Page 102 - Free the Idea Monkey

To buttress your case, make the following points:

1. We’re only right when the market tells us so. Right now,

we presume to be right and our thinking is based on as-good-as-we-

can-get research, history and gut feel. The market will help us see

and hear what we can do to be more right (and also help us eliminate

all the things our customers—and potential customers—don’t like

or don’t want).

2. We can make any changes quickly. We can simulate years

of research data in the span of months once we are out in the mar-

ketplace. It is the fastest way to learn.

3. It has never been cheaper to test ideas. The Internet allows

for instant feedback; empty strip malls allow for in-and-out shopping

experiences with risk-free, short-term leases; store-

fronts are often now virtual, which means you

can test the product and marketing real time; TODAY,
technology has made prototyping doable in “WORD-OF-MOUTH”
days instead of months; online panels give
you an instant read on the market. IS ACTUALLY
TRACKABLE AND
4. It will be fun. We’re doing this to
MEASURABLE

learn and improve, not to beat up an idea. (So

there is no reason for anyone to get defensive.)

5. We will be making our “mistake” on a

small scale, i.e., we are not launching the Iridium

Phone or Segway only to find no one understands it or

only 1,000 people want it. If we find out our idea is com-

pletely off base, we’ll save the company millions of dollars and

perhaps our jobs.

One more point: be careful with the language you use when

describing your testing process. We often find that words like “pro-

totype” and “beta” come with too much baggage to overcome. When

they hear those terms, many people think it means certain elements

of the product (or service) you are about to test are locked in place.

That’s not the message you want to send. Just about everything

should be up for grabs. For our people, “soft launch” means we

expect lots of things about the idea to change. But consider creating

your own language that stresses the results you are trying to achieve,

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