Where do New Ideas Come From?
"The
Thinking Power of an Army"
When TEC new products development expert Mitch
Goozé asks TEC members, "What are your constraints
to getting new things done?" he says the answer never is: "Lack
of ideas." In truth, ideas are plentiful -- good ideas
are fewer and farther between.
To get at the good ideas, says fellow TEC expert
Nick Webb, a company should strive for an open culture that
encourages and rewards innovative thinking. Webb advocates the practice
of "idea mining" -- soliciting input from a wide array
of sources, including employees, vendors, other stakeholders and,
most importantly, your customer base. (See "The Voice of the
Customer" in Additional Resources
below.)
"The best ideas come from the people who
use your existing product," he says.
Both TEC experts suggest facilitating greater
interaction between representatives of your organization and those
customers. This includes your sales force, since they're well-positioned
to listen to customers on a regular basis. But, says Goozé,
the people behind the scenes -- managers, engineers, etc. -- should
be encouraged to get out in the field and talk more often with "real
customers."
Webb urges the use of "idea portals"
to develop an ongoing flow of ideas within the organization. One
example: "poster boarding" in offices, boardrooms, kitchens,
where staff can post suggestions and identify areas of additional
value to customers. Another vehicle: an online submission process,
where new ideas can be posted and reviewed on a regular basis.
"In the right atmosphere, idea mining
can unleash the thinking power of an army," he says.
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Idea Screening
With the right environment in place and a steady
flow of potentially profitable ideas, what then? Without direction
and discipline, say the TEC experts, businesses squander vast amounts
of time and money chasing after new product ideas, only to find
in the end that they lack certain critical ingredients, such as:
- Viable integration with existing product
lines
- Realistic product service requirements
- Adequate supply chain management
- Sufficient distribution capacities
"With all the ideas pouring in, you have
to design evaluation filters to screen the good from the
bad," Webb says. He suggests a model called a "success
triangle" (customer need + problem + opportunity) as a quick,
easy-to-use evaluation tool for assessing the feasibility of a new
idea.
"Can you make this new product in an affordable
way?" he asks. "Will the customer be willing to pay a
certain price for it? You can evaluate most ideas in this way, without
going to great expense to determine an idea's validity."
Most multi-million dollar projects, he contends,
could be evaluated on the back of a cocktail napkin.
Other criteria to consider when analyzing the
potential merit of a new product idea:
- What is the necessary investment?
- What is our present and potential competition?
- What is the new product's projected
sales volume?
- What is its projected ROI?
Above all, says Goozé, make sure
the proposed idea remains consistent with your company's resources
and objectives. If it lacks clearly defined ties to the organization's
infrastructure -- and can't be produced and serviced in sufficient
quantities -- it probably won't fly.
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Additional
Resources
Below are links to more best practices as defined
by our expert panel:
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