The project aimed to create an application for Mahindra's heavy machinery equipment sales-people to drive sales by providing a unique, interactive experience on a tablet. The app provided an immersive experience to demonstrate the product features that would replace the need for physical books, pamphlets and demos. The app was designed to accommodate 11 Indian languages.
In a fast growing economy like India the infrastructure industry is booming. However, construction equipment's are not the easiest products to sell. Companies still use the acceptable medium such as brochures to sell their products as it is not possible to physically move their product to give live demonstrations to customers around the country. The sales team at Mahindra Construction Equipment (MCE) were handicapped with their promotional material, although they had a great product. It was a mammoth task for the salesperson to vividly explain each and every feature to the customers.
MCE was therefore looking for a tool that would empower the sales team to confidently sell the product and would also give the customer the assurance that he was investing in the right product for his business.
I have designed an application for Mahindra Construction Equipment salespeople to drive sales by providing a unique, interactive experience on a tablet. The app provided an immersive experience to demonstrate the product features that would replace the need for physical books, pamphlets and demos. The app was designed to accommodate 11 Indian languages.
The project was to provide a tablet based tool that would empower the sales team of MCE to confidently sell the product and demonstrate the product's features in an immersive way which would to a large extent replace the requirement of a physical demonstration.
It was important for me to understand how the sales person at MCE pitches and convince the customer that they are investing in the right product. What are the various approaches made by the sales team when they contact the customers. Apart from that, how do they explain the product and its unique feature with the help of physical broachers, pamphlet etc. and what are the challenges and barriers faced by sales person as well as the customers. We also need to understand the various aspects of the users and culture
content as the product were selling throughout the nation.
In addition, I have faced the challenge based on the proposed solution on visualizing the animation of the storyboard which showcase the current issues faced I other brand machines, solutions provided by Mahindra Equipment, its USP and highlighting the monetary benefits after buying this machine for the customers.
I lead the project and worked on various activities like requirement gathering, planning, primary & secondary research, storyboarding, conceptualization and interaction design for the project. I worked with other designers in the team who helped me at various stages in the project. I helped visual designer and animators to understand the design proposition for various transition and visuals activity. I was the point of contact for external agencies who was working on generating 3D content & animation for the project and translating the content into 11 Indian languages. I was also acting as a point of contact for the development team.
I have iterated on various solutions by which we can resolve the problems faced by the sales team like improving the sales book & restructuring it, putting a kiosk at every sales center for better customer experience, training the sales person to better approach with the materials, but among all the solution which was opted was to design an interactive sales book "E-talk" to be showcased on the tablets. The interactive to be realized through various Indian languages as it is also one of the barriers for the sales person to make a convincing pitch.
Initial phase started with understanding about Mahindra & Mahindra as brand, their core values, their footprint in the various domains and why they came into construction equipment business. It helped me in understanding the value and the mindset of the organization with respect to the equipment. I have also studied the website of the organization and the product to understand the various factors associated which they want to reflect as a positive factor for the customers which I have taken forward in the core design concept.
I have studied various materials provided by the client like brochure, pamphlets, etc. which salesman carries for the pitches, audio / video materials recorded by the sales team in the field research and marketing data. I have analyzed the data to bring out the insights which helped me in defining the design principles and during the ideation phase.
I have studied the various videos provided by the client to understand what customers think about their equipment and also what make them buy the equipment. I have also taken the physical demonstration from the salesperson to understand how they approach and convince the customers with the existing brochure.
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Operator I have synthesized all the materials and built understanding about the product, its USP's and also the kind of customers it caters. It helped me in visualizing the requirements which I have presented to the clients and set the direction.
With stakeholders and fellow designers in the team I have conducted sales book restructuring exercise to define the various approaches which can be taken for "E-Talk". The exercise was really helpful in setting the direction for the storyboard and also in visualizing the initial concept.
The output of the workshop was really good. I have defined various approaches which can be taken in defining "E-talk" concepts.
With all the inputs gathered & synthesized I have translated them into design goals which should be achieved through the design. These design goals were considered while doing storyboard & conceptualization.
The storyboard was created to depict the narration of the interaction pattern. For the maximum ease of use, several entry points were provided, so that users can take the customers to any desired section. Uninterrupted, the whole sequence would flow in sequence, that can be demonstrated through a self-running option.
Storyboard flow was categorized into four main sections & under each section various stories were built. These stories were mainly focused on four things which are as follows:
I have worked on a detail storyboard to showcase the animation and content for an E-talk. The storyboard was used by the animators to translate it into the dynamic content which was used in the final concept.
With the help of fellow designers, I have converted the storyboard into 3D visual storyboards to make it more appealing & convincing to the clients. The storyboard was presented to client & successfully approved.
I have worked on defining the color palette for the visual content and visual design of the concept with the help of various materials gathered throughout the project.
I have worked on various concepts to show the interaction model of an interactive sales book on the tablet. I have presented these directions to the client and based on our recommendation one of the concept was finalized and taken forward.
I have worked on the detail wireframes to showcase how the shortlisted approach and storyboard will work together within the concept. Also, how the animations and interactions will be used at various points.
Visual designers and animators translated the storyboard into various 2D & 3D animations. The overall look & feel, transitions and effects came out as expected.
The final output was an application (digital sales book) "Mahindra E-Talk" built on adobe flash using 2D & 3D animations to demonstrate various aspects of customers and construction equipment's like current problems faced by the customer in the existing equipment's, introduction of Mahindra Earth Master (3D animation), the solution provided by the Mahindra Earth Master and the short & long term benefits.
As a team from Tata Elxsi, we have submitted the entry in IXDA for the project. As it's a unique project and created a new tool for the marketing people & empower them to create a dynamic product experience that makes the pitch more convincing and the client confident of his investment without seeing the product.
As a team we had done a brainstorming session and designed two posters for IXDA entry. The posters were showcasing the power of sales book e-talk.
We have visualized two-minute elevated pitch video for our IXDA submission where we tried to showcase our project as what this product is about, it's offering, the impact and how it is providing a better customer experience.
Making the right sales pitch is critical to make a good first impression and clinching a deal. The e-sales book that was rolled to the entire sales team has motivated them to put in that extra effort while talking to a certain customer, which has resulted in a higher conversion rate. This has resulted in a substantial increase in enquiries contributing to the overall sales in a highly competitive market. This book has moreover given the team the flexibility to customize the product pitch as per the customer's requirement – Good features, competition analysis or interiors. Due to the dynamic features such as a multi language mode with voice over has ensured that no critical information is omitted and even the most mundane information is presented in an interactive manner. For the customer the immersive experience helps them understand the product and its benefits for his business better. It also helps them take a decision quickly as the e sales book gives them all the relevant information that is might not have had access to in the past. Lastly, what the e-sales book does is it drastically reduces the number of trips the product has to make to the customer location when it is essential to physically demonstrate the product.
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