I often have the outsider’s perspective to someone’s business or life. And it’s easy to have ideas about what could work to improve revenue, productivity and efficiency.
But simply putting them forth is not as effective as being a bit more deliberate about presenting the ideas in a way that makes it thoughtful and actionable.
The reality is that with the ability to get work done easily with anyone, ideas, good ones that is, are currency. You can turn an idea into reality and profitability quickly with the right focus and engineering.
It’s even more important to care about how you share.
How To Share Your Ideas
When someone hears something new or novel, it’s usually hard for the brain to get a grasp of the unfamiliar. I’ve observed this from thousands of hours of coaching and consulting. There’s a way we can all absorb information and act on it.
That’s why when I see opportunities to help people, I ask questions. Then I say, “I’ll send you some ideas that can help.”
This allows for adding value with a written record.
Then I try to capture what I observed and compliment the person within an email. From there, I share my ideas. I number those ideas. Many times, I will have ten ideas, so it will be a numbered list.
I also space between the numbers and indent. This makes it more readable. I may also bold the first sentence for emphasis per idea and expand in regular type for the rest of the description.
When I share ideas, I share the What. It’s not necessarily the How. This is the idea. The How is the strategy and execution. I own the latter part.
So a list might look like:
1. Find 5 people that can say, “Yes.” This helps you focus and get organized around realistic prospects.
2. Study those people and think about what matters to them. Value is different per person. You have to get in their minds and hearts. It may mean doing some research, but that’s worth every minute because you are connecting on a relationship level and not abusing random people’s time with random solicitations.
3. Invest in the approach. Think about how you are going to approach each person. Consider it carefully, much like dating. Introduce creativity and elements of surprise. Think it through so you don’t set yourself up to be ignored.
See how this works? The ideas are thought through and presented in a digestable way.
Your recipient will see you in a valuable light. And they have a reference to continually open the email you sent, many times, for months ongoing. If they are good ideas, this will happen as they wrestle with your ideas.
Imagine if you did this five times per week how that would change the landscape of opportunities for you.
Everything starts with ideas. Then you get invited into conversations around deals and projects based on your ideas.
If you simply share an idea verbally, it can get lost in the moment. It is also hard to absorb. Furthermore, there’s nothing to come back to.
In the end, ideas equal cash. So manage your distribution of those ideas carefully.
How can you use this for your personal workflow?