Have you ever felt unable to come up with a new idea? It can be frustrating when you feel that everything has already been done before. Creating great ideas doesn’t have to feel this way, and it can be done by tapping to your own experiences and previous ideas. Read on for some ways to get started.
- Break down your niche market even further and fill in those needs. Niche marketing is an effective way to stand out from your competitors. With some research and preparation, you can find a smaller segment of your market to focus on and provide solutions to those customers’ needs. For example, one direct seller of travel packages decided to create a niche out of her love of homeschooling by tapping into her family’s experiences combining travel and learning. This is a great niche since there are many families throughout the country who home-school their children, but at the same time, it is a very specific market and need that is being fulfilled. Start with what you know, do some research online and in person (customer surveys, interviews), and segment your target market.
- Improve upon old ideas. Perhaps there is something you have tried in the past that didn’t work as well as you had hoped. Instead of scrapping the idea altogether, go back and evaluate exactly how or why it went wrong. Maybe you tested out a new activity at your home party designed to spark interest in your opportunity, but it fell flat. Consider your audience, your presentation, the level of difficulty, the fun factor, etc. How could you make it better? By improving upon old ideas, you may be able to come up with something completely new and much more effective.
- Combine ideas. Sometimes our ideas don’t work well on their own, but combined with each other, can help some aspect of the business tremendously. Many direct sales companies ship all the products ordered at a home show directly to the hostess. From a guest’s perspective, it all becomes a waiting game about when the hostess gets around to contacting you that your order is in, or when she is available for the guest to pick it up or drop it off to her. In a lot of instances, the process of getting the product to the guest can be complicated and time-consuming. One consultant had an idea for the hostess to send a text message to her guests when the order arrives in the hopes that it would speed up the process. However, this idea relied too heavily on the hostess actually sending the text. Instead, the consultant combined this idea with another idea for a contest; she contacts the hostess around the time of the expected shipment to make sure it arrived, and then the consultant sends out a text to the guests that the first one to get her order receives 10% off the next purchase. Get creative by recycling and combining past ideas.
- Collaborate with others. There is a multitude of ways to collaborate with others for a mutually beneficial outcome. Consider direct sellers from other companies as well as local businesses related to yours for a starting point. For example, a local weight loss center opened their doors to an independent makeup consultant to set up her table in their lobby once a week. Every time someone came in for a weigh-in appointment, the consultant had an opportunity to demonstrate some products and offer a “total makeover” to celebrate the customer’s weight loss. This helped the consultant reach a new and more populated customer base, and it helped the weight-loss center stand out from its competitor down the street by offering an extra service. Use your networking skills to join forces with others and brainstorm ideas that will benefit both parties involved.
How have you generated some great ideas? Please share with us in the comments section below!
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