To use this creative thinking system you will need a pen, paper, 10-15 minutes of time and discipline.
Step One:
Write down at the top of a clean sheet of paper a sales goal you want to achieve.
Example “How can I double my sales in the next 12 months’
Be very clear about the exact result you want. In other words rather than “Increase my sales” make it ‘double my sales in the next 12 months.’
Step Two:
Write down 20 answers to this question.
Step Three:
Take one of the 20 ideas and implement it immediately that day.
Step Two is the hardest part initially in using this method. It’s like going to the gym for the first time when you’re unfit and doing some exercise. (It’s hard work!!)
It may take you anywhere from 10-60 minutes to complete this exercise the first time.
Most people find that the first 5-10 ideas are pretty simple.
The next 5 are more difficult
The last 10 can seem like squeezing blood from a stone.
Here is an example of the 20 idea method being used on the goal of doubling sales in 12 months.
“What can I do to double my sales in the next 12 months?
- I could talk to double the number of prospects in the next 12 months.
- I could increase the average value of each sale by 100%.
- I could get my customers to buy twice as often
- I could double the effectiveness of my closing techniques.
- I could get five good quality referrals from each of my existing customers. (And turn two into sales.).
- I could do a joint venture for lead generation with 25 businesses in a non-competitive field.
- I could talk only to potential customers who could spend double the value of my average sale right now.
- I could double my prices
- I could half the time it takes for my sales presentation so I do twice as many presentations.
- I could double the number of prospects who enquire each month about my products or services.
- I could double my conversion rate of enquiries to sales.
- I could spend twice as much time actually making sales presentations.
- I could develop a new sales presentation that is twice as effective as my current sales presentation.
- I could concentrate on selling my products and services twice as effectively.
- I could differentiate our products and services so our customers perceive them as 100% better than our competitors.
- I could double the number of sales people who sell our products and services.
- I could get twice as much repeat business from existing customers.
- I could find twice as many benefits for my products or services and tell these new benefits to potential customers.
- I could get existing customers to start enthusiastically recommending my products and services to all their friends and colleagues.
- I could reduce or eliminate the biggest objections that customers give us for not buying our products or services.
Step three
Look over your list and implement one or more of the ideas off your list today.
Example.
In the sample exercise above you may want to encourage existing clients to start enthusiastically recommending your business to all their friends.
An appliance shop does this very well. Ten days after they make a sale to a customer they send out by courier a little pot plant and thank you note. (This costs about $10 to do) The customers love the unexpected gift and tell lot’s of their friends about the appliance shop.
A salesperson at a car dealership takes a photo of their customer with their new car. The sales person then sends this customer a desktop calendar with this photo on. This is done for a few dollars at the local copy centre. The customer loves the calendar and the car dealers get a lot of repeat and referral business from it.
The key to success with this creative thinking method is to use it regularly and implement one of the ideas you come up with.
The more ideas you generate using this method the more likely you are to come up with a good idea that will actually work to increase your sales.
“The way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away.” –
Linus Pauling
