How To Make Your Business Idea Rock!

When I was a new entrant in the corporate world, I was fresh and burbling with ideas. At many meetings, I would come up with innovative ideas. My bosses would just consider them good but would not be very keen on implementing them. Maybe, I was lacking in experience then. I understood that roping in the boss to agree with your ideas is a difficult thing. The boss is more experienced than you in the subject and naturally to sell your idea to these hardcore professionals is not a joke. Many of you maybe like me. Here are some tips to win over your boss and make your idea a bit hit in your company.

When a number of my ideas were not encouraged, I stopped giving ideas arbitrarily. I understood that grasping the business mentality and professional personality of the boss is very important. I analyzed my boss on certain factors.

What is his business aim?

Though as a fresher it was difficult for me to understand the intentions of my boss, after working with him for a couple of months, I understood what was on his mind. As a naïve fresher, I thought ideas showing ways to slash on business expenditure was topmost on his mind. Later, I came to know that cost cutting involved a lot of factors that I had not taken into consideration. Here, I was offering ideas without a thought about different conditions, such as product quality, consumer psychology, product reputation etc. My boss on the other hand was contemplating slashing the expenditure taking into account all and many other conditions that I was not aware of. No wonder, my ideas got rejected.

When you try to sell your idea, always try to hit the bull’s eye. For that, you should know what it is that the other person wants. Is your boss more interested in increasing the sales, is he interested in introducing a new range of products into the market or is he interested in slashing the extra expenditure? Just find out accurately and your idea will sell like a piece of hot cake.

How do I ‘woo’ him?

Bosses are like girlfriends! They are so fastidious that you’ve got to be on your toes always pleasing them to get their attention. Not something bad, when you’ve got an idea to sell and make yourself an important member of his team. Take a bit of time and find out his likes and dislikes. As a fresher, I did not know that my boss was fond of diagrammatic representations. Many times I would offer him my idea written as a story but he would never open the file at all. Once, I asked a senior employee about how my boss wanted information to be presented to him. After knowing that it was graphs and diagrams that he was looking for, I made the changes without delay and got my proposal accepted within minutes!

Present your proposal when he is in his receptive best. Never offer him a new idea when he’s very busy unless you’re sure that your proposal is 100 % effective. Take time and find out each and every liking and disliking of your boss and then move your pawn at the best conducive moment. Ask them if they are ready to listen out to you and then proceed. But never pester them to listen to you as you stand a chance of inviting their ire. Patiently wait for the opportunity. Success will happen to you then.

When do I bell the cat?

Belling the cat will be easier if you’ve got people supporting your idea. I found that when I went alone with my proposal to win my boss’s heart, all my excitement would fizzle out as he would turn me down saying that nobody would agree to my views. Next time, I discussed my point with my colleague first and got it approved by him and other team members. We all met in a group to present the point and my boss accepted the proposal without any qualms. I was amazed to see what people power can do.

I understand that when more people agree to a point, it buys more authenticity for itself. You can’t simply blame the boss for asking for authentic ideas.

How do I start?

Bosses are a busy lot. My boss did not have even ten minutes to spare for me. He was always surrounded by people, was busy with meetings, went outstation quite frequently or always was busy in teleconferences. I would wait for days to find a suitable item to talk to him when he was a bit relaxed, but that did not seem to come. Finally one day, after lunch, I requested him to give me at least 10 minutes. Can you imagine, in ten minutes time I explained an entire business model to him? I could do this only because I went equipped with all relevant information. When he asked for extra information, I had it at the tip of my fingers. He liked it and accepted my proposal.

Don’t beat around the bush! Just come to the point straight and tell whatever you have on mind. Before you meet your boss, its always better for you to anticipate beforehand what he might ask of you there and be ready with those resources. You will see that clear thinking produces precise ideas, the gist of which can be conveyed in a short time. Make the most of those precious few minutes that you get to sell your idea.

Tell him the benefits of your proposal

After conveying my idea, I went straight into the benefits of that proposal for the company. I did not waste time explaining the process cost or resources required in detail. In 10 minutes time I could only emphasize on the advantages of my proposal which my boss found profitable enough. You might argue that later your idea might be voted down on considering the influential factors in detail. Well, you’re right but at least by showing advantages, I have won his initial liking for the project. With this at least he’ll not reject my proposal outright. He’ll be ready to at least work on it. Often, it’s been seen that when a proposal is seen to be quite beneficial the bosses are ready to implement them by making minor adjustments here and there.

If you have to present, better go prepared!

Sometimes my boss used to ask me to give a formal presentation in front of other seniors at the final stages of approval. Many a time I would go unprepared only to find myself uncomfortable with handling the audience. I would be quite nervous of the crowd and the ambience. After a couple of uncomfortable episodes, I started grooming myself. First I’d learn up my subject thoroughly to handle queries efficiently. Handling unexpected questions is something that all presenters have to be prepared for. Next, I’d talk in front of the mirror to assess my body image from another person’s point of view. Then, I’d present in front of my friend and ask her to give me feedback regarding my performance. After quite a few rehearsals I can proudly declare that I aced presentations.

Try out these golden tips and you’re sure to make your ideas rock!

Most people think it’s all about the idea. It’s not. EVERYONE has ideas. The hard part is doing the homework to know if the idea could work in an industry, then doing the preparation to be able to execute on the idea.- Marc Cuban