How to use the Seven Sins of Innovation
Erik Micheelsen
Founder of Innovation Embassy | Helping Innovators Build Programs That Create Real Breakthroughs & Redefine the Game
I’m writing about the Seven Sins of Innovation. But there are questions.
How do you make them operational? Where's the business model in it? How do you get more leads? How do they change your pitch-deck? How do they simplify your communications? Just to mention a few and I’m sure you have some of your own.
There are three answers.
Before I get there, I want to tell you about an astronomy party I held a few years back. We were about sixty people and I had got ahold of this fantastic place out in the middle of nowhere. A spacious place with both great outdoor and indoor options.
Most importantly - once night fell, it would be pitch dark. Only stars. This particular evening would be a rare shooting star night, lasting for about four hours, peaking at 3:00 AM.
What do you do with people who will arrive during the morning, will be hanging out all day and only be waiting for night to fall? You build anticipationS (plural) and in a sequence, release goodies.
We start with the roasting Wild Boar over a fire.
It had been in a honey mead brine for about 36 hours at this point and we got the fires going about 6:00 AM. In shifts, people would be asked to help keep the fire alive and prepare food to go with it.
This brings people together and they start to get to know each other while cutting carrots. One other trick is to get people to breath together. When you do that, they make a bond that lasts for long time. I simply had a morning chant-yoga session. Lots of laughter - while people tune in.
Now, the problem - for the crowd - is that it starts to smell pretty darn good at about 2:PM. The glazed honey on the wild boar starts to fill the air and let’s just say lunch is not enough to satisfy anything.
That’s Sin #1 right there. Desire!
About 8:00PM - dinner is served and people are in a que! I kid you not, they were steeling places.
And afterwards? They loose all sense of time and desire to do anything.
This happens once you open the doors to what you offer. That’s it. Suspense is killed and they got what they wanted. Now what?
There has to be fireworks later on.
Fireworks - in people minds - are nearly always “great if they show up - but I don’t really know if they will”.
So you never place your main offer as the fireworks. This will push you to be creative.
What you do is divide your offer into two events. No 1 is the smell of nearly getting it - and then getting it. No 2 is something extraordinary, that happens once you got No 1.
Innovators need to do this. It's a bit tricky but it's what all innovative Startups Leaders and Innovators in organisations must do:
Offer something people know - and THEN take people to the next level. You DO NOT SELL the next level.
Simply because people wont get it. They can't compute it. They'll go "oh is that an option? That's nice..." and move on to the next thing.
If I had tried to sell people on watching X number of shooting stars pr hour, I don't think many would have turned up. But what I did was to line out the packages:
1) You'll be able to play boardgames 24hrs straight
2) Enjoy some of the best untouched nature in Denmark
3) Erik will present his child-friendly storytelling on how shooting stars happen and why we some times get to experience 200 of them an hour.
4) Experience one of the darkest and most isolated places in Denmark and with it - the best view of the Milky Way and the shooting stars.
5) The best Foods and Drinks - let's not forget what's important! We have a Wild Boar on an open fire, Night Goodies and a Morning Brunch you will rant about for years.
What I'm doing here is dividing my value offer. And the combination results in something never experienced before.
Worked pretty well.
Everybody (#1) desires a unique exotic experience. Once you get it, you want more of it (#2). And if you could hoard more of it and keep it as something you always had (#3).
Which is what you want to speak to.
What people don't have - but really want - and don't get - IS right infront of them - as an option.
Your innovative idea - and final product - is perhaps something they might have fantasies of. But don't actually think they can get. It would be nice if they could but....
So you divide the product into chunks.
That way - each becomes more concrete and tangible. You get to show its "curves and muscles" (#1), get people to love it and not want to let go of it (#2) and make sure they can get it for themselves (#3).
For my part, my main product is "inviting people to see shooting stars" ???? Nope. It's ... well it's not that easy to explain... it's innovative... you know...so... a bit complex.. or what I mean is that it's actually quite simple. If you'll give me a second...
But when you divide it up to tangible elements. That's what people get. And buy into. And THEN - lead them on from THERE.
What you do is use the Seven Deadly Sins of Innovation.
To lead your prospects into the value you have to offer. They trigger us and spur us to action.
Then the innovativeness kicks in and this is the cool part.
As you lead you prospects through the products, which comprise your innovation - their minds start to spin.
And as they do so, they combine them into something new and exiting. Most likely, the same thing you got so excited by and spurred you to action.
Something that spoke to you and made a lot of sense. The very idea you wanted to tell other people why it is so amazing.
This is how you do it.
Back to the main product in this case: "Invest in a day with Erik, like-minded people and an astronomical experience".
Yes, and?
Look at No 1-5 above.
IF you're introducing an innovative value and not disruption: take your product. Break it into three or more parts. Explain what happens as they use your product.
What will happen is that they WILL combine these pieces in their mind - and combine it into the very innovation you are offering.
That's the trick! That's how they GET what new value you are offering. There is no chance of explaining it. They must combine the pieces themselves.
To sum it up.
Yes - you offer the fireworks "check it out", "see xyz" or "experience abc". But you ask people to buy into "the brunch" or "the party" or "the community" or "the chosen few" - what ever!
This way - you take your main offer - and think up a new minor offer (say roasted wild boar). Then you have the fireworks as the main offer (say shooting stars) and then an offer on top of that.
This I didn't do - because it was friends and family. But I could have designed guided tours to exotic astronomical experiences for the FEW who wanted it.
In my case, I was lucky because my main product was the fireworks - special delivery (shooting stars).
You wont. Why you need to come up with something. Not easy but it is vital you do it.
That is - if you want to be innovative!
It's not enough to come up with an idea.
With an idea - you may head straight into enemy territory. Competitors who have invested heavily into protecting their claim. Or simply that there are so many who are calling for attention in the same space.
You need to take your prospects further and into the land they want to go into.
That's what all innovations do. They allow for where people are right now. But press the magic button and they go to the next level.
To give you an example.
Let's say you’re into Photoshop and you want to teach other people some neat things not in the books. A nice product offer. You also know you’ll be competing with a lot of people out there doing the same.
You have three basic choices: Disrupt the market and go low on price with a secondary business model attached. Innovate and 10x your profits. Or fight them headon.
Let's go for innovation.
Who are those customers? Many will be people who want to make a living from it. Probably people with no business experience. They don’t know anything about contracts or orders or anything.
If you offer both the Photoshop tricks AND a business package, you can 10x your price. That’s innovation on a small scale right there. It doesn’t have to be big and world changing.
How about those fireworks?
They can be anything - once they’ve got the product because that's when they are ready for the next thing. You might have this new business platform you’ve been wanting to launch that will maximise your customers output and business too. Or a live (physical) event. Or you could even send them a bag of "awesomeness".
Back to the three answers on how to use the Seven Sins of Innovation:
- A little at a time: A startup leader I spoke with at the bar after a convention told me about their FinTech product aimed at millennials. “The problem is - our investors love us. But our target group isn't responding. Or at least not enough. So we’re hiring a Hype Manager. “ I told him of Sin #3 and said “If you can’t make them want it (#1), then speak to their greed and give them a sample of it now day 1. Not tomorrow. And then they will want more.”. I should mention their product was really smart but they were asking people to make a deep investment. That’s offering the fireworks and it didn't work.
- Be ethical: You're holding their favourite cooky. And they can’t have it. Not until they’ve bought it. When they get it, make sure they Lust (that’s #1) for more and that it’s ok because in small dosis - it’s good for them.
- Implement them: Take a whiteboard. At the top - write your customer avatar. Vertically, write the Seven Sins of Innovation. Then derive how they apply. Change your approach accordingly. If you’re at the idea stage then implement then take time to play with them. Storyboard different stories and make some Storytelling Products to test real-life.