To foster a culture of innovation in a company’s sales team, risk takers must be encouraged and internal negativity minimized. Marketing Director Jodie Shaw of ActionCOACH, a leading business coaching firm, recalls a client success that occurred when a new perspective was applied:
“Our client, a large independent bakery, was having difficulty launching a new product,” Shaw said. “Market testing confirmed that people liked the product, but the client couldn’t get mindshare with the consumer. The company had tried a number of promotions, even discounting the product substantially, with no success.
“Their ActionCOACH Business Coach suggested repositioning the discount as a ‘$1 trade-in’ the customer would receive for her old loaf of bread. No one traded in bread, the idea sounded crazy. But they tried it, and it caused a commotion. The local paper and a TV station even picked up the story. The new product became a strong seller.”
Obviously, every crazy idea doesn’t succeed, but sometimes the sane strategies aren’t working either. At those times, companies need fresh insight and new ideas. Naturally, creativity comes easier to some than others. And even the most creative thinkers hit a wall, a writer’s block if you will, at times. Shaw offers a few questions she uses to re-start her creative juices when needed:
• What is the project objective?
• How could we double revenue in the next year?
• List every conceivable strategy for this project, no matter how outrageous.
• What are the barriers to our success?
• What additional resources will be needed?
• How will we measure our success?
• What steps could be taken to ensure results and limit risks?
• How can this project increase our value to customers?
By encouraging participation from everyone and being open to any creative input, management empowers innovation and collaboration. In practice, even the most uninspired thinker on the team can produce the best idea on occasion. Once a strategy is selected, Shaw advises applying standard marketing processes to identify the company’s target prospects and marketing media.
About ActionCOACH
ActionCOACH is the world’s number one business coaching firm, with more than 1,000 offices in 26 countries. To learn more about business coaching and ActionCOACH, go to actioncoach.com.
