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, poll your customer base, and so on.

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.

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 version, Jump Start Your Business Brain was published in Sept. 2001. Both are available in paperback from Amazon for about $12 each.

Doing Your Homework

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 your online services
•              attend a focus group on online financial services
•              hire a consultant for a brainstorm session
•              sponsor focus groups for branch and call center staff to discuss serving/selling customers online
•              post a quick questionnaire on your Web and have each answer forwarded to your email address
•              issue an RFP (request for proposal) for development of a “next-generation” offering

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. ð

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 200 consumers what they think of your idea for an out-of-pocket expense of about $1,000. Questionnaires are easily composed using online templates and you’ll have results back within hours. All results are stored online where you can run your own reports and crosstabs.

Sources for Online Banking Research

Source: Online Banking Report, 10/02