How To Breed An Innovative Business Idea — #19 of 31 Proven Skills [Research]
Skill #19: Stimulate People to Do More of What They are Already Inclined to Do
Persuading people to behave in some desired manner usually requires a lot of effort, especially if they are uninterested or opposed to such behavior. The innovative way to tackle this challenge is to seek something that people are predisposed to do anyway and align what you require of them with that propensity
The fundamental principle that underpins the 31 innovative skills and why they can generate innovative value is that they operate to release value that already exists and therefore no substantial effort is required to re-create it. All resources that exist possess residual value because none of them has been utilized completely. Such ‘perfect’ use is impossible. Because the residual value is already there, the relative effort needed to enjoy the total benefit when that value is released is minimal.
Skill #19: Stimulate People to Do More of What They are Already Inclined to Do obviously addresses the resource of people. Unrealized value always resides in people and, arguably, as the only category of resource that thinks and acts of its own accord. Such value is much more bountiful than that found in non-human categories such as things, objects, and concepts.
People are a Responding Resource. To date, we have discussed the skills that manipulate Initiating Resources to achieve an innovative result. As per the opening image, Initiating Resources operate through Transition Resources to stimulate Responding Resources, resulting in an innovative idea.
So, what is the unrealized value in people that is stimulated to respond?
The critical property is the existing dispositions or inclinations of people. Dispositions and inclinations contain potential, untapped value. The logic is compelling. If you desire people (e.g. customers) to respond in a particular way to an initiative (e.g. a product or service offering), the effort you need to mount is significantly reduced if you tap into what they have the propensity to do anyway. Skill #19 generates innovative value because it presents an Initiating Resource that recognizes a readiness or tendency in the target audience to perform in the specific manner desired.
Time to illustrate.
Collecting donations is a tough gig. Consumer society is built on the notion that handing over money is contingent upon getting something tangible in return. Asking people to donate to a cause cuts across this expectation. People are not usually disposed to give when they get nothing (tangible) in return. They are unwilling parties to such a transaction.
This is where Skill #19: Stimulate People to Do More of What They are Already Inclined to Do is the innovative answer. To boost its success in raising donations for its humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide, UNICEF focuses upon a disposition of people that (unusually) equates to a willingness to give money away without a quantifiable benefit attached. They do this by addressing the inconvenience air travelers face in holding currency that is worthless in their destination country. UNICEF places collection envelopes on planes for such unwanted coinage and notes. People who may not normally be predisposed to donate are transformed into willing donors when a potential hassle can be conveniently dealt with.
Other Examples of Stimulating People to do What They Want To*
In business situations, persuading someone to buy your product or service if they are not interested is very difficult. Persuading them if they are indifferent is also hard. Convincing them when they are intending to make the purchase anyway is self-evidently a most desirable scenario. Skill #19 is an ideal innovative strategy for achieving this.
A car rental company wants to build upon the revenue it obtains through hiring vehicles to customers. It knows that each car hirer will usually fill up with fuel just before returning the car as contractually required. The company piggybacks this anticipated behavior by suggesting that clients pay for an additional tank of fuel at a discounted price at the time of hire, instead of buying the gas elsewhere at market prices at the end of their journey. Drawing early upon the future, assured behavior of customers proves to be an innovative way to achieve the desired additional income.
At some stage, most organizations must find out what others think about what they are doing, especially how their customers see them and how they are performing compared with the competition. This requires research, and with so many enterprises regularly conducting various types of surveys — which by definition demand unpaid-for-time from the respondent — many of those approached simply decline to participate. To address this problem, a recruitment firm taps into the disposition of most people to help younger persons prepare for their future careers by employing students studying human resources to conduct research on their behalf. These students are not only familiar with the field being researched, but their personal status helps secure interview time from people who are naturally inclined to help them in their required coursework. By putting itself in the path of a common, benevolent tendency, the recruitment company innovatively secures an adequate overall response to its survey.
Influencing people so that they do something that helps you meet a particular objective is nearly always a challenge. This challenge is far less formidable if you put yourself in the position of persuading people to do something that they are inclined to do anyway. Meeting a readiness or tendency with something that naturally discharges that propensity is a sure path to follow.
Takeaway
*Thousands of categorized innovative business ideas can be found at Sebir.com
