Monkey See, Monkey Do.

Good Ideas Come From Everywhere

I use a lot of creativity in my business marketing.  I see some things others do that I like a whole lot.  I check out how other business models do the stuff they do.  I will look at clothing manufacturers and check out how they process their business model.  I might check out how a news network on television processes their business model.  I might take a look at something UPS is doing new with regard to how they have changed something they do.  It does not matter what the industry is or where the model fits in the food chain, I check out ideas that seem to work.  Some of those ideas are very good and will work out well in my business models.  I have no problem taking a good working idea from one sector into another one.  Monkey see, monkey do.

However, make sure you do not steal a legally protected idea.  They are out there.  The owner of that process went to a lot of trouble securing protection on the process.  Honor that effort.  Tip your hat to the good idea and move on.  However, for those ideas that work well and are arranged perfectly, unprotected to copy, I find parts of how they are arranged good enough to be included in my business cycles of effort.  I do not necessarily need to come up with the best ideas.  I can find many of them already in place out in the marketing world.  Try to expand where you look to get your new ideas.  If you own a tire shop, make sure you do not just look at other tire shops when you are searching for ways to improve your business model.  Your next best idea may actually come from a little dress boutique located in a city mall.  Pay attention out there.  Some really good ideas can be found in some very unsuspecting ways.  Be open to seeing what they are and where they are hiding.  Monkey see, monkey do is not always a bad thing.  I have introduced many great working ideas in my business models that were spawned by things someone else was trying to do.

In fact, some ideas I have come across did not seem to work well where I found them because something was missing to make them work well.  I would catch myself evaluating how something I witnessed would work better if only they made a simple change in what they were trying to do.  While I was evaluating their effort I discovered how that change would also work for my model.  Monkey see, monkey do would get modified to become better arranged in a working success.  The examination evaluation process worked the monkey see, monkey do process into a better solution.  I practice this move in my business development quite often.  I know there are great minds out in this world and much of what they do makes a lot of good sense.  I dovetail my policies, my procedures, my marketing, my designs and some of my methods into the fold of many ideas I find out on the street.  I certainly do not hold all of the good ideas in the world.  I do not own the monopoly on that process.  Be big enough to find better ideas in the open marketplace.

Be respectful when you discover another good idea out there.  For example, we recently introduced a new delivery program in a business model that did not exist in that model.  We purchased a new delivery truck and had the company logo placed on the cab doors.  I suggested that they also place a large permanent banner on both sides of the cab that read, "We Deliver."  It has generated some comments from a lot of people we see out on the road.  This idea had been used by other business models.  It is not a unique idea.  Monkey see, monkey do.  I have no problem with that.  By all means, use the good idea for your business advantage.

Work your travels with an open mind.  Look for other ways you can find legitimate monkey see, monkey do ideas.  They are all around you.  If Disney has a great parking lot idea on how to help customers do a better job in parking their vehicles without wasting space, see if how they do that task can be dovetailed into your tire shop parking lot.  It might make your efforts to improve customer service happen more smoothly.  Monkey see, monkey do.  Be open to find the better ways out there that business models use to improve how they win at their game.  Just because it is not purely your idea does not mean it will not help you win more often.  Do not forget that your goal is to win more often.  If borrowing a good idea helps that process occur, count me in.  I do not get paid better because I came up with some unique winning way.  I get paid better because I have introduced hundreds of new ideas that work better.  Monkey see, monkey do can easily speed up the good idea process.  If good ideas help to improve business results, more good ideas is better than one or two of them.  In fact, when we read to get new ideas, are we not taking something from that reading to improve our ideas and success?  Are we not practicing the monkey see, monkey do concept?  Of course we are.  We do it because it works.  Business owners want to do the things that work well.

Emulate Other Good Ideas, But Do Not Steal Them

I also see how the monkey see, monkey do process can become a bad idea.  I recently drove through a business district and passed in front of four furniture store buildings.  Each of them had a display window.  In each of the display windows I saw living room furniture arrangements.  All of them seemed to be showing the same colors in the furniture covers.  Brown colors with splashes of wildly printed throw pillows.  The wood and glass tops on the occasional tables was all the same.  The lamps seemed to come from the same mold.  In three of the display windows, the covers on the sofa and chairs was brown leather.  All the displays had the clear look of monkey see, monkey do.  It did not help any one of them separate themselves away from the other.  Each furniture store gave me the impression that they were much like repeating postage stamps.  They were all alike.  Clearly operating too strongly on the monkey see, monkey do process.  I can assure you that if my furniture store was placed in that particular row of stores my display window on that day would sport some wild printed and very colorful living room arrangement with some metal tables and far out lamps.  I, at that moment, would make sure monkey see, monkey do was violated.

Sometimes it is better to go the other way.  Know the difference in your business model.  Be creative enough to separate yourself away from the normal crowd.  Customers like to check out new ideas and fresh beginnings.  Sometimes you need to create an environment whereby your competitors will copy what you do.  When you discover a good idea, they will practice monkey see, monkey do.  Get ready for them to copy what you do.  When we began our new delivery program for our retail model, we reached out into a new marketing area to do some new business.  We discovered a good response in that new area.  We now deliver on a routine schedule to that new area.  After several weeks of this new market support, we found that one of our product segments was the most popular segment they purchased in that area.  We found out that nobody in that region offered this product segment.  That is why we became so successful in a quick hurry in that area.  The consumers of that region were now able to receive what was not previously offered in that area.  It is a very small market and having this new product supply was a welcomed addition to their area.  We discovered a new benefit in our 'start-up' delivery program.

However, monkey see, monkey do has raised its head.  Last trip into this area with one of our deliveries has revealed how a local retailer form this little market has decided to add this product line-up to their business model.  They see what we have been bringing in and they want some of that action.  Monkey see, monkey do.  Each of the customers we delivered to that day mentioned this new introduction a local retailer was placing into their model.  Small markets talk fast and information moves quickly.  This local retailer could not bear to hear another story about how this 'once-product-void' was now getting served in his market area.  He wanted to make sure he stepped up to the plate and provide his market region with the same offerings.  He has decided to compete with our discovery.  Monkey see, monkey do.  Welcome to competition.

I was encouraged to hear this news.  More exposure will only increase the demand for this product category.  I like that prospect.  This process will increase in sales for a little while.  It might do well enough to also invite others into the game.  Remember, monkey see, monkey do is everywhere.  Before you know it, all of the sofas in the window will look the same.  That is how it happens.  Be prepared to know when to come into a market with an idea as well as to know when to exit a market and idea.  Pay attention to the cycles of profit.  Cycles of profit are not the same as the cycles of popularity.  Know when each of them begins and when they end.  Pay closer attention to your numbers in this monkey see, monkey do process.  It might mean the difference between winning or losing at the marketing game.  Do not get so wrapped up with how the idea works as much as you pay attention to the numbers that are produced.  Both are important to examine.  One is more vital than the other.  Do the idea correctly, but pay closer attention to the numbers it produces.  Your competition may not be as due diligent as you and they may discover negative results from something they thought was working well.  I have watched some of my monkey see, monkey do introductions walk right into some great success and shortly thereafter, fall flat on its face when the market became saturated with what we were all doing.  Pay attention to your numbers closely.  It is very easy to get wrapped up with the monkey see, monkey do process with your competitors that getting lost will occur.  Pretty soon, when all of the leather look-alike sofas become stale to the consumer...nobody sells them anymore.  Everyone has a lot of brown leather sofas that do not move any more.  Signals were there in the numbers but were ignored.  Know the difference.

Monkey see, monkey do can be a great way to market your wares.  However, do it cautiously and make sure you do not violate someones protected rights.  Stay off of the toes of your competitor.  That competitor may be a lot smarter than you expect.  Do not wake up a sleeping giant.  I have done that in my career and I can assure you it ain't no fun.  Some of the smartest competitors are resting right next door to your business model.  Do not give them the motivation to wake up.  Be smart when you practice monkey see, monkey do.

Until next time...