Welcome to my blog – Innovation Explained.  My name is Steve Sponseller, and I teach entrepreneurs and business leaders how to tap into the power of innovative ideas to grow their business.  I enjoy working with innovative companies and have more than 20 years of experience counseling companies of all sizes in a variety of different industries.  I have worked as an Electrical Engineer and an Intellectual Property attorney – I am also the founder of my own company, Innovation Strategies, Inc.  These experiences give me a unique perspective on business from both the “inside” and the “outside”.

After working with hundreds of business leaders and innovators, I have developed proven systems and techniques to identify, develop and implement innovations in any business.  These innovations can grow your company by increasing revenue, reducing expenses, providing a competitive edge, positioning the company as an “innovator” in the market, and more.  I also “practice what I preach” by applying my innovation systems and techniques in my own company.  Keep watch for my upcoming book:  The Innovation Handbook for Small Businesses.

The first step to creating an innovation strategy is understanding innovation and how to leverage creative ideas in your business.  This blog provides regular information related to business innovation that you can apply in your own company right away.  Get your free report “Innovation Excellence” using the sign-up box on this page (top-right corner) to start developing your own Innovation Strategy.

1. Distinguish your Business from Competitors.  Businesses (regardless of size) can distinguish themselves from others in the marketplace by identifying and developing creative ideas.  Rather than simply following “industry standards” and creating more of the same products, apply an Innovation Strategy to develop products that set your company apart from everyone else.  Look for ways to make your products faster, more efficient or more fun to use.  Set a goal to identify problems faced by your market and create solutions to those problems.  When you implement a solution to a problem faced by everyone in your market, you will definitely stand out from the crowd.

2. Get Free Advertising.  When you distinguish yourself as an innovator (or innovative company), you attract media attention.  Think about all the free advertising today’s most innovative companies receive.  When you develop innovative products that solve industry problems or simply improve the lives of individuals, you will receive media coverage.  Additionally, you can benefit from free “word of mouth” advertising when customers share their excitement about your products with friends, family, and co-workers.  This free advertising provides a tremendous advantage to your business.

3. Attract Top Quality Employees.  Many people want to work for businesses that are making a difference in their market.  When you position your business as an “Innovator”, you get the attention of potential customers as well as potential employees.  By creating a desire in others to work for your company, you are able to pick from the best candidates when you have a job opening or are searching for a contractor.  And, since many people want to work for innovative companies, you will likely have better employee retention.

4. Streamline Internal Business Processes.  Advantages of innovation also include improving your internal business procedures.  By analyzing existing processes, you can identify problems that affect the overall operation of your company.  By applying your innovation skills to those problems, you can streamline the way your business operates.  In many situations, companies have completely eliminated several existing procedures by modifying other processes.  Innovation techniques can be applied to any process, such as internal design processes, manufacturing processes, shipping procedures, and more.

These represent just a few of the many ways to use innovation in your business.  Please share your favorite innovation examples by posting a Comment below.

Unfortunately, many business leaders fall into the trap of believing that the business founders and other business personnel are best suited to identify all ideas related to growth of the business.  In many situations, these business leaders fail to seek (or simply ignore) input from people outside the company.  However, people outside the company’s day-to-day operations typically have a different perspective.  They are not caught-up in the systems, procedures, and other activities that dominate the lives of individuals working within the company.  These outside people look at the business with a fresh view and don’t bring with them the “baggage” collected by working within the business.

I recently took this advice in my own business.  I worked with an outside business strategist, Jeanette Cates, to look at my existing business and give me new ideas.  Although she knew nothing about my business before we started, she gave me a long list of great ideas to take my business to the next level.  Being an outsider to my business, Jeanette was unaware of the internal workings of my company.  Instead, she approached the systems and products I had put in place and questioned those systems and started asking whether I had considered other approaches to expanding my business.  She shared her experiences with other companies in which different business procedures were successfully implemented.  I would probably not have come up with many of the ideas Jeanette proposed, because I do not have the same experiences or the same background.

This is true of any business.  Regardless of the expertise of the business’ leaders, there are always other people outside the business with different experiences and backgrounds.  Additionally, these outside people are not distracted by the internal workings of the business.  Instead, they can view the business as something brand new and begin questioning everything the business is doing (or not doing).  An outside person does not get stuck in the “this is how we have always done things” syndrome.  Often, in a short period of time, an outside individual can suggest improvements that otherwise would not have been discovered by people working “inside” the business.

If you are looking for new ways to accelerate your business, consider getting a fresh perspective from someone outside your business.  Please share your own experiences with outside individuals in the comments below.

The device, called a fitbit, is a 21st century pedometer (see picture on the left – click the picture to visit the company’s web site).  The old-fashioned pedometers measured the number of steps a person walked each day.  I had one of those old devices many years ago – I used it for a while, but the novelty wore off quickly.  I often had to adjust the device to be sure it was properly registering my steps.  Counting my steps each day was useful, but the device had no other features.  Also, I had to record my steps each day and then reset the pedometer each morning.

But, my new fitbit is a completely different story.  Yes, it counts my steps – but that’s just the beginning.  This device counts the number of stairs climbed each day, the number of calories burned, sleep patterns, and more.  The fitbit wirelessly communicates with my laptop, which automatically stores my daily steps, stairs climbed, and other data.  Also, an app for my smartphone displays this data and lets me enter other information, such as the glasses of water I drink, the food I eat, and more.  I recharge the device about once a week by connecting it to a docking device that connects to my computer.

The small size allows me to easily carry the fitbit in my pocket or clip it on a shirt sleeve or belt.  I find myself looking at the device many times each day and it helps motivate me to go for a quick walk or climb an extra flight of stairs to meet my daily goals.  And, you can “compete” with your friends that also have a fitbit to see who climbs the most stairs in a day, etc.  This social aspect of fitness provides new motivation to be active every day – and lets me participate with friends all over the world.

I love innovative products like this – taking an existing product (pedometer) and putting a new “twist” on the design that completely changes the functionality and usefulness of the product.  Think about the products/services in your own business.  Can you “update” those products/services to create a whole new user experience?  And, if you have a fitbit, let me know so we can have a friendly fitness competition.

Here are three tips to help you get the most out of your brainstorming sessions.

1. Schedule Brainstorming Time – Put this activity on your calendar so it is not forgotten or pushed aside by another project.  Schedule as much time as you can, but even a 10 minute brainstorming session can generate a long list of creative ideas.
2. Record Everything – During your brainstorming activities, write down every idea that comes to mind.  Do not filter out any ideas and never trust yourself to remember the ideas at a later time.  Write them down immediately so you can refer back to the ideas in the future.
3. No Criticism or Judging – When you are capturing creative ideas, do not criticize or judge any of the ideas.  You can evaluate your list of ideas at a later time.  During the brainstorming session, your goal is simply to come up with ideas and get them recorded.  Don’t worry about the cost or other obstacles involved with implementing an idea, just write it down.  If you are brainstorming with other people, do not criticize or judge any person’s  ideas – that can ruin a brainstorming session.

After your brainstorming session, keep writing down future ideas as they come to you.  For the next few days, be sure to keep a pencil and paper, recorder or other system close to you for recording additional thoughts.  These thoughts may be completely new ideas, a refinement of an earlier idea, or thoughts on how to implement a particular idea.  The same rules apply here: write down every idea without any criticism or judging.

Try scheduling a brainstorming activity every week and watch your list of creative ideas grow.

There are many examples of businesses that failed, at least in part, because they did not recognize trends in their own industry.  Blockbuster Video is one example.  There are many stories and theories regarding the reasons for the downfall of Blockbuster.  But, most business analysts agree that the company waited too long to revise its business model of renting DVDs from retail stores.  By the time the company began offering DVDs by mail, the strongest competitor offering that service (Netflix) already had a big lead.  Netflix has gone on to offer instant downloads as well – following the trend of growing Internet access and increased download capacities.

There are many factors that cause a particular company to experience problems, but it appears that Blockbuster’s failure to take action on industry trends was a significant part of its current problems.

When was the last time you looked at trends in your own industry?  What about general trends, such as increased mobile phone usage, mobile advertising and point-of-sale purchases using mobile phones?

You do not need to be on the very leading edge of these trends, but you cannot ignore trends that affect your business.  Social media is a good example.  Certain groups of people rely heavily on social media as their primary means of communication.  If your customers are in these groups, you need to have a social media presence if you want to reach these customers.

Keep an eye on others in your industry to see how they are adjusting to certain trends.  Don’t just copy what they are doing.  Be innovative and develop your own procedures or systems that leverage those trends to strengthen your business.

Many trends move quickly – spend some time this week studying current trends and look for ways to leverage those trends to grow your business.

I was talking with a friend recently who mentioned that he often comes up with his most creative ideas in the shower.  I found that interesting because I also have innovative ideas while in the shower.  I also have many creative ideas when I’m driving.

Since we all have creative thoughts at unexpected times, it is important to be prepared for those innovative ideas ahead of time.  To me, being prepared means having a way to record the innovative idea before it “disappears”.  Here are a few ways to be sure you are always prepared to record your innovative thoughts:

1. Carry a pen/pencil and paper with you at all times – get a small pad of paper and a short pencil that easily fit in your pocket or purse.
2. If you have innovative ideas in the middle of the night, keep a pad of paper next to your bed to record those ideas.
3. Use an audio recorder to quickly record your thoughts.  Or, carry a portable video camera, like the Flip video camera.  Since these video cameras also include microphones, you can use them to record your thoughts – just ignore the video.
4. Use your cell phone.  If you have a smart phone, use a note-taking application or a voice recording application.  If your phone does not have those abilities, send yourself a text message or call your voicemail and leave a message for yourself.
5. Keep a pad of paper and a pen in your car.  If I’m waiting in my car for an appointment or to pick up one of my kids, I will often use that time as a mini-brainstorming session and write down all of my ideas.
6. Put a white board in your office or other location just for creative ideas.  I have a white board in my office that is used exclusively for innovative business ideas related to my current projects.

I realize that the above ideas for recording your thoughts probably won’t work in the shower.  So, here’s an opportunity for you to innovate:  How can you record ideas while in the shower?  A water-proof white board?  Leave a comment below with your ideas.  Also, let me know about other systems you use to record your innovative ideas.

With previous lunch boxes, we have included a re-usable ice pack to keep the contents of the lunch box cold.  This approach works pretty well, but sometimes the ice pack “crushes” the food or the ice pack begins to leak blue liquid all over the contents of the lunch box.

As I reviewed the vast selection of lunch boxes at a local store, I noticed a new type of soft-sided lunch bag that had “built-in” ice.  The advertising materials for the lunch bag said “No Ice Needed!  It’s Built-In!”.  This innovative design includes a freezable gel in the sides of the lunch bag.  So, instead of putting an ice pack into the lunch bag to keep the contents cool, you put the entire lunch bag in the freezer overnight to chill the gel in the sides of the bag.  In the morning, you take the lunch bag out of the freezer and put the lunch inside.  The frozen gel keeps the contents of the lunch bag cool until lunch time.

I love this idea.  The lunch bag does a wonderful job of keeping the contents cool until lunch time.  I believe it does a better job than the old ice packs we used in the past.  Now I don’t have to worry about leaking ice packs or a shifting ice pack that slides to one end of the lunch bag and only keeps part of the lunch cool.

This creative product is an innovation example that combines two existing products to generate a new product providing new benefits to the customer.  This innovation adds a new feature that simplifies use of the product, rather than making it more complicated.  When looking for ways to provide more value to your own clients, don’t forget to consider simplifying your product or service for the benefit of your client.

After ordering, we asked the waitress if she had any crayons and paper for our kids to color while waiting for our pizza. She told us that she did not have crayons, but would bring us something else for the kids to play with.  There were no other kids in the restaurant, so we didn’t know what kind of “toy” she might bring.  The toy was uncooked pizza dough.  Each of our daughters got a small plate with some pizza dough and flour (to keep the pizza dough from sticking to the plate) to play with.

Our kids loved playing with the pizza dough and made all kinds of things: a snowman, a leaf, a smiley face, rings for their fingers, and more.  For several days after visiting that restaurant we heard them telling us how much they liked that restaurant.  They didn’t like the restaurant because of their pizza, it was the pizza dough they got to play with.  You can be sure our kids will want to go back to that restaurant when we are vacationing there again.

Here’s the innovation lesson.  Someone had the bright idea of giving kids a unique “toy” to play with in the restaurant.  Yes, crayons and paper are great, but you find that at almost any restaurant.  By giving the kids an alternative toy that lets them use their creativity, the restaurant is setting itself apart from its competitors.  Both the kids and the parents will remember this unique toy and will likely think of the restaurant when they want pizza again.

What kind of simple actions like this can you take to boost your own business?

Here is an approach to business process innovation:

1. Big Question:  Is the process necessary? The first question to ask when evaluating a business process is whether the process is necessary.  What is the purpose or end result of the process?  Is it still needed – does it provide value to the business?  If not, don’t spend time “optimizing” the process, just eliminate it.
2. Identify the desired result of the process. Ask questions to determine the goal of the process.  Why was the procedure originally developed and what are the desired results of the process?
3. Eliminate steps. Once you identify the desired result of the process, look at each of the steps currently performed and see if any of them are unnecessary.  Look for ways to achieve the same desired result with fewer steps – or by simplifying steps to be faster or cheaper to perform.
4. Combine multiple steps.  In addition to looking for steps that can be eliminated, find ways to combine multiple steps to improve the overall efficiency of the process.  For example, can multiple steps be performed at the same time?  Or, if several people are performing different steps, consider whether the process can be simplified by having one person perform all of those steps at the same time.
5. Automate the process. Look for ways to automate some of the steps in the process.  If several people are involved in the process, consider collaboration tools that allow those individuals to work together more efficiently – especially if they do not work in the same location.  Consider document management tools, project scheduling tools and other resources to automate steps in the process.

Start looking for ways to streamline your own business procedures to boost your bottom line.  Please share your comments below.