Get out of your comfort zone and learn how to innovate in B2B business, deliver solutions that can transform the customer experience and business outcomes.
In this episode of B2B Marketing & More, I talk to Carla Johnson, marketing and innovation strategist, about her book RE:Think Innovation, and how to encourage innovation in B2B companies.
Carla breaks down the exact process that the world’s most prolific innovators use to consistently come up with great ideas.
As a B2B Marketing Consultant, Author and Speaker, I focus on helping marketers to build marketing and sales alignment. I also help global companies tailor their marketing to a local audience. In addition to my YouTube Channel, I also write blog posts and own my podcast. Check out blog posts and podcast episodes and subscribe to Apple Podcast.
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EXCERPTS
Carla Johnson:
Innovation can feel like this huge overwhelming thing. And especially when we hear so much in business about “disruptive innovation” and think that to be truly innovative, it has to be something that turns an industry completely upside down. Like Apple did with music as Uber did with transportation and things like that.
But the truth is 90% of innovation happens outside of that traditional product development part of the business. If that’s the case, we’re looking at low hanging fruit with the entire 90% of the rest of the organization.
So what we need to look at is how we can change that perception, rethink innovation, and define. Because most people think it’s, it’s complex. They think it’s time-consuming, and to be honest, they don’t know how to do it, which is kind of weird because so many companies have innovation as a core value.
Carla Johnson:
And so the five-step process that people use is first they observe, second they distill, third they relate, fourth they generate, and fifth they pitch. So when we break down each of these. The first step is to observe. And I know that you’ve noticed this, especially with creative people. They’re highly observant of these little minutia details that many of us miss, and you know what is right here in our hand is a big culprit. It’s my smartphone. Our attention gets narrowed into these very small tasks or digital devices all day long. Still, creative, especially innovative people, are highly observant of the world around them.
Carla Johnson:
We are who we are. And how people come to the table with ideas can be very different. And to get those ideas out the door and executed, we have to understand how people look at ideas. Because I come from a family of very left-brain engineers and right-brained now, am I a better or worse innovator because I’m right brain versus left brain? No, it’s just that I’m different.
What can Pam Didner do for you?
Being in the corporate world for 20+ years and having held various positions from accounting and supply chain management, and marketing to sales enablement, she knows how corporations work. She can make you and your team a rock star by identifying areas to shine and do better. She does that through private coaching, keynote speaking, workshop training, and hands-on consulting. Contact her or find her on LinkedIn and Twitter. A quick note: Check out her new 90-Day Revenue Reboot, if you are struggling with marketing.
