Setting yourself apart from your competition is essential for any organization. That’s why coming up with creative new business ideas is vital for any call center manager. This creative spirit should be fostered in employees as well, so the company can thrive with everyone’s collective enthusiasm.
3C Contact Services tells their partners that creative business ideas are what drive the economy forward and that fostering their employees’ creativity should be encouraged. It is also recommended that when hiring, you keep an eye out for candidates who show a creative flair in their previous experience.
When coming up with new business ideas, don’t go for just a new approach, but rather an improved one. While many companies have enjoyed success with new products, just as many have seen mixed results.
Here are just a few ways you can encourage creative business ideas:
Brainstorming Sessions
Getting the extroverted members of your team to come up with new business ideas is easy. But your introverted employees may be your best creative minds. Let your team know about brainstorming meetings in advance so these employees can come up with a few ideas beforehand. This is important because some people have difficulty coming up with ideas on the spot when they’re under pressure. An alternative may be to offer a brainstorming box, through which shyer employees can share their ideas by dropping a note into the box. This also encourages ongoing creativity.
Include Remote Workers
If any of your employees work from home or other locations, be sure to include them in the creative process, whether it’s via conference call, video conference, or instant messenger. You never know where your next big idea will come from, so it’s worthwhile to include every team member, as that will cast the widest net.
Include Employees from Every Department
At one time, creative business ideas were the domain of marketing, research and development, or the graphics department. Now, workers have a wealth of experience and knowledge that they can apply to the creative process. By including everyone and opening the potential to everyone’s breadth of talents, you open up a whole new door to creativity.
Solo Brainstorming
Having your team brainstorm for new ideas together can be a great tram-building exercise but having your employees work on creative ideas on an individual basis can also be an effective way for your organization to generate new business ideas and improve current standards. Some people work better individually, as they thrive best when left alone with their thoughts without any distractions. Tell your employees what you are looking for, give them a deadline to come up with new business ideas, and then apply or combine the best ones.
Implement the Ideas
Once your employees have provided you with creative business ideas and you’ve reviewed them, don’t hesitate to implement them. They could prove to be quite beneficial to your organization. Provide your employees with the tools they need (resources like software programs, stationary, binders or filing systems, or the like; the employees needed to carry out the new idea; or incentives) to foster creativity and carry through with creating new and innovative ideas for your organization to better function.
Creativity and innovation should be encouraged in order to remain competitive. At 3C Contact Services, we encourage our agents to share their creative ideas for improving our current services, so we can continue to stay on the cutting-edge of the contact services space. For more information on how we’re staying competitive and how your business can benefit from our creative contact services, contact us today.