How to Complete Innovations

1. You start Project A.
2. You come up with great things.
3. You don't finish.

And then:

1. You start Project B.
2. You come up with great things.
3. You don't finish.

And then:

1. You start Project C.
2. You come up with great things.
3. You don't finish.

What's wrong?

It's this:

• You suck at finishing.
• You don't know how to finish.
• You've never learned how to finish.

So, how do you finish?

You automate how you @^!@$! finish.

Think Customer Call Centers.

What do the smartest/most-efficient/most-productive call centers do?

(You know, the ones who have 98785609785678699039 service reps on-call at this moment fighting fires for clients all-across-the-$^@^^-world).

They do this:

1. They automate the process.
2. They build a little database of frequently asked questions.
3. They have a little search functionality to respond to questions in ticks.
4. They have fixed responses to different requests/rejections.

Sure, a lot of them still suck -- but they're answering customer calls by the thousands, fulfilling the vast majority of customer issues.

How?

• Automation.
• Automation.
• Automation.

The more you automate X, the likelier you'll accomplish X.

You + Innovations

We all love starting something snazzy/spiffy.

• But a ginormous chunk of us can't finish.
• Our finish ratio stands in the single digits.
• We have no process to finishing.

Solution?

Automate how you finish an innovation:

1. *25* people need to taste the new recipe first.
2. *20* have to love it.
3. We will fix 5 critical issues for the new recipe (e.g., taste, price, presentation, etc.)
4. We will use the following format to sell the new recipe.
5. The wait staff will introduce the new recipe for a week.
6. We will measure the new recipe's potential by asking customers if they would repurchase it.
7. We will incorporate the new recipe into our regular menu if 80%+ love it.
8. For training purposes, we will create a 1-page manual detailing the steps needed to create the new recipe.

It's like you're brushing your teeth.

This:

1. Floss.
2. Brush.
3. Rinse.

You have a set procedure to get your teeth cleaned.

Likewise, when you automate how you finish an innovation, you'll set your company up for a stream of new inno-@^^!-vative products for your customers.

Automate your finish.

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