Innovation. Innovation. Innovation. Find any business magazine today and their telling you it’s all about innovation. True, like I noted in a recent post (April 23, 2007), innovation is important to business success to one degree or another. Apparently, the Big Dogz are all over this. Got to have it. Need it. Want it…badly.

Small business needs some level of innovation as well. But where does true innovation come from? How is it born? It comes from all sorts of places. For example, innovation (service or product) can come from your employees. But you won’t know it unless you ask them and take their suggestions seriously. Your competitors might be another source. What are they NOT doing that you should be in order to give more value to your customers?

Probably your best source for innovation is your customer base. Who better to tell you what you could do to improve your product or services? I don’t care what small business you’re in, you should be checking with you customers, especially your top customers, and ask them.

You could even make a contest out of it. For example, let’s say you’re a small, regional manufacturer of fishing lures for bass (ok…I’m a fishing nut too!). Why not hold a contest for the most innovative and fish-catching lure design? You could award a series of prizes for the best designs that actually catch fish. And think of all the free publicity you’d have! Outdoor editors would eat this story up!

Or you could bring several top customers to an ‘invitation-only’ dinner event where part of the evening is spent discussing your products/services and how to improve them.

If you have a service business, your innovation might be in how you package and deliver those services to you customers. What if you could deliver your services via internet? Your customers might tell you how to package or bundle your services for more effective use and delivery.

Product or service innovations can come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The key is to always be on the look out for those innovations that your customers will desire.

Customers don’t buy product or service innovations just because they are available. You’ll keep your customers coming back for more if you tap into their ideas on improving the products/services you offer and they use.

When was the last time you were asked by a small business owner for your suggestions/ideas on product or service improvements? You haven’t? See, there’s the opportunity.

Making Decisions by Consensus

Not all decisions are made by the boss. Sometime we want to include others in our decision making process. The Big Dogz know how to get others’ opinions incorporated in the decision. They use a process known as consensus.

First of all, a consensus does not mean that everyone agrees with the decision. It means that everyone can support and live with the decision. Generally consensus decisions have very high level of commitment to the decision. They also take a lot more time. If these decisions take so much time, we want to know the process for making a consensus decision.

• Make a commitment to consensus — tell people that you want a consensus decision. And, set a deadline for completion.
  
• Identify the alternative to a consensus decision. What will we do if consensus can not be reached? Options include a majority vote and a consultative decision by the leader.
  
• Have the group clearly state the problem to be solved. This is key to getting everyone focused on solving the same problem.
  
• Use brainstorming to create alternatives. The more alternatives the more likely you will get a robust solution.
  
• Establish criteria for selecting the optimum solution.
  
• Have the group use selection techniques like multi-voting and weighted voting to select the top alternatives.
  
• Use discussion of pros and cons to select the best solution for the group.
  
• Have each member of the group articulate the decision and their support for it.
  
• Publish the decision and track progress toward implementation.
  

Consensus does take time; however it can yield high commitment and help you make more profits. Be careful not to view consensus as the only method of making decisions. In a highly productive environment, about 20% of decisions should be made by consensus.

Over the next 30 days, experiment with using consensus to make a decision. I think you will find a higher level of commitment to these decisions and you may get some excellent and unusual solutions.

Interns Make $ense

One thing many of the Big Dogz do is find top notch and inexpensive new talent. What do they do? They hire summer interns! Of course, they do this so that they can identify potential new hires well before graduation day. The better Big Dogz find ways to make their summer interns productive and profitable by assigning them meaningful projects and work assignments.

You should be tapping into this resource as well. Want to get your finances organized better than they are today (you know how you like to keep you finances current…ugg!)? Want some extra thinking on some creative projects that have been languishing around the office or store? Your resource and solution is not far from your place of business.

Do you have a community college nearby? Four-year university? Then you have a way to tap into some excellent talent who can really help you improve your business.

There are a couple of things you’ll need to do in order to make the experience rewarding for both you and your intern.

1. Check with your local colleges and see what internship programs are already being offered by local businesses. Find out how the college/university helps to promote summer internships and promote them on campus.

2. Give you summer intern some really meaty things to work on. Don’t expect them to be too motivated if your only wish is to have them do filing and clean the bathrooms. Interns will be attracted to your posting if they know that they’ll be able to really gain some valuable work experience.

3. Match projects and work assignments to their college interests. Hiring a marketing major to work on projects that are not even remotely connected to marketing is a waste of your time and theirs. Finance majors might be interested in working on a new bookkeeping system for you rather than something unrelated. Take advantage of that college education that someone else is paying for!

4. Interview all candidates carefully and fully. Make sure that you are hiring the one(s) who have the best aptitude

5. Don’t be cheap and pay them competitively. While hiring an intern is generally less expensive than hiring someone and paying him or her benefits, etc., don’t cheap out on the summer wage. Not only are they working for the experience, but they need the money too!

6. Make your intern feel special during their time with you. Take them out to lunch once in a while and be sure to celebrate their successes as they complete work assignments. You may want them back the next summer and a great work experience will make them eager to come back again.

Creating valuable work experiences for talented college interns is a great way to enhance our business without spending a fortune on talent.