"The
Thinking Power of an Army"
Idea Screening
Idea Screening
With the right environment in place and a steady flow of
potentially profitable ideas, what then? Without direction
and discipline, say the TEC experts, businesses squander vast
amounts of time and money chasing after new product ideas,
only to find in the end that they lack certain critical ingredients,
such as:
|
Viable integration with existing
product lines |
|
Realistic product service requirements |
|
Adequate supply chain management |
|
Sufficient distribution capacities |
"With all the ideas pouring in, you have to design
evaluation filters to screen the good from the bad,"
Webb says. He suggests a model called a "success triangle"
(customer need + problem + opportunity) as a quick, easy-to-use
evaluation tool for assessing the feasibility of a new idea.
"Can you make this new product in an affordable way?"
he asks. "Will the customer be willing to pay a certain
price for it? You can evaluate most ideas in this way, without
going to great expense to determine an idea's validity."
Most multi-million dollar projects, he contends, could be
evaluated on the back of a cocktail napkin.
Other criteria to consider when analyzing the potential merit
of a new product idea:
|
What is the necessary investment? |
|
What is our present and potential competition? |
|
What is the new product's projected sales
volume? |
|
What is its projected ROI? |
Above all, says Goozé, make sure the proposed idea
remains consistent with your company's resources and objectives.
If it lacks clearly defined ties to the organization's infrastructure
-- and can't be produced and serviced in sufficient quantities
-- it probably won't fly.
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