Dear Creative friends,
Hello again.
Please send me any comments
or suggestions that you have.
Pleasant reading,
Amir
In this issue:
(a) Announcements
(b) Creative ideas
for...
(c) Creative tool - Multiple Intelligences
(a) Special Premium Blitz Creative Consulting Sale
While I was writing the section on Creative Ideas for a Special Sale on the following section, I thought of the idea of holding one myself.
I call this special sale the Blitz Creative Consulting sale - you get one-on-one online creative consulting of 30 minutes. Use it to let me help you generate creative product or service ideas, creative advertising ideas, creative writing ideas, creative website design ideas or any other subject you choose.
This sale has a several unique features:
- Only 5 clients can win and take advantage of this sale. I have very limited time to dedicate to extra projects so only the first 5 people to pay for this sale will get the service.
- This is a fast-thinking, fast-action consulting session. The amount of ideas does not limit what you get - only the time we have for the session - so prepare in advance with all the relevant info and get ready for fast typing!
- You get full exclusive rights on the ideas that come up in the session. I wave all claims to the ideas and you can make whatever you want from the ideas. I can not use the ideas that will come up with other clients or for public publishing.
The online consulting will be conducted using MSN mesenger, Yahoo! messenger or Google Chat.
I appologize in advance if you don't get to be among the 5 winners. Depending on how this works, I will consider holding more session like this in the future.
If you are interesed - you need to act fast (only 5 winners!):
Click this link to take part in this special sales offer - the page you reach will let you know if the offer is still open or if others have beat you to it.
If it is still open you will be instructed how to make the $50 payment for the session, and later be contacted by me to set up a time for the one-on-one online consulting session.
yours
truly,
Amir
(b)
Creative Ideas for a Special Sale
Specials sales are a common tool for small stores as well as giant store chains alike for atracting new and existing
customers, for promoting certain products, for getting rid of certain stocks, and for making us all buy more then we intended...
However, many of the special sales today are done in the same way - and many of today's consumers have come to ignore these attempts of getting their attention. This time I have chosen to provide you some ideas on how to make a really creative special sales. If you or someone you know are running a small shop, or are in charge for the sales in a larger establishment, and even if your business is in services - print and save these ideas for the next time you might consider making a special sales campaign.
- "New Faces": the idea is to get people who are not ususally involved in the sales to be part of it, and thus draw the attention of people to the type of people they are not used to seeing when they come shopping. If you have a small store - these new faces might include your children, your grandparents or perhaps even your pet. In a big store or a chain you might choose to have all backoffice personnel join the sales force - with proper training and preparation, or perhaps even the families of your employees.
- "Premium Quality Sale": usually a sale is focused on lower prices of products. Instead - think of making a special sale that is focused on the extra quality of specific products or services. This could include premium products you do not usually include in your stock, a service provided by the house specialst that usually does other strategic work, etc. Pay attention NOT to price the products and services in this sale at low prcies - the whole idea is that this sale is not for those looking for better prices - but for those who are looking for premium quality (and are willing to pay more for it).
- "Happy Hour":Instead of having the sale for a few days or weeks during the year, have a sale made in specific times of day, EVERYDAY. This idea can be used to promote sales on hours that usually draw less business, or that carry lower operating costs for you.
- "Costumer Oriented Sale": If a sale has a common denominator at all, in many cases it is organized around the type of products or their origin. A different type of sale would concentrate on the type of client it is intended for. Ideas are endless and have to do with the different groups of clients that attend your business. For instance, you could hold a weekly sale for new parents (including specialty products for newborns, consultants on baby diet, baby room designers that help choose the furniture for the baby's room, etc.). Another example is a sale for people who work in the computer and electronics business (with hi-tech gadgets, futuristic attractions, science fiction books, etc.
(c) Creative Tool: Multiple Intelligences
This time I will describe how to use Howard Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences as a creativity tool for generating a wide range of ideas in any subject. A full article on the subject may be found here: Creative Intelligences Article. If you are not familiar with Howard Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences, I suggest that you read that article to gain a better understanding on this tool.
Howard Gardner lists 7 intelligence types that can be seen in various people and human activities. The types are: Linguistic - the ability to use language to excite, please, convince, stimulate or convey information; Logical-Mathematical - the ability to explore patterns, categories and relationships by manipulating objects or symbols; Intrapersonal - the ability to understand, express and control one's inner feelings, dreams and ideas; Interpersonal - the ability to understand other people, their goals, motivations, intentions, and to communicate with them; Spatial - the ability to navigate and to perceive objects and directions; Musical - the ability to perform, compose or enjoy a musical piece; Bodily-Kinesthetic - the ability to use the body in sports, performance arts, and other motorical tasks.
My sugestion is that you use these 7 ways of human expression and action to develop ideas for almost any subject. This may help you find various ways for communication within a group setting (employee training, staff meeting, company event, etc.), for a single person activity (creative ways to examine potential candidates for a job, for instance), as weel as other uses (new product and service development, creative advertising).
Here are examples for using the 7 intelligences tool to make employee training a creative experience.
- Linguistic: let participants solve word puzzles or write short stories, on the subect of the training.
- Logical-Mathematical: let participants solve logical riddles, decrypt encoded messages or even go through a series of logical tests on a virtual treasure hunt during the training session.
- Intrapersonal: ask participants to close their eyes, and think of a past experience related to the subject of the training. Guide them through a personal process of recreating that experience in their mine, becoming aware of more specific details, of their actions and feelings in the situation, and so on.
- Interpersonal: lots of room for communication exercises, active listening and development of empathy skills related to this intelligence type.
- Spatial: use the room or lecture hall or even the sorrounding building to send the participants on missions that involve finding their way around the place. Another option - close their eyes and lead them in a certain course, which they than have to trace back with their eyes open.
- Musical: bring simple musical tools and let the particiapnts make a “jam session”. This may be just a way to makes training more fun, or serve as a basis for discussing subjects such as cooperation and harmony, teamwork, leadership, etc.
- Bodily-Kinesthetic: the game of Charades is a great way to move and demonstrate bodily control and body language (it also combines the logical-mathematical thinking ability). Another option is to incorporate a short dance interval into the training - perhaps by inventing a group dance.
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