, obtaining the most complete information about experience, skills, strategies of behavior in a given situation. The disadvantages are that preparing and conducting cases takes a lot of time, materials need to be constantly updated, because the problems addressed in the case must be relevant.
Stages of case formation
Case design involves going through the following stages:
- Determining the purpose of creation (what we will evaluate);
- Comparison of the real economic situation and the stated goal;
- Finding the necessary information;
- Development of teaching materials;
- Testing and making adjustments.
When developing a case for, you need to have a clear idea of what competencies it is aimed at assessing. Let's consider the main types of cases and the competencies that can be assessed with their help.
Criteria for a good case
When constructing a case, you should remember that, unlike traditional tasks, some cases do not have a single correct answer and can be aimed solely at testing the algorithm of actions of a potential or existing employee in the company. In this regard, it is recommended to adhere to the following criteria case solution assessments:
- adequacy and compliance of the specialist’s answers with modern market trends, constructiveness;
- creativity, originality of proposed solutions;
- number of alternative options for solving a problem (version of thinking);
- availability of necessary skills, their severity (depending on the requirements).
When using case studies, keep in mind that the answers may or may not be appropriate for a particular situation (company). It is more important in the communication process to pay attention to the person’s reaction when voicing a case and searching for its solutions.
Sales Skills Assessment
Case 1.
Task for the manager:“Give as many solutions as possible to the situation: the client demands a discount that you cannot provide.”
This case allows you to identify variability in thinking and knowledge of the specifics of sales, as well as the ability to bargain. A good sales manager should give at least 3 – 5 solution options. For example: “What can I offer instead of a discount?”, “I can offer you a slightly smaller discount, but in a more convenient form for you” or “I can offer you such a discount on a purchase of X amount.”
Case 2.
Task for the manager:“How will you act in a situation where a client makes a claim regarding delivery deadlines (they were actually violated), but you are not responsible for these deadlines?”
You can obtain information about negotiation skills and behavior in conflict situations, and the ability to make decisions.
Case 3.
Task for the manager:“Give me an answer to the question. What is more important when selling: talking or listening?
Knowledge of sales techniques is assessed.
Evaluation of price argumentation techniques
Case.
Task for the manager:“Imagine that during negotiations the client doubts the decision and says: “Your everything is very expensive.” How will you act?
Ideally, the sales manager listens carefully to the objection, asks clarifying questions, and only then presents arguments. For example: “I agree, the issue of price is really important. Let me clarify, are you comparing it with something or are there any other reasons?”
Depending on the interlocutor’s answer, a good sales manager gives 2–3 compelling arguments.
Assessing presentation ability
Case.
Task for the manager:“Let's consider the situation. Your company is giving a presentation to corporate clients. Sales managers hear this question: “Why should I choose your company?” What are your arguments?"
It is worth paying attention to the manager’s behavior: how he begins to complete the task, whether he asks clarifying questions, whether he is embarrassed, nervous, etc.
Assessing the ability to actively attract clients
Case 1.
Task for the manager:“Examine our corporate website and list your actions to attract new customers, taking into account the specifics of the company.”
Case 2.
Task for the manager:“Tell me, how are you going to find new customers?”
Case 3.
Task for the manager:“Imagine that you are on the phone with the head of the purchasing department of company X, and after the greeting you hear: “We already have suppliers.” What will you do?"
In this case, the sales manager should listen to the interlocutor and then continue the conversation, for example, as follows: “I can only say good things about the company you work with. And if I were you, I wouldn’t refuse to cooperate with them, unless, of course, I wanted to buy the product best quality at a better price. What do you say to this?
When discussing the solution to these tasks, you need to draw the sales manager's attention to the need to comply with corporate standards in finding new customers.
Assessing a Specific Skill
Another type of cases can be considered tasks that require finding a way out of given problem situations. Such tasks are not designed to determine specific skills and allow you to determine stress resistance, creativity, the ability to achieve a goal in different ways, responsibility for results, and the ability to work under strict time constraints.
Case.
Task for the manager:“You need to meet with the head of a large plant to discuss the possibility of continuing cooperation. The last deal was a failure for you, because... You let the customer down in terms of timing and quality of the goods. Naturally, the plant director is not inclined to continue cooperation. Your task is to persuade the director to cooperate.”
This type of case allows us to identify the “path to the goal”, namely: how much the manager will strive to achieve the goal or will he try to abandon it and shift responsibility to others. When assessing behavior, it is important to pay attention to the reaction speed and methods of solving the problem. At this moment, a person, as a rule, shows his preferred model of interaction in a difficult situation, shows a degree of conflict, and a tendency to redirect responsibility.
These are the main types of cases that can be used to assess the professionally significant competencies of a sales manager. Based on the examples presented, company leaders and HR managers can develop cases taking into account the specifics of the business.
The question is usually asked by students who have encountered this term for the first time. However, the concept is becoming popular in the business community. Before answering the question of what cases are and giving examples of how to solve them, let’s delve into the history of the origin of the term.
The emergence of cases
The concept first appeared in 1924. Professors at a prestigious university realized that textbooks from previous years were not capable of preparing graduates of modern professions. Manuals and manuals that are relevant at this time have not yet been created, and the previous ones are already outdated. Then the professors thought through business cases - current tasks modernity that graduates needed to solve. To do this, business owners were invited to Harvard and gave detailed instructions to graduate students. Entrepreneurs at the seminars talked about real problems that their companies faced. After this, graduate students had to find their own solution to these problems. The peculiarity of such training is that there are no right answers. You just need to find the optimal way out of the current situation. In other words, everyone chooses the solution to cases individually.
The innovation of Harvard professors turned out to be effective. The graduates actually had some semblance of experience when they left. They knew the problems and tasks of successful companies and could easily cope with the assigned tasks. In fact, solving cases as a student gave him real practice within the university. Therefore, since the mid-twentieth century, this method has spread throughout the world.
Appearance in Russia
In our country, even with the collapse of the socialist system in the nineties of the last century, the education system existed for a long time according to the established rules. The country no longer exists, but the USSR textbooks exist. Even textbooks on the history of the CPSU with Lenin on the covers finally disappeared only in the mid-nineties of the twentieth century, not to mention other disciplines.
And only Messrs. Management cases began to appear in leading universities in our country. Today, this method is actively developing in Russia. In addition, thematic case clubs are opening. The MSTU club is especially popular among schoolchildren and students. E. Bauman, NUST MISIS Career Center, etc.
So what are cases? Let's move on to the concept itself in more detail.
Concept
A case (from Latin casus) is an extraordinary situation, a problem the solution to which cannot be found in textbooks. A more accurate interpretation of the term “casus” is a problem that requires a solution, but this term came into Russian from English, in which the Latin word casus is pronounced “case”.
Students are simulated a problem situation that is as close as possible to the real one, and they must find a solution. The point is, there is no right answer. There is only the opinion of teachers and a real way out of this situation, if the case, of course, was taken from life. Methods of solution, reasoning, collective discussion, etc. are assessed.
So, we have explained what a case is, now let’s move on to the goals.
Goals
Despite the fact that the topics of the cases may differ from each other, the modeling itself, as a rule, has common goals:
- Testing students' intellectual and analytical data.
- Developing an argument for your position.
- Developing resistance to stressful situations.
- Training in time management skills.
- Development of communication
Cases during interviews
This method is used not only in educational institutions. Today, many firms use it during interviews. Every day, the employer looks less and less at the applicant’s resume, his level of education, work experience, etc. It is enough to offer a candidate for a position several cases, and everything about the person becomes clearer than various pieces of paper and recommendations.
Of course, this doesn't mean that education and experience don't matter. Without them, you may not even get to the stage of solving the case. However, it is the last stage that becomes the decisive factor when choosing an employee. In this regard, Google stands out as it develops its own methods for modeling cases. They are individual for each vacancy. Work experience and level of education will not help a candidate if he cannot solve cases. And they sometimes amaze the imagination with their deceptive simplicity.
Examples of cases
Let's give an example. The company was faced with the problem of employee performance in the sales department. Three people work. The first works with 70% of clients, the second with 20%, and the third with 10%. With these indicators, the second one shows the highest sales, but it only works with regular customers. The third, on the contrary, works only with new clients, while the first works with both new and regular ones. The task for the manager is to increase the sales plan and redistribute the flow of customers so that the company receives maximum profit.
To solve this problem it is necessary to answer the following questions:
- What opportunities for improvement might there be in this situation?
- What standards can help improve the performance of each salesperson and the sales department as a whole in the future?
Perhaps the first seller works most effectively with new customers or with regular ones. It is also worth trying to swap the places of the second and third seller. Those. the second will work only with new ones, and the third - only with permanent ones. Perhaps they are experiencing a professional crisis and need a change of scenery.
Second example
An interview is being held for the position of Head of Human Resources. The candidate must have the ability to be flexible and avoid unnecessary conflicts. It is proposed to solve the following case: the general director insisted that the daughter of an influential person be hired at the company. The previous manager gave her the position of assistant secretary. The girl herself did not express herself in any way, did not identify herself with the company and had no desire for career growth. Added to this is the lack of work experience at other enterprises.
During her work, her main skills were: receiving incoming documents, maintaining records, and filing documentation into folders. Six months later, the position of leading document management specialist became available. The general director insisted that this girl take this position. However, the company has many other employees who deserve promotion. In this task, the applicant must make a choice: either go against the general management, or work with a dissatisfied team.
Perhaps the candidate will find an acceptable option for both the CEO and the team. Case examples do not have right decisions. Each case is individual.
There are not only business cases, but also cases in other industries: pedagogy, medicine, law. In every profession, you can simulate a problem situation.
