Following on our previous post “How to Focus on Execution and Still be Open to New Ideas”, let’s develop further the concept of “idea funnel”
The Funnel is a marketing concept that is available in Sales & Marketing and as well in Innovation. But rather than take the innovation funnel I like to compare my own Idea Funnel to the Sales one, because the steps are more relevant. The reason is that the sales funnel is linked to emotional awareness while innovation funnels are more often very rational in their description.
Let’s look at a common representation of a sales funnel. Translated to my personal Idea Funnel, the steps cover the following:
- Awareness: an idea just popped up in my consciousness! Can I verbalize it now?
- Qualifying interest: a quick ‘due diligence’ to check that the idea is relevant, feasible and could be somewhat useful – and that it is not just a mere fantasy?
- Desire: do I feel an emotional twinkling when I consider this idea? Does it get me excited? A definite key factor if I would consider putting the effort to put it in action!
- Action: how would this idea fit into my current execution program? Is it time-driven with an expiry date or can it be queued in my execution program? What could be synergies with some other projects I am working on?
And naturally, most of your ideas should fall to the side somewhere along the way – because remember that Focus Means Saying No to most ideas!
What about using this Personal Idea Funnel for your own ideas?
