Hey friend, welcome back, or welcome to the Trend Report. I'm excited that you've joined me for today's conversation. I'm Sid Meadows. I'm a business advisor, coach and longtime student of the office furniture industry. My goal is to share information that will help you and your business move forward each and every day. I'm excited to share another conversation with just you and me in our 10 to win series, and today we're talking about the power of everyday innovation in your business.

Sid: 

Innovation creates new value by transforming ideas, methods or products into impactful solutions that improve, enhance or redefine existing experiences, systems or markets. In other words, innovation isn't just about new inventions. It's about finding better ways to meet your customers' needs, solve their problems or create value and delight. Sometimes that can be a new, groundbreaking technology, while other times it can be about reimagining a simple idea to stand out and surprise people, your customers in a meaningful way. For example, have you ever heard the story of the red phone at the Magic Castle Hotel in Los Angeles? I love this story. I've seen it, I read it in a couple of books, I've listened to it and been talked about on podcasting, and I wanted to share it with you today. It's it in a couple of books. I've listened to it and been talked about on podcasting, and I wanted to share it with you today. It's a whimsical and fun idea that has transformed their guest experience and has led to the innovative ideas for the hospitality sector. In fact, it's become a hallmark of the hotel's commitment to creating delightful guest experiences. So here's how it works. Guests are lounging by the pool on a hot afternoon you can imagine laying out by the pool right, and there's this bright red phone out there that's labeled the Popsicle Hotline. A few minutes later, after you pick up the phone and talk to the person, a staff member dressed in white gloves delivers a complimentary popsicle to you on a silver tray. This memorable yet straightforward service has captivated guests and garnered widespread acclaim for the hotel. Their approach exemplifies how small, thoughtful touches can create lasting impressions. The hotel has transformed a modest setting, the poolside, into a beloved destination by focusing on a unique, personalized experiences rather than extravagant amenities. 

So let's look at another example. You know, back in 2020, as in-store dining was coming to a pause, the fast food giant Chick-fil-A faced a problem of supporting the increased number of customers in their drive-thru lanes. Their first innovative approach was to send employees outside to the drive-thru with tablets to take orders, accept payments and reduce the wait time, while enhancing service simultaneously. Their next step was to analyze the drive-through traffic and identify additional bottlenecks, and to reduce potential long wait times. I know you've seen it you drive up to a Chick-fil-A and you see what appears to be a hundred cars in line At least it feels that way, right? Your first thought is oh man, this is going to take forever. Fear not. The brand that is the epitome of customer experience has the perfect solution Dual drive-thru lanes. What you thought would take 30 minutes usually takes less than 10. Now, regardless of how long the line is, you're like me and you're jumping in with everyone else who wants the famous chicken sandwich. 

These innovations have yielded impressive results for this market leader. They maintain top rankings in order, accuracy, customer experience and customer satisfaction. Their approach exemplifies how combining technology, data analysis and human-centric design can lead to significant improvements, increased revenue and, most importantly, growing customer loyalty. And I'm sure, as you know, innovation is all around our industry. Yes, there's the obvious product innovation that manufacturers focus on and share with us throughout the course of a year, but especially at Neocon and Design Days on and share with us throughout the course of a year, but especially at Neocon and Design Days. But there's also been technology innovations like the interactive online configurator created by WCS Web Configurator Studio. This product actually allows you to configure a product, create a bill of materials, price it, put your discount on it, put your customer discount on it and share that quote directly with your customer from your website. It also does some other really cool things, like including emailing your independent rep or your rep so that they can follow up with you. It also emails over to the VP of sales so they get a copy of it. So it's a really, really great tool and I love how creative and innovative it is. Also, my resource library took a big step in their business a couple of months ago by bringing your library the all-important product library directly to your phone with the MRL app. What appears to be a simple addition to their offering was a huge undertaking, but I got to tell you it is a welcome addition to the products that MRL brings to the marketplace, and I love looking at my MRL app and there are other ones out there and when you really start to think about it, you're going to see innovation around you daily. 

I'm only sharing a couple of things that are top of my mind as I record this podcast, but there are many more and I'm sure that you can add to my list, and I would love to know what innovations have you seen in our industry that you could share with me? So shoot me a note and let me know some of the things that you've seen, because I'd love to understand them. And hey, you never know, maybe one of those people might become or those companies might become a guest on my podcast. So let me ask you how can you innovate in your business? As typical for me, I developed a simple framework five steps that can help you with this. So let's go through them relatively quickly. 

Step number one observe and listen. This is where you got to pay attention close attention to your customers, employees and your competitors. What you're looking for is pain points, inefficiencies or unmet needs in your business. Your goal here is to really just identify what areas of your business are right for innovation. And if you're shaking your head, saying nothing in my business needs to be innovated, you're wrong. You need to look around your business. What you're doing is looking for small frustrations or opportunities that are often overlooked, because that's really where innovation starts. Don't look for the big rocks, go, look for the little rocks. Okay, now step number two you need to ask big, bold and somewhat uncomfortable questions. Now, in this step, you want to challenge the status quo by asking these big, bold questions what if we dot, dot, dot? Or why do we always do it this way? I love that question. It's got so many different answers to it, right, but it's important here to be sure to involve your team in this brainstorming exercise. This is where you're going to get the best ideas. Remember, it's the people who work in your business not you or not the leaders in your business that really know and understand the pain points, and they're the ones that have the best ideas that can lead to business changing innovation. Remember, the right and sometimes difficult questions will break down the barriers that exist and open doors to creative thinking that you're seeking in this step. 

Step number three start small. Again, don't try to tackle the big rock. Look for the little rock, and you want to develop a quick version of what it is. You've decided to innovate and test it. This is the step where you're not looking for perfection. That comes later, right, this is not the time to try to make it perfect. What you're looking for are the ideas that can work, and the only way that you will know is to test the ideas you come up with and measure them. Remember, by experimenting you can learn what works and what doesn't, without a substantial upfront investment, maybe no cost at all. All right. 

Step number four gather feedback and refine it. So we've created it and we're doing the testing, and so this is where you want to get that real world reaction to what it is you've innovated. You want the feedback from your customers, from your employees or the people that are going to be involved in whatever the innovation is that you've created. But this is where you can take your ideas and refine them based on what you're learning and what you're observing. Remember, innovation improves through iteration and right here, folks, continuous feedback ensures that you're solving the right problems and the right way and that you're innovating the right things. Step number five Once you've got your proof of concept, roll it out broadly, share it with your team, with the industry, with influencers, with your customers and anybody else that might be involved in using this technology or whatever it is you're innovating, right, not just technology and let them know what you've innovated, why it is important or was important and how it will positively impact them, like what's in it for me? 

What is it going to do for me? How's it going to make my life better? Right, that's what they want to know. And don't forget to celebrate all that you've accomplished during this innovation process. You got to celebrate the small and the big victories. It builds momentum and adaption. This is the part I love celebrating the wins along the way. And remember recognition fuels a culture of innovation and demonstrates to your team that smart risks are worth it and rewarded. It will also create a culture where you don't have to create a group to brainstorm ideas, that your team is going to start bringing them to you. As they see them, as they see this bottlenecks and as they uncover things that could be improved, they're naturally going to bring them to you. So be sure that you celebrate all that you accomplished in this. 

Innovation isn't just a project. It is a mindset. It should be part of your culture. You know, if you encourage curiosity and openness each and every day, not just when something feels broken, you'll be amazed at how fast your business can grow and how you can continue to move forward. It is that you can create, because each and every one of us have things inside of our business that can be improved and it can be innovated to make life better for all of us. So please, please, let me know how you are creating the innovation that you and your business need and that our industry needs.

Outro:

Hey, thanks for joining me today. I hope you got some amazing value out of today's conversation. Go out there and make today great, and I look forward to seeing you back here for another episode in a couple of weeks. Take care everyone. Thank you.