Companies often shoot expensive cannon balls and miss when they could have first shot inexpensive bullets to determine if a new idea would hit the intended target. When our cannon-ball shots miss, it makes us more risk averse. It makes us go back to the status quo.
Ideas that can be tested with a calibrating bullet not only includes new products, but also new strategies and new processes.
What might a calibrating bullet look like?
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An email that asks customers if they want to be notified of a potential new product (before you shift resources to build the product.)
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A temporary landing page to get people to tell you what they think.
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A prototype of a brochure to see if a prospect will buy.
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A survey that causes prospects to force rank the relative desirability of new product features.
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A prototype of a new product to get feedback
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A manual paper prototype of a new process before it’s automated.
In the end, using calibrating bullets gives you more courage to try new things. It allows you to be different than your closet rivals and to find new ways to serve your customers like never before.
Do you have a Big Strategy?
Our three-minute Big Strategy Assessment is designed to get you thinking. To get your team talking. To begin to answer the question “How do we create better growth?” Take it here and get the conversation going.
~Tony