Back in 1978


3. Modified the marketing introduction. Sony gave away free samples to celebrities and put their press announcement on cassette at a total cost of $100,000.


4. Found another market for it by marketing it as a new entertainment concept. The result? The Walkman®


radio – the result of a


“failed” product – was one of the biggest product suc- cesses the company has ever had. Ibuka had taken a failed product and – by manipulat- ing it, asking questions about it, and refusing to see its limitations – invented a product that introduced the world to “headphone culture.” Earbuds for everyone! In hindsight, the idea of a Walkman seems obvious. Its very obviousness makes it so infuriating. All great ideas seem obvious in hindsight, but how in the world do people discover them?


How did Fred Smith get the hub-and-spoke transportation idea that led to Federal Express?


What led Thomas Monaghan of Domino’s Pizza to market and guarantee speed of delivery?


What inspired 3M’s Arthur Fry to think of a use for an adhesive that made the Post-it® possible?


pads


How did Steve Jobs get the idea for the iPhone®


?


How can you be the one who comes up with the next great idea that saves or makes a sale?


Have you ever tried to get a new idea simply by choosing to have one?


26 | FEBRUARY 2018 SELLING POWER © 2018 SELLING POWER. CALL 1-800-752-7355 FOR REPRINT PERMISSION.


Sony engineers tried to redesign a small, portable tape recorder so it would give stereophonic sound. They ended up with a small stereophonic tape recorder that couldn’t record. They gave up and used the machine to play music while they worked on other projects. Then Masaru Ibuka, honorary chairman of Sony, took the failed recorder and 1. Eliminated the recorder function altogether. 2. Added lightweight portable headphones to mag- nify the sound.


Spend a few minutes and see how many new ways you can think of to sell your product. How did you do? If you’re like most of us, you probably had difficulty com- ing up with more than a few. Our minds generally don’t cooperate in such matters. It is very hard for us simply to will new ideas without some kind of intermediate step. However, when you use a checklist of idea-spurring questions, it’s a snap to generate new ideas, solutions, breakthroughs, or whatever you need.


This article contains a checklist of idea-spurring ques- tions to help anyone uncover the creativity that rests just beneath the brain’s surface. Everything new is some manipulation of something that already exists. To create something new, just take a subject and manipulate it in some fashion. There are nine principal ways to manipulate a subject.


Here they are: • Substitute • Combine • Adapt • Magnify • Modify


• Put to other uses • Eliminate or minimize • Rearrange • Reverse


Considering these concepts in relation to your sub- ject can give conscious direction to your creativity. So, instead of trying to juggle several concepts in your mind – hoping an idea will somehow magically appear – ask questions to focus your imagination on the subject. This forces you to think about it. And, when you ask yourself the right question, you have to think up, as well as think about, something.


Ibuka took the “failed” recorder and asked: “What can be eliminated?” “What can be added?” “How can I magnify the sound?” “How can I modify the marketing introduction so I stay within a small budget?” With those questions, he came up with the Walkman. You, too, can find creative new ideas to sell your prod- uct by considering these nine concepts. As you read the rest of this article, answer the questions as they occur, and ask yourself how you can improve the way you sell.


SUBSTITUTE?


The principle of substitution is a sound way to develop alternative ideas to anything that exists. Think up ways of changing this for that and that for this. You can sub- stitute things, places, procedures, people, ideas, and even emotions. It is a trial-and-error method of replac-


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