RETHINKING YOUR BUSINESS :
Innovative Thinking Methods for Out of the Box Times.
Are you facing the challenge of "doing something different" at an upcoming meeting - something other than the typical parade of PowerPoint presentations punctuated by brief Q&A?
Have you wanted to involve your attendees in "interactive sessions" but avoid that option due to your past experiences which have varied from home runs to outright bombs?
Does your leadership team frequently acknowledge, "Our people (sales and management) need to become better at thinking out-of-the-box," but you're still searching for a solution to enthusiastically launch this learning process?
Recognizing that so many meeting planners like you resonate with these needs, Art Turock devised a solution in May of 1999. While preparing his book, "Invent Business Opportunities No One Else Can Imagine," Turock decided to walk his own talk and create an original program instead of another speech.
PROMISES OF THE INTERACTIVE PROGRAM
Thoroughly tested design.
Dozens of interactive sessions have been delivered to diverse groups such as grocery, dry wall construction, garage door openers, pasta manufacturers, health care, and agricultural financial services. Unlike hit-or-miss interactive programs that can come across as too "touchy-feely," this interactive design teaches innovative thinking methods in a way that fascinates audience members. Participants examine their industry and their company from a series of unique vantage point, such as: an alien from outer space, an industry contrarian, an uncompromising customer, or an organization blessed with no resource constraints. Even "Type A" personalities and people who claim they detest interactive sessions get involved and enjoy the process.
Broad meeting applications.
"Rethinking Your Business" is packaged for short time frames of 75-120 minutes ideal for offsite events and trade association meetings. The program is 65% interactive work in tables of 6-8 participants armed with flip charts and marking pens. Group sizes have ranged from 22-420 participants.
Extraordinary take-home value.
New product, service, and marketing ideas arise from the process and are recorded on flip charts, which can later be translated to hard copy for distribution. More importantly, participants learn an innovative thinking process through hands-on experience thereby increasing the likelihood of on-the-job application.
Integrates perfectly with Turock's keynote.
While the interactive program is designed to be able to stand alone, clients report they've experienced the most value following a keynote speech. In that sequence, the ensuing interactive session provides a hands-on experience in the kind of thinking that abounds in trend setting companies.
RETHINKING YOUR BUSINESS:
Innovative Thinking Methods for Out-of-the-Box Times
While many business leaders recognize the pressing need for innovative strategy, the capabilities for discovering "latent" customer needs and conceiving original solutions remain illusive. Two of the primary stumbling blocks to innovation include the quality of a planning team's thinking and the organization's process of formulating strategy.
This interactive program addresses both issues by:
a) Involving participants in exercises designed to stimulate out-of-the-box thinking;
b) Examining best practices of the strategy development process used by trendsetters.
This interactive facilitation combines mini-lectures with innovative thinking exercises. Participants gain practical tools, compelling case examples, and idea generation processes for creating imaginative products and services that astound customers. Hands-on experience promotes extraordinary take home value.
ATTENDEES WILL LEARN HOW TO::
1.Reveal nature of the business assumptions that reflect conventional industry thinking, and then adopt a contrarion mind-set to devise product and service ideas that go against the grain.
2.Adapt other industry's best practices to your business.
3.Identify emerging consumer needs that are likely to intensify given future trends in technology, demographics, lifestyles, and economics that also point the way to new business opportunities.
4.Gain awareness of compromises and frustrations your customers are currently accepting as "the nature of the business" and whose solution would constitute a stark point of differentiation with your competition.
5.Learn a set of innovative thinking methods which can be adapted to strategic planning efforts, like sales account teams, or executive retreats.
WHO'S THE PROGRAM FOR?
Ideal for sales, marketing, executive groups, and managers who are responsible for conceiving innovations and new business opportunities. Used as a stand alone session to add variety to lecture type programs or in combination with one of Art 's keynotes. This program works extremely even with groups as large as 400, as people are seated in table groups of from 6-8 people.
BENEFITS:
A. Experience a meeting format that puts the quality of attendee's thinking and conversation in the spotlight.
B. Tangible ideas from the small discussion groups are collected and summarized in electronic or hard copy for later evaluation for feasibility and implementation.
C. Actual experience of the impact of creative collaboration, instilling a memorable reference that encourages use of the demonstrated innovative thinking practices back at work.
D. Increased appreciation of the creative thinking capacities of colleagues from different business units from collaborating in a unique interactive experience.
E. Gain glimpses of actual innovative business practices from slides that illustrate trend-setting ideas in action.
"We took to heart your point about involving people in the field close to the customer in the early phase of strategy development. To enhance the take away value, we plan to bring flip charts filled with their innovative ideas to the upcoming senior management strategy meeting. This brings the sales force into the strategy equation. They will now feel they've had a chance to influence our strategic direction."
--Senior V.P. Sales, The Chamberlain Group
Rethinking Life Insurance Sales
What is the fundamental source of stunning breakthroughs in business performance, results that defy what's predictable based on past track record? Trendsetting businesses orchestrate "shifts of focus" where they suspend conventional assumptions about their business, and conceive of never-before imagined possibilities. This article describes Art Turock's interactive program with a group of top producing life insurance agents, and how the process orchestrates shifts of focus by design.
