JY&A Consulting
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The author of the acclaimed Detective Marketing, Stefan Engeseth, looks at how you can inject creativity with a ready collection of tips. But be warned, it’ll take guts, so: can you handle it?
Stefan Engeseth
The Swedish management consultant Stefan Engeseth’s book Detective Marketing
has been translated and adapted for the English-language market. In its original
version, the book was hailed by both marketing professionals and the general
public as a landmark work in using creativity in the world of business. Named
the ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’ of the business world by his colleagues, Engeseth
has been lauded for his simple, yet challenging concepts.
1. Hire people who have different talents than you.
When you look at work ads you see companies that want to hire people with similar
competence. As a result one has a rather homogeneous staff. A risk that can
arise when people with similar competence share ideas and knowledge: nothing
new is being born.
Even you are a mix of different parts.
Human resources’ policies should reflect diversity for an
organization, particularly today when international marketing has grown in importance.
The corporate culture also should not place certain groups at a disadvantage.
That is the problem we often see at organizations that, for instance, put finance
at the top and marketers do not get to be on the board. The resulting imbalance
often drives weak brands, which in turn mean poorer consumer acceptance, ultimately
hurting business performance.
2. Install a random control in the elevator so that everyone ends up on
the wrong floor. Get a head start by pressing the wrong button today.
There is a great potential in the company to come up with new ideas and to
be innovative. This potential is best maintained if there is a platform for
new meetings taking place. Often many novel and creative ideas can be born from
them. Possibilities of new meetings lie between every floor in the building.
When you see these new possibilities you have more fun! Changing your perspective
is often what could be needed to prevent groupthink, find new inspirations and
see your job and company from someone else’s point of view.
3. Exchange Filofaxes with each other.
To see the big picture and your company in general you have to see all of it.
That’s why some companies encourage job changing. It’s especially important
for bosses, who often have a very different idea of what their company is like
from their employees.
Short of doing a full identity programme internally, you can borrow the
eyes and ears of your colleagues. It is also a way to take control over the
contacts the company has. If one person stops working for your company, another
person can replace him and continue with the relationships. The organization
"learns".
People in the habit of thinking, ‘Nobody can do my work,’ learn that their
roles can be emulated. This is especially good for people who are on the way
to burnout, taking the pressure from them. Afterwards you can ask each other
what the person with your Filofax thought of the third party. You gain a new
dimension.
4. Bring your children to work.
Assuming, of course, that they are on their breaks!
Each child is a genius, and we all have that genius inside us. Children
can awaken the child inside you. Children see new things in new ways. For example,
look how they use their body when they play. If you adopt the playing in your
business meeting maybe you can move your company to a new level that your competitor
never could think of.
Playing with the know-how of your business point is important but sometimes
thinking in terms of money can block you from seeing and discussing the ideas
that no one else thinks of. A focus on finances led General Motors down a path
of boring products in the 1990s. Since hiring Bob Lutz, it’s streamlined its
innovation processes and shifted the focus from money. Exciting products are
on the way for GM’s subsidiaries in the United States.
In one lecture I was shocked with all the great ideas the group was coming
up. Apparently, no one had ever asked them those questions and I had unlocked
something.
Simplicity is good business, and children can help you see and detect simple
patterns.
5. Invite your customers to participate in projects at an early stage.
If they pay for the party, it’s easier to pay with a smile if they have fun.
It’s more fun to dance with someone if you hear the same music. When you mix
two companies you will have so many more possibilities to make a success.
Mergers driven by serendipity and share prices often fail because they
don’t look at the possibilities. They don’t take time to create the same music.
It’s why Daimler and Chrysler have taken so long to become proper bedfellows.
It’s why BMW and Rover never worked out. And, arguably, it’s also what made
Enron such a juggernaut to change: the possibilities were ignored—or, rather,
they never properly did what customers expected them to. What did customers
expect from these companies? Most of the time they were too involved in looking
at their share price.
By involving customers, they can get inspired to buy. You create buy-in
early and you don´t have to sell your project to them through an expensive campaign
later. It also becomes harder for your competitors to take your customers because
they and you are a part of each other.
6. Invite someone from the street to attend your next meeting.
Being street-smart is good but it requires you to have a street mind. If you
work in your office all the time you will become an expert in your work—but
you begin to lose touch, too. You need to have the not-knowing (knowl)edge.
This will keep you street-smart.
It’s why we focus so much time at JY&A Consulting to break from the
jargon. If the customers on the street don´t understand what you are saying,
then it’s no point. And equally, it’s stupid to fill up consultancy services
with jargon: if your strategy has no merit, it’s going to be useless whether
you use fancy words or not. It also hurts the consultant in the long run. By
gaining the street perspective—and I include getting the boss doing customer
services—you learn to respect simplicity.
7. Mix people in meetings, e.g. sales and marketing people.
Between two functions, you create a third virtual competence through mixing.
For example, you can try to go to the wrong meeting. In www.DetectiveMarketing.com
you will find a trial book with many examples on what this kind of meeting can
do for you.
8. Change the setting of the meeting. Why not hold it in a kindergarten?
On your holidays, you go to new places to get new inspiration and energy. Why
not adapt the same way of thinking in your worklife? If you want to sell a new
pair of shoes to someone it is easier if you have tried to walk in them in the
same environment as your customers. You get to see what your customers see.
From that you learn how to create positive values for them.
Kindergarten is a place for you were you can meet other people, give and
get energy. Maybe even you’re still a kid deep inside? Use that playing mind
to make your colleagues to see beyond the office walls.
9. Create imbalance. Stand on one leg during a meeting and seek imbalance.
Seek imbalance in the market-place.
Problems arise if a company stands still. Many small companies get ahead of
those larger companies that stand still.
In the automotive sector, Lotus has jumped ahead with developments because
it’s not held back by big-company thinking. It’s proof you don’t need to band
together in mega-mergers if you can keep yourself nimble enough.
Regardless of size, it is the mind that is important. To make this point,
start by lifting your one leg, never mind how it looks. Feel how your body connects
to your mind and try to feel the ideas in your body. Have fun and dance with
your mind.
10. Use simple language. A good idea thrives on simplicity.
If you mix people from different backgrounds, you need to use a simpler language,
because the others don’t share your context. If you don’t understand what someone
else says, ask what they mean and try to go deeper to explore the question in
a positive way.
Even in only one department you have people who have went to different
schools and had different teachers and values so they don’t paint the same picture
to the words.
A creative idea is when you paint a picture together where everyone is
reflected—and can see everyone else—in the picture.
11. Always go the extra mile and do a little more than what’s on the list.
Engeseth urges you to send this list to at least 10 people, copy it, post it in the elevator, use it on your home page, in your periodical or newsletter. The only condition is that you cite the source: www.detectivemarketing.com.