Prioritizing New Products, Services or Promotions

In our last blog, we talked about generating ideas. Good ideas can come from many sources, including   observation, employee suggestions and brainstorming sessions.

But what if you have more good ideas than time or resources to implement them? How do you make sure the best ideas don’t get overlooked? The answer is to systematically prioritize your ideas inline with your resources.

Large organizations have formal “Stage-gate” processes to manage the flow of ideas and prioritize implementation of the best ones. But if you are part of a smaller team or organization, you may not have such a system set in place. Without a way to evaluate and rank the ideas, you or your organization can fall into opportunistic mode, trying to jump on every opportunity as it comes along or working on "pet" projects that don't leave resources free for ideas that have more potential.
To help you sort through and prioritize multiple opportunities, check out the framework we've developed: 
 
                                               The Broad Reach Marketing 5-Step Prioritizing Framework

​1) List and describe the ideas you've generated. 
Some great ideas might require a bit of refinement or explanation. Look to see if any ideas are better when combined or built upon. Take the time to think through and define each one. 
 
2) Filter

• Check for constraints – these could be legal, organizational or partner conflicts.

For example, a new product idea might violate an agreement with a supplier or distributor of your current products or services. There may be a physical constraint, such as a lease that limits the ability to re-locate that makes an idea unfeasible in the near future.

• Evaluate for Alignment – see if the idea fits with your organization’s mission.
• Assess how it utilizes and leverages distinctive competencies.  

 For example, a healthcare packaging company had a new product under evaluation. The idea was thought to have good potential, but there was a concern that it could cannibalize an existing product’s sales. Consulting the organization’s mission statement made this an easy call. When examining the future, the new product fit the company's mission even better than the existing product.
 

• Think about the ability to execute – can you or your organization execute on this idea? How well can you do it with current resources?

(Note: Not having the resources to do something doesn’t mean the idea should be automatically rejected. If it is a truely a breakthrough idea, it might be worth pursuing a separate “how can we do this” or “Build, buy or partner” session.)

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​3) Rank
 Score each idea on the following aspects:

• Perceived market need – does this solve a problem better than current solutions?
• Market Opportunity – how large is the market; is this a target market that the organization currently reaches?
• Differentiation – if the idea is not unique, can you differentiate it in some way that makes it stand out?
• Effort and Resources needed to create the product or service
• Estimated Margin potential

• Return on Investment (SWAG)

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4) Plot on a chart so you can visually see where your ideas rank when you consider effort vs. return on that effort. 

5) Test! 
Meet with potential customers. Don’t tell them the benefits of your idea; just show or illustrate what it does and ask the following questions:

•  What problems (if any) does it solve?
•  How would they benefit from using it?
• What impact would it have on them, their business or their family?
•  ​Where does this new idea fit on the impact scale?  

• What is the value – what would they think this solution would be worth to them? 

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This process can be done using whiteboards, flip charts or spreadsheets -- or a combination of all three. The key is to focus on the ideas that fit with the organization and will generate the best return on investment.  
Have questions about generating ideas or implementing this process?  Contact us! ​