Selling Ideas

There is a saying - "Knowledge is power and Ideas rule the world". We need to boost the power of ideas by using our knowledge. For the ideas to be successful, we need to do lot of homework before presenting good ideas so that they get buy-ins from stakeholders and support from followers.

The article 'The Proposal' by Suzy Bashford published in Economic Times Brand Equity - dated 14-Jul-10 gives some pointers on how to sell ideas to top management.
The biggest challenge faced by marketing director today is likely to be selling ideas to their superiors than reaching consumers.
Marketers can achieve greater success with their boards if they approach the communication of their work and ideas as an agency would a pitch. Those who refine and improve their presentation until they have a story to tell will score a better strike-rate over time.
The key to selling ideas, is to know your audience and pitch the ideas in a way that is tailored to them. Think through to whom you are selling an idea and what questions or reactions they might have, and always come armed to answer or tackle these.

Selling ideas successfully involves encouraging the board to buy in to the concept at key stages, effectively letting them embrace the idea to the same extent as the marketing team and taking shared ownership for its success.

Similarly the corporate strategy needs to be communicated to everyone in the organization. Anand Mahindra from Mahindra & Mahindra had packaged the Mantras so that the message is communicated uniformly across the organization. (M&M's Management Mantras from The Harvard Business Review July-August 2008)

At M&M's annual conference for senior executives, Anand Mahindra focuses his companies on key priorities, which he calls Blue Chip Mantras. (The Sanskrit word "Mantra" means a prayer or, in this case, formula.) Below are the group's mantras for the past six years.

2002
Business leadership. Be number 1 or 2 in your industry

Innovation. One-fifth of revenues must come from products or services introduced in the past four years

Globalization. Bespoke metrics for each sector

Financial returns. Bespoke metrics for ROCE and FCF (free cash flow).

2003
Good to great. Move from good to great by insulating the company from volatility (zero trauma) and by achieving full potential (stretch goals).

2004
Customer focus. Become the most customer-centric corporation in your industry.

2005
Financial performance. In three years, double turnover and triple profits (3-2-3).

2006
Intensify customer centricity. Measure the customer as promoter (CAP) score, which is M&M's metric of customer loyalty.

2007
Innovation. Build a customer-centric innovation engine in each business.

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Channelizing the energies of the stakeholders/employees helps to create robust strategies for the organization.