Reinvent. Rinse. Repeat.

Here's how thriving companies strive to upgrade their products & services to wow their customers. In this 13th issue we continue developing the 'ideastorming' alphabet of effective tips. techniques & tweaks for converting ideas into exciting and profitable revenue streams -?we focus on the letter R. This follows our 12th issue where we added the letter Q to the 'ideastorm' alphabet: Q - QUESTION IT.

If you're new to us it is recommended that you read issue 1:?One Idea is All it Takes

About:?Trevor Nel is an 'ideas-generating machine' and co-founder of?WISDOMS?. You can connect with WISDOMS? and become: 1. a?PATRON?and/or; 2. a?PLAYER?, and/or; 3. a?PARTNER?- follow each link for more info.

So far our 'ideastorm' alphabet looks like this: A - ACTION IT; B - BUILD IT; C - COLOUR IT; D - DRAMA IT; E - EXPAND IT; F - FLIP IT; G - GOOGLE IT; H - HACK IT; I - INCORPORATE IT; J - JUMPSTART IT; K - KISS IT; L - LEVERAGE IT; M - MAGNIFY IT; N - NANOTECH IT; O - OPEN IT; P - PRODUCTIZE IT; Q - QUESTION IT; ..now we add 1 more letter to the 'ideastorm' alphabet:

R- REWORK IT: Rework defn. - 'to make changes to something to improve it'. Many R-words exist to remind us to constantly.. REVIEW; RETHINK; REDESIGN; RE-ENGINEER; REINVENT; RENEW; REFRESH; RECYCLE; RINSE; REPEAT;.. rework whatever idea, product, service or process has been previously developed to test for improved applications to stimulate consumer interest and hence new profitable revenue-generating opportunities.

Many will say that you should not waste your time to re-invent the wheel. They may as well suggest that you should never come up with creative new ideas, tweaks & twists. For me, the wheel is there to be re-invented. And, has probably been re-invented in hundreds-of-thousands of different ways throughout the passage of time. This pic below says it all. Wheels have been re-invented from stone wheels to penny-farthing wheels to the latest in F1 racing wheels, to mention just a few:

Moral of the story: do not be afraid to constantly reinvent, rethink, rework your ideas, products or services, et al.

There is much to be learnt from having a really good understanding of Business Process Engineering - Extract: 'You need a superb product. You must market it to potential customers. You need to evaluate your processes. You need to meet the demands of our evolving society and your growing customers. You must rethink how your business works in order to improve?customer service, cut?operational costs, and become a world-class competitor.'

Always be on the look-out for new, improved ways to meet consumer needs with your products and services. In How Business Process Redesign in ‘New Normal’ Can Help Maximize Value there is a savvy observation: Extract: 'Businesses across industries have begun to design and implement paradigm shifts to their ways of working in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.. the current crisis has imposed unprecedented resource constraints on businesses and has forced them to adapt their processes to align with the new reality.'

Extract: 'In the post-pandemic era and beyond, the competitive landscape, the significantly altered business models and the tectonic shifts in working, while appearing at first to be daunting challenges can be overcome by redesigning processes and controls with a focus on “getting more done for less.” '

I particularly like the example of visual wall-to-wall storyboarding (see pic below) to REWORK a design concept as illustrated in this article: Review, Rinse, and Repeat - Extract: '..we’ve taken a step back to rework our presentation to form a clear and concise argument for the design.'

There are many good questions one can ask to help rework current ideas, services & products, et al. See: How to Add More Value to Your Products & Services (contains 25 questions to ask of yourself/your team).

UK-based (gov.uk/business) and Québec-based (infoentrepreneurs.org) have developed a 'Develop new products and services' guide to '..the key stages in the lifecycle of products and services so you know when the time is right for your business to start the development process'.

This excellent article link - 6 Ways to Make Product Improvements That Everybody Loves - serves to drive the point home. Extract: '..all thriving companies strive for upgrading their products and services to withstand the competition and cater to customers’ demands. Today customers expect brands to continually wow them with new products or product features.'

Extract continued: '..there are two ways of improving products: adding fresh features and upgrading existing ones.?

'New specs and updates make a current product more advanced. Such a solution enhances the value proposition and expands the target audience base. Plus, it drives value for existing customers, diminishes churn rate, and contributes to building brand loyalty.?

'Bringing already existing features up to date is another story. You have three different opportunities here:?

• Intentional improvements: simply make a product better when you know why people use it and what value they see in it;
• Regular improvements: tweak features so that customers avail of a product more often and gain real benefits;
• Introductory improvements: change features you think will make the lives of new clients much easier.'

There you have it plenty to chew on as you REWORK your ideas, products and services.

Remember..?just one idea is all it takes.

Next week:?issue 14 - We continue developing the 'ideastorming' alphabet of effective tips. techniques & tweaks for converting ideas into exciting and profitable revenue streams - we'll move on to the letter S.

Trevor Nel?is author of numerous publications & articles, including :

1. Another GREAT Day in Africa!
2. Confessions of a SERIAL Entrepreneur
3. Here's How To Be Well-Prepared For YOUR Cycles Of Success
4. Here's How YOU Can Make A Meaningful Difference In Other People's Lives
5. COMRADES Marathon: Metaphor For The Marathon Of Life
6. Riding the wild, wild River Of Life
7. Life Lessons Learnt as a Dusi Rat