When innovators discuss thinking creatively, they mean coming up with creative approaches to solve problems - new approaches to look at things. Just how do they do it? How may you do it too? We first must ask which are the "box" is. Only then do we look at how to get outside of it.
The "box" may be the normal method of doing things looking at things. It is the assumptions that just about everyone involved is making. The easiest method to start thinking out of the box then, is to identify and challenge all of the assumptions that define thinking inside the box.
One of the main liquor brands was faltering in years past, and they couldn't manage to boost their sales. Promotions, reducing the price, getting better shelf placement - we were holding the "in the box" solutions. Then someone challenged the assumptions, by asking "What when we stopped the promotions and merely raised the cost?"
The price grew up as an experiment, and purchasers soon doubled. Actually, some types of liquor are purchased quite often as gifts. Buyers don't want the most expensive one, but they also don't want to seem cheap, so they won't order products that don't cost enough. Imagine what happens to your profit margins once you raise the price and double sales. That's the effectiveness of thinking not in the box.
Techniques for getting Outside The Box
Challenging assumptions can be a powerful creative solving problems technique. The difficult part is to identify the assumptions. If you are designing a brand new motorcycle, write down assumptions like "speed matters," "it needs to run on gas" and "it needs two wheels," not because you expect to prove these wrong, but because challenging it may lead to creative possibilities. Most likely the time has come with an electric three-wheeled motorcycle.
Another way to get to creative solutions would be to "assume the absurd." This can be either fun or annoying, for a way open-minded you can be. All you could do is start making absurd assumptions, then finding approaches to make sense of them. The easiest way to do it is as simple as asking "what if."
What if a carpet cleaning business was more satisfied with half as many customers? It appears absurd, but work with it. Hmm...less stressful, perhaps. More profitable if each customer was worth 3 x as much. Is always that possible? Commercial jobs which involve large easy-to-clean spaces (theaters, offices, convention halls) earn more income in a day than houses, with fewer headaches. Concentrating on getting those accounts may be the most profitable way to go - not so absurd.
An additional way to more innovative ideas is usually to literally do your notions out of the box. Get free from the home or the office. Shop around at how other medication is doing things. On busses in Ecuador, salesmen put a product into everyones hands and let them hold it while they do a sales hype. Then you've to give back "your" product or pay for it. It is very effective. How will you use the principle inside your business?
The "box" may be the normal method of doing things looking at things. It is the assumptions that just about everyone involved is making. The easiest method to start thinking out of the box then, is to identify and challenge all of the assumptions that define thinking inside the box.
One of the main liquor brands was faltering in years past, and they couldn't manage to boost their sales. Promotions, reducing the price, getting better shelf placement - we were holding the "in the box" solutions. Then someone challenged the assumptions, by asking "What when we stopped the promotions and merely raised the cost?"
The price grew up as an experiment, and purchasers soon doubled. Actually, some types of liquor are purchased quite often as gifts. Buyers don't want the most expensive one, but they also don't want to seem cheap, so they won't order products that don't cost enough. Imagine what happens to your profit margins once you raise the price and double sales. That's the effectiveness of thinking not in the box.
Techniques for getting Outside The Box
Challenging assumptions can be a powerful creative solving problems technique. The difficult part is to identify the assumptions. If you are designing a brand new motorcycle, write down assumptions like "speed matters," "it needs to run on gas" and "it needs two wheels," not because you expect to prove these wrong, but because challenging it may lead to creative possibilities. Most likely the time has come with an electric three-wheeled motorcycle.
Another way to get to creative solutions would be to "assume the absurd." This can be either fun or annoying, for a way open-minded you can be. All you could do is start making absurd assumptions, then finding approaches to make sense of them. The easiest way to do it is as simple as asking "what if."
What if a carpet cleaning business was more satisfied with half as many customers? It appears absurd, but work with it. Hmm...less stressful, perhaps. More profitable if each customer was worth 3 x as much. Is always that possible? Commercial jobs which involve large easy-to-clean spaces (theaters, offices, convention halls) earn more income in a day than houses, with fewer headaches. Concentrating on getting those accounts may be the most profitable way to go - not so absurd.
An additional way to more innovative ideas is usually to literally do your notions out of the box. Get free from the home or the office. Shop around at how other medication is doing things. On busses in Ecuador, salesmen put a product into everyones hands and let them hold it while they do a sales hype. Then you've to give back "your" product or pay for it. It is very effective. How will you use the principle inside your business?
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