We Need Some New Ideas For Our Legal Practice - Who's Good At Ideas?
In hindsight every great idea seems obvious.
Everything new is based on what has gone before.
The Big Bertha golf driver was invented to make golf easier, the Sony Walkman because people were walking around with heavy ghetto blasters and You Tube was invented to put personal videos online for friends to share.
How do you come up with great and simple ideas like this for your practice?
It helps if you have a system forcing you to look at your business from a different perspective.
One of the most successful systems for coming up with ideas is something called S.C.A.M.P.E.R.
The system is explained in the book Thinkertoy, by Michael Michalko, as a way of asking questions of an existing product or service which can lead to a breakthrough new product.
S.C.A.M.P.E.R. is an mnemomic (a technique to remember something) S = substitute something C = combine it with something else A = adapt something to it M = magnify or modify it P = put it to some other use E=eliminate something R = reverse or rearrange it The method for using S.C.A.M.P.E.R is
Isolate the challenge or problem you want to solve and use SCAMPER questions at each step to see what new ideas emerge. Consider the challenge; “In what way could I get more people to arrange Wills?”
Look systematically at the following 8 ways of generating a solution; - What procedure could I substitute for my current one of seeking clients?
- How can I combine it with other procedures?
- What can I adapt from other lawyers or other business methods?
- How can I modify the way I do the procedure?
- What can I magnify or add to the procedure?
- What can I eliminate from the way I fulfil them?
- What is the reverse of the procedure?
- What rearrangement or procedures might be better?
What will you come up with?
The key is to generate ideas quickly. (Spend too long and things get complicated).
Be open minded.
Don't label them good or bad ideas at first but do ensure that like Walt Disney, you have a dreamer, realist and critic as part of the group to evaluate the ideas.
Here are a few that I came up with in a couple of minutes.
1 Stop advertising. Substitute partnerships with media owners to offer Wills to readers of newspapers and pay a commission per Will? E.G The Sunday Times Wills Service
3 Automate follow up to reviewing Wills by having a marketing sequence that sends out a message once a year requesting a "Roadmap for Tomorrow" update 4 Offer Wills online, with clients filling in standard documents which are then reviewed by a lawyer for a fixed fee
7 Change the procedure for Wills and use a one-off payment which is sold as a Will for Life service
You are guaranteed to have more ideas than you can or want to implement.
If S.C.A.M.P.E.R doesn't work for you then get in touch and let me know.
There are other systems that may suit your Practice or creativity better.
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