A Checklist to Screen Ideas for Corporate Alignment  

by Lynda Curtin, The Opportunity Thinker

Increase your chances of success at selling new ideas to management. Understand that ideas create change. Change needs to be well managed. To be well managed ideas need to be thoroughly thought through. The following list of questions will help you determine which ideas are worth the effort of pursuit because they are powerful for the organization.  

1. Describe how this idea, service, or product supports the company’s core competencies and strategy. What do you expect the impact to be? 
2. Do we have the necessary resources (people, equipment, materials, factory, expertise, etc.) to commercialize the idea? If there are shortfalls, how can we mitigate them? 
3. If capital investment is necessary to proceed, do the business numbers support the expenditure? What is the ROI? Does it fit with corporate policy? Are there creative ways for financing? 
4. Will the idea meet our expected profit margins? If not, what are the factors for going forward with the project? What do we expect to learn that we can’t learn another way? What will the idea set us up to be able to do in the future? 
5. Will we receive any patents? How will they delay the competition? 
6. What is the uniqueness of the idea and the added value our customers will receive? 
7. What is the expected life span of the idea? 
8. How else can we leverage the value of this idea? 
9. Whose support do we need to move the idea forward? What are we doing to do to gain their support? 
10. Will the idea pirate sales from our current high volume, high margin products? If yes, what will be the impact on the company’s bottom-line profitability? Why are we doing this? 
11. Is the idea ethical? Does it meet safety standards? Is it legal? 
12. What does the idea say about the company’s employees, customers, and the general public? 
13. How does the idea fit into our current line? 
14. Is the idea a new platform for the company? If yes, do we have the expertise to launch it successfully? If no, do we know where to obtain the expertise? 
15. Are we planning to be first in the market place? Will development time cause us to miss launch dates and be late? Why do we want to be first? Who else is working on this? 
16. Is this a, me too idea? Why are we doing it? How will our idea be different and better? 
17. What is your gut feeling about the project?

What other questions can you add to this list? Enjoy the robust discussions that will take place as you explore the answers to these important questions.

©2002. The Opportunity Thinker. 

Lynda Curtin is an expert ideation facilitator, professional speaker, trainer and author in the fields of business creativity, marketing and speaking. To book Lynda for your event call 818-507-6055 or email info@LyndaCurtin.com For more information on her programs go to www.LyndaCurtin.com

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