Got Any New ideas?

I am frequently asked if I have any new ideas about marketing bowling.

More times than not I am able to provide an answer for my clients.

But then it got me thinking. Where do I get these ideas and when do they hit me?.

So I started thinking and made a list  of where ideas come from, in the hopes that maybe you can look at these and develop new ideas as well.

1. Ideas come from a problem. You have to solve it so you need to think of different ideas to solve it
2. Ideas come from being awake and noticing the environment around you
3. Ideas come from other industries. what are they doing to make their business better?
4. Ideas come from taking a shower when you are not trying, maybe when you're not even looking
5. Ideas come from reading books, both fiction and non fiction
6. Ideas come from your ego; a good healthy dose of generous and selfless input
7. Ideas come from "newbies" on your staff who have no preconceived notions or don't know that the "it won't work here" mentality exists
8. Ideas come from watching your customers interact, bowl, eat and drink and spending time in the center
9. Ideas come from customer complaints. If  a problem arises with a customer, you have to figure out how to fix it to not only quickly save the customer today, but prevent the problem from happening to other customers
10. Ideas come from fear; fear of failure or even fear of success. When pushed, the mind can reach new heights in creativity
11. Ideas come form becoming a customer who uses the product and looks at it with a critical eye to stimulate ideas for greater customer satisfaction (How about a designated parking space for your birthday Mom so she doesn't have to haul the kids, the gifts and the clothes across the parking lot in the snow in 12 degree weather??)
12. Ideas come from failure. You have to try lots of different ideas to get to a good on. But if you don't try, you never get to the "good one"
13. Ideas come from travel; from visiting different places and seeing how businesses in other places do commerce. (I remember being in Japan, many years ago, when it was not uncommon for automobile sales people to drive to a neighborhood, invite people to test drive the car the salesperson brought with them and sell it right on the spot)
14. Ideas come form embellishing an old product. Hey did you ever set up a small hula hoop on the lanes and asking people to bowl through it to get extra pin count?  Sure, its weird, but why not?  We're in the business of marketing bowling as an entertainment product, aren't we?


So start today. Challenge yourself and your staff.

"What new idea did we think of today to make our business better?  keep thinking. It will come when you least expect it.

Promise.