The Doll House Experience for Team Building

Build a Doll House Philanthropic Team Building
to Fine-tune Your Team's Sales & Marketing Skills

The Doll House Experience merges our Inc. Inc. and You're the Boss: Apprentice Simulation to create a truly unique experience. This business simulation creates a parallel universe that mirrors and reflects your organization's realities. The goal is to give your team an opportunity to:

• work with members of other teams
• experience departments, functions and organizational levels that are different from their usual roles
• improve their sales and marketing skills and strategies
• break down silos and enhance cross-functional teamwork

This simulation is available in Canada. In the USA, click here.

We strongly recommend that you devote at least 1 1/2 The Doll House for a thorough debrief and to give your group ample opportunity to return to their intact teams and bridge between the simulation and your real world business challenges.

The 1 1/2 - 2 day version of this team building session will give us an opportunity to guide your team through decision making, strategy formulation and implementation planning.

Another option would be to have a half day planning and strategy session a week before the day on which the doll houses will be built and sold.

Approach

We will divide your group into at least 2 companies that they will run for about 3- 4 hours (not including lunch). Then, we will debrief their experience and glean key learnings about working in a cross functional environment, the importance of operating as a cohesive unit, and overcoming the silo mentality.

Scenario:

After a brief recruitment and orientation session, participants will begin to operate at least 2 companies, competitors in the same market. Each company's role is to manufacture, market and sell doll houses.

There are several approaches to the sales task.

• We can select a specific charitable organization that will receive the doll houses.
  Representatives from that organization can play the role of corporate client. The sales teams will design and develop a customized presentation for the client. During the presentation, they will also use the brochures and collateral developed by the marketing team. "The client" will select the winning team.
  
  
• In advance, licenses and stalls can be obtained so that the sale can take place at a local market.
  The role of each marketing team will be to create a buzz and draw in as many customers as possible so that the sales team can sell the bikes. The company that raises the most money for charity through the sale of the bikes wins. All funds raised and doll houses that are not sold will be donated to a local charity for children.
  
  
• Another strategy could be for the teams to to sell raffle tickets for the doll houses and raise money for charity.
  
  

This session does require some logistics so we strongly recommend that you book it at least 6 weeks prior to the date of your team building session.

Pre Session Logistics:

A Few Weeks Prior to the Session
Participant Profiles and Learning Styles Inventories will be used to assist with planning and team formation. Some of the questions will help us identify which participants are familiar with some of the tools we will be using, which individuals possess video equipment and digital cameras and which individuals are proficient in Powerpoint. We will ensure that we spread the individuals with the required skills out between the companies. Participants will receive communication about the purpose of the simulation, organizational charts and floor plans, their position, role and responsibilities within the simulation.

The Day Before the Session
Facilitators will set up the large meeting room and one of the breakout rooms to be used as a company the day prior to the session. It is also highly recommended that we set up the area the day prior to the session and hold a 2 hour briefing session with the individuals who will be playing the role of team leaders in the simulation. The facilitators will set up the other rooms the night before the session.

3 - 4 Organizational Levels

• Chief Team Leader
• Team Leaders
• Manufacturing Team Supervisors
  (for Large Groups Only)
• Team Members

4 Teams

• Manufacturing
• Sales
• Marketing
• Corporate Communication

Role Descriptions
and Task Assignments:

Manufacturing Team
The manufacturing team will assemble, decorate and test the product (1 fully furnished doll house per company). There will be a QC inspection by a specialist in miniature building. The testing could also consist of a brief relay and obstacle course.

Marketing Teams
The marketing teams will design and implement a marketing strategy to create a buzz and generate interest by prospective customers.
(You will develop a TV commercial that will be shot and used in both the sales presentation to select a winner and the final boardroom when the presentation specialists are re-capping the Company’s strategy).

Skill and Equipment Required: The marketing team members should be proficient in the use of Powerpont and have one or two lap tops.

Sales Team
The sales team will prepare a sales presentation, set up the sales display and be the primary force to sell the doll houses. (The Marketing team will develop a TV commercial and other marketing communication pieces for prospective client.)

Corporate Communications Team
This team consists of:

• Presentation Specialists
  Presentation specialists will stay at the venue and develop a 5-minute presentation that provides an overview of the each company’s strategy, strengths, challenges, and results.
  
  Skill and Equipment Required:The presentation specialists must be proficient in the use of Powerpoint and must have their own laptops that they can bring to the location.
  
  
• Videographers
  Videographers will be assigned to each area of the company to capture the experience on video and take still photos. They will have an opportunity to edit to their footage and create a 2 - 3 minute montage for use in conjunction with the company presentations.
  
  Skills and Equipment Required: Great care should be taken to select people with their own camera equipment and editing skills for the videographer roles.

PROPOSED AGENDA

Orientation

Team Briefing Sessions

Manufacturing & Strategy

• Manufacturing Teams Assemble and Decorate the Doll Houses and Doll House Furniture
• Marketing Teams Design the Marketing Strategy, Print Brochures and Market Bike Sale
• Sales Team Prepares the Sales Presentations and Sets up Stall or Presentation Room
• Corporate Communication Team Prepares Presentation to Describe Company Strategy and Capture Highlights of the Day

Lunch

Sales Challenge

Debriefing Preparation

Boardroom

• Company Presentations
• Video Highlights
• Discussion of Team Strategy and Lessons Learned
• Announcement of Results and Winner
• Application Exercises Focusing on Your Company's Business Challenges

To describe your requirements and find out how we can help you achieve your objectives, please submit the Booking Request Form that you can access through the Book Services tabs or links.

Return to:

Corporate Team Building

To help you plan your corporate team building session, please check out:

Our Corporate Team Building Primer

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