A crucial part of the planning process is reaching deep to find the best ideas. Many companies already have a process in place, but if you are looking for inspiration, consider the following 6-step approach.

Six Steps to the Big Idea

1.       Do Your Homework (Immersion): Study the situation, visit competitors, read new research, talk to customers, interview employees, attend a conference, and/or poll your customer base.

2.       Optimize the Environment: Clear away any constraints to thinking, go off site, stockpile the food and coffee, play music; do whatever it takes to let your thoughts flow freely.

3.       Rattle the Brain: Perform “thinking exercises” to limber up the brain before tackling your specific problem (see Jump Start Your Brain by Doug Hall for 37 exercises).

4.       Generate Idea Nuggets (free form): Think of every possible solution to the problem, regardless of how crazy they may seem, and write them down without judgments or justifications.

5.       Assemble Idea Nuggets Into Strategies and Tactics: Put each nugget on a 3x5 card and arrange the cards into bigger concepts and ideas.

6.       Be Bold: Don’t immediately dismiss strategies that seem too big for your budget; winners could be shopped to strategic investors for additional funding.

Source: Adapted from Jump Start Your Brain by Doug Hall, Warner Books, 1995; a new book, Jump Start Your Business Brain is due out Sept. 24.

To see potential opportunities in a new light, look beyond your normal circle of peers, subordinates, and other industry sources.

1. Launch a Personal Fact-Finding Mission: Find out how consumers currently use online financial services and observe how the services could be improved. For example:

• have a broad-based conversation with a key vendor
• arrange for a classroom of MBA students to debate the pros and cons of online financial services
• attend an in-person customer focus group on Internet financial services
• hire a consultant for a brainstorm session
  (OBR principals are available for a limited number of engagements, call (206) 517-5021 or email consulting@onlinebankingreport.com )
• sponsor focus groups of branch and call center staff to discuss serving/selling customers online
• arrange online focus groups (users meet online in a moderated chat environment)
• post a quick questionnaire on your Web and have each answer forwarded to your email address
• issue RFPs (request for proposals) from Web development companies or consultants to design a “next-generation” Net offering (Microbanker.com has an automated request tool at  www.microbanker.com/searches

2. Attend an industry Conference: Away from the daily grind, surrounded by the latest technology, and bombarded by new ideas: a perfect prescription for breakthrough thinking. (see below thinking exercise)

3. Read a Research Report Cover-to-Cover: We know this is going to hurt, but plunk down a couple grand for the latest online banking research, clear a half-day on your calendar, and really read the whole report, not just the executive summary. Even if you don’t believe the conclusions, think about the implications for your company were they to come true. It might help you see things in a new light.

4. Conduct your Own Research: Research culled from your own customers and in-market prospects is infinitely more believable than national studies. If research budgets are nil, you can still post a short survey on your Web for next to nothing and have results tomorrow. The data won’t be projectable to your entire customer base, but it might provide a number of good ideas and insights.

Or if you’d prefer to take a quick reading of consumer sentiment without tipping your hand to the competition, consider tapping into the preassembled panels of Web research companies. At InsightExpress  www.insightexpress.com  developed by NFO Worldwide, you can ask 150 consumers what they think of your idea for an out-of-pocket expense of $850.¹  The questionnaire can be completely composed online using templates from the research companies. Another source of similar research is Greenfield Online  www.greenfield.com                             

2001 Thinking Exercise:
New Account Setup for Existing Customers

Account setup is a limiting factor at many banks. Even existing customers must run through a blizzard of paperwork to set up the simplest of new accounts. It doesn’t have to be that way. ING Direct, for one, lets existing customers establish additional savings accounts in real-time with just a few clicks; no application, no paperwork, and no hassle. It takes less than a minute, including funding the new account either from an outside account or from another ING Direct account. It was so easy, we decided to move our kids’ savings accounts into the bank; with no fees and an interest rate four times higher than their current accounts, it’s a great way to save.

To best appreciate ING Direct’s easy account setup, you need to see it in action. So here’s the assignment:

Material needed: paper, pen, your checkbook or checking account numbers, optional stopwatch if you want to learn exactly how long it takes

Instructions:

1.       Log in to your account at your bank.

2.       Start the stopwatch (optional)

3.       Pretend you know little about your bank’s Web site/products and figure out what type of savings account you want and how much it costs; note any improvements that could be made in the selling process.

4.       Sign up for a new savings account at your bank; note the steps you must go through including any offline activities and identify roadblocks in the sign-up process.

5.       Go to ING Direct  www.ingdirect.com  and set up an initial savings account, noting how the process works.

6.       Add a second ING savings account noting how the process works.

7.       Compare ING’s process against yours, noting where improvements can be made.  

¹The company is currently offering first-time users a 50% discount on a
3-pack of surveys; you can also target users of WellsFargo.com, BankofAmerica.com, and/or Schwab.com.