Page 150 - Free the Idea Monkey

Just like any idea, a brilliant insight is one that makes the con-
nections that others miss. Your job managing Monkeys is to allow
them to apply their wonder(full) lens to as many challenges as pos-
sible. Your job as the Idea Monkey is to uncover as many possibili-
ties as possible.

So the secret of great research is simple: generate as many
insights as possible by having your particular opportunity inter-
preted by brilliant people who can be objective and creative about
what they are seeing. The right combination of methodology and
expertise will yield a powerful insight every time. Conversely, using
traditional methods, interpreted by the same people, will usually yield
little or no new information.

QUANTIFY THE INSIGHT FIRST
Necessity is the mother of invention. It is also the evil godmother

of blown budgets, broken hearts and shattered careers. I’m not being
overly dramatic. I’ve seen it and it ain’t pretty.

The next time you think you have identified a meaningful need
in the market, do yourself a favor: make sure you know how big it
is. For the inventor or entrepreneur, this means brewing a pot of
coffee and sitting down with your new buddy, Google, for a day or
two. Research how many people represent your target, how much
money they spend in the category, how fast the category is growing
or shrinking, how many other products meet the need, how much
they cost, and where they buy the products.

Strive to collect as many quantitative data points as possible.
If you work hard, this deep dive into secondary research will help
you prioritize which insights are the most powerful and which don’t
pass muster.

Then, if humanly (and financially possible), use primary
research—surveys, focus groups, and the like—to confirm which
insight provides the biggest market opportunity.

135C H A P T E R 9