Innovation… It’s Easier Than You Think!

When you hear the word innovation, what comes to mind? For many people, they think of large technology companies, manufacturing changes, industry leaders and global trend setters. Although the innovations that you see in the industries mentioned definitely make an impact on a global scale, the reality is that you too can innovate in your business every single day.

You see, innovating is really just finding the answer to a simple question: “How do I serve my customers even better than I did yesterday?”

If you are looking to deliver value and serve your customers better than you did yesterday, looking at the way that you can modify processes, upgrade your product and service offerings and upskill your people, then you are an innovator.

To get to the essence of innovation we need to understand human behaviour. Fundamentally, we are all the same. What drives your behaviour is the same as that which drives your customers’. At their core, your customer is:

• Greedy
• Impatient
• Lazy
• Vain

Stay with me on this one… ask yourself; would you prefer to have one million dollars or ten dollars? The obvious answer is a million dollars. Gee! You are greedy. Would you prefer that million dollars today or in 12 months’ time? See? You are so impatient. Would you like me to deposit that one million dollars directly into your account, or would you like me to give you a cheque that you need to bank yourself and then wait five days for it to clear? Wow! Pretty lazy there, aren’t you? Finally, would you like me to shake your hand, pat you on the back, and tell you how much I value our relationship when I give you the million dollars? Of course! See? You are just as vain as anybody else.

As we are all the same at a fundamental level, it’s really quite simple to meet the above needs:

• As people are greedy, give them more than they expect
• As people are impatient, give it to them quickly!
• Most people are lazy, so make it easy for them
• Finally, appeal to people’s vanity by making them feel good in the process

As you can see, innovation isn’t that complicated, however for each business it may be different. Implementation will take time, thought and training. To challenge the status quo; to break the unbroken and to continue to improve the way you are serving your customers requires a consistent approach. It is not just a process, it is a philosophy.

I suggest that you take the characteristics that we have discussed above, approach your team and see what they can come up with to appeal to your client’s greed, laziness, impatience and vanity. Have fun in the process and all the best to continue to be a leader in your field.

For more information on growing your business contact the PROTRADE United team on 1300 767 774.

Written by Jon Mailer

CEO of PROTRADE United

www.protradeunited.com.au

1300 767 774