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Wow! Factor Script

Test whether anyone actually cares

Your personas and the Wow! Factor script — a proprietary test by Dr. Gary Rhoads that uses the six-hats parallel thinking method.

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Free to start · 30 credits on signup · No credit card · Your idea stays yours

What Wow! Factor Script looks like

The tool as it appears inside the ToolSuite, shown here on an example company.

STARTUPIGNITION 5 of 12

Personas & Wow! Factor Script: ShelfSense

Six-hats parallel thinking. Method by Dr. Gary Rhoads.

Personas3
Personas
Single-store owner-operator Primary

Makes the reset decision personally, feels the loss personally, has no analyst to delegate to.

Multi-store operations lead Secondary

More budget, slower decision, and may already be locked into a distributor plan.

The script — six hats
White — facts

Walk me through the last time you reset an aisle. What did you change, and what happened to that category?

Red — instinct

When I describe modelling a reset before you move anything, what is your gut reaction?

Black — caution

What would stop you using this, even if it worked exactly as described?

Yellow — upside

If it did work, what would that be worth to you in a season?

Approve Regenerate Export PDF

Example content, shown on an invented company. Your own analysis uses your idea.

Three things it does

  1. 01

    Six-hats structure

    Respondents are moved deliberately through distinct modes of thinking instead of giving one blended opinion.

  2. 02

    Personas you can recruit

    Specific enough to actually find, which is what makes the result interpretable.

  3. 03

    A proven instrument

    Developed by Dr. Gary Rhoads and run across thousands of founders.

What it lets you do

  • Separate genuine enthusiasm from people being polite to you
  • Stop running idea tests that measure how much people like the founder
  • Get a result you can compare against your next idea

Most founder-run idea tests measure how much people like the founder. A structured instrument with a defined method measures something closer to the truth.

Where it sits

Each tool uses what the last one established. See all 13 tools in order.

Common questions

What is the Wow! Factor test?

A proprietary test developed by Dr. Gary Rhoads that uses the "six hats" parallel thinking method to gather opinions from potential customers. It runs across three tools in the ToolSuite: this one builds the personas and script, the next sets the test up, and the third scores what comes back from 0 to 10.

What is the six hats method?

Parallel thinking — respondents are deliberately moved through distinct modes of thought rather than asked for one blended opinion. The structure separates enthusiasm, objection and practical questioning, which is what stops an answer being a single polite verdict.

Why do I need personas before testing?

Because a result is only interpretable if you know who gave it. "People liked it" means nothing; "operators with more than five staff liked it and solo operators did not" is a finding you can act on.

Test whether anyone actually cares

Create a free ToolSuite account and Wow! Factor Script is there, along with the other twelve tools.

Create your free account

Free to start · 30 credits on signup · No credit card required