A past client wanted to run an idea by me for a new service he had developed. He claimed it would increase efficiency on an existing technology. Upon his one sentence pitch, it instantly made sense. I thought to myself he has a big one here! But then it was all downhill. The idea was terrific but he hadn't begun to think through the execution.

We spoke for over an hour on all the possibilities and he realized that his idea might be much better than he originally thought. Simply changing the delivery method could increase his success dramatically. He was short-sided on the scope of the idea and how to roll it out.

Too often we view the idea as the end result. The idea is only as good as the implementation. It is what you do after you come up with the idea that counts.

Merchandise for success

Do you own a retail shop? What a pain it is to re-arrange the merchandise. It seems you just did it last week. Why not just assign the job to an employee. Will they do it? Do they even know what merchandising is. Do you?

Getting a quality customer into the door for the first time may be difficult but getting them back over and over again is imperative for a successful business. Good merchandising is as important as the products you sell. When a customer does return, they better see things they didn't see the last time. Highlighting something new every day and rotating merchandise around the store on a frequent basis will increase your chances they will visit your shop more often.

Leave everything in the same place and you will become a destination location. In a supermarket, you always know where to find the milk but rarely go to browse. A good supermarket, however, merchandises effectively by moving seasonal merchandise around the store, placing floor displays in key locations and calling attention to merchandise on endcaps. This way when a customer does come in for something, they often walk away with additional things.

Make your store a fun place to shop. Don't leave this task to someone who doesn't take it seriously. This can mean the difference between great success and prolonged failure!

Great Parenting

As a parent, I have found that providing your children with the tools to succeed is far better than simply doing it for them. It is hard to potentially watch them fail, but with failure comes knowledge and with knowledge comes success. Just yesterday a close friend sent me an eMail about a young woman she had just met at an art festival. She said among other things that she reminded her of me. She went on to quote an idea I had done back in the late 1970s and how it had stuck with her. She asked me to take a look at her website.

Normally, I would pass on such a request but out of respect for my friend, I clicked. WOW, was I impressed. Not necessarily by the merchandise she was offering (although very unique, well presented, well executed and probably very attractive to her young female audience), but by her story. She is not a talker... she is a doer. My favorite part of her website was "The Story." As a young girl she had wanted to purchase something and her mother said if she wanted it that badly, she would have to figure out a way to earn it herself. Her mom didn't do it for her, she provided the environment for her to do it herself. What is most impressive is that this young lady went out and did it. She didn't talk about all her ideas and what she was going to do... she made it happen!

Everyone has the opportunity to make things happen but often we give up too quickly or procrastinate or find obstacles that stall us in our tracks. The real heros are the ones who don't stop. My support goes out to this young woman who now is in college in an entrepreneurship program. This lucky university will soon be boasting about the success of one of their own! These stories always make my day as she will be one of the successful ones!

Focus Focus Focus

The average consumer doesn't care about the details. They care about how your idea is going to benefit them.

If an automobile company told you about the antenna they built into the windshield that converts frequencies into sound waves that are passed through to your radio with insulated wires, most people would get bored. You want to know that when you turn on the radio, it is going to play your favorite station.

What is it about your idea that is going to benefit your customer. Can you explain it in less than a minute. After that I am probably going to get bored... or confused. When a consumer is making a purchasing decision, they don't care about the details, they are convinced by the benefits. And you better hook them with the first benefit you offer.

Think it through

Ideas come in all shapes and sizes. Some are very grand and some are simple improvements to existing things. Can you make your idea a reality? Consider this. You are a golfer. You spend half your time looking for your golf ball. You think, there should be a homing device built into the ball so you could locate it quickly. Seems to make sense. Less lost balls, happier golfers! What are the benefits? The average golfer wouldn't loose so many balls. It would be much faster to locate your shot you wouldn't have to be so careful watching where your shot goes. Makes perfect sense. What would it cost? Would the ball still be in regulation? With the average golf ball costing anywhere from one to four dollars, you think this could be a big savings! Your head is spinning. You might be on to something big!

Can you really invent this. If you tell someone else, will they take the idea? Should I get it patented? Are there any down sides? This is going to be the best thing for golf since the portable range finder!

To be fair, I have heard this one many times over the past 30 years. Besides all the technical questions about the possible technology, my first question to the person, who whispers the idea to me in hopes nobody around us will hear, is would you buy this? What if you hit the ball in the water or deep in the rough? Given the choice of distance and accuracy over finding your ball quicker, which would you choose?

Who knows if this idea could really be a success. My feeling is that I could not make it a success and therefore it is not for me. That doesn't mean the idea can't be successful, it just means after evaluating it for my strengths, I have to pass.

It's who you choose to know

Most would say it is "who you know" and while I do believe in that I also find that it is who you choose to know. I observed a relative the other day offering up contacts of anyone who might be helpful to one his friends. It seemed to come natural to him. The person being offered the contacts smiled and politely said that would be great. Not being familiar with the line of business this man was in I can't comment on whether or not the contacts may be helpful but I can say that too many of us don't take advantage of who others may know.

You never know who you might come in contact with that can help you with your idea. By helping others you may find that you are also helping yourself. I am always quick to offer who I might know that could assist someone. Not because I want something from it but because I realize that in helping others, I am also helping myself. Most don't take advantage of contacts and some who do and don't have a positive response look the other way. Good salespeople are usually the best at sharing contacts but it is important that we all challenge ourselves to be good at this. Make the choice to find good contacts.

Don't shy away from the difficult stuff

It is always easy to find something else to do when you are faced with a task you are uncomfortable with. I am certainly faced with these tasks everyday. What I have found is that if I take them head on and just decide to do them, I am almost always happy with the outcome even if it isn't positive. I used to hate public speaking. To talk in front of a crowd made me terrified. What are they going to think of me? Then I turned it around and started to ask what am I going to get from this? Does it really matter what they think of me? If I do something enough, I will get better at it and look what that could bring me in the future.

At trade shows, people from other booths always comment about how forward I am. That I am willing to talk to anyone about anything. The way I look at it is that I have spent the money to pay for a booth, I have paid for a hotel room, transportation and given up time with my family. My job at the show is to talk to as many people as I possibly can during the show and get as much as I possibly can. Once the show is over, you can't get that time back.

I have come to realize that there really is no down side. The difficult stuff is the same as the easy stuff. It is all just stuff!