At The Traffic Institute, we continually challenge norms and ask questions, relying on our creativity to figure out ways to attract customers in non-conventional ways. We challenge you to do the same today so that your own “creative genius” emerges—your next “big idea” could be moments away. Get started now with this quick three step action plan for creativity.
Plus, by first mastering these skills and then sharing them with your team, you’ll create a culture of creativity in your dealership where your staff is involved and actively coming up with ways to improve systems and processes right along with you.
Three ways to be more CREATIVE now
- Collect ideas and examples of what other people are doing. The best way to get a good idea is to have a lot of ideas to choose from. Create a special file of other people’s marketing ideas for your dealership. Read books on creative leadership. Collect and store ads, quotes, designs, ideas, questions, cartoons, etc. Then when you need an idea, you can build upon ideas from your file. Set an idea quota for each day. And make sure to set aside the necessary time to be creative. Then, brainstorm new ways to do things. Dedicate a set amount of time to analyzing each aspect of your business, and ask yourself, “Could this be more efficient? Could this be more productive? How could this generate better results?” Those three simple questions will have you well on your way to improving your dealership through creativity.
- Create an environment of creativity. Identify and then craft an environment that best enables you to be creative. Take a few days to experiment with different timeframes. Maybe you feel more creative first thing in the morning, right when you get up. Or maybe you’re more of an evening thinker. Figure it out and then setup your time blocks around the times when you feel most creative. But that doesn’t mean that you should just coast through the day until an idea hits you. You must create space in your day and devote time to coming up with these ideas or else you’ll get caught up in the day-to-day drudgery.Next, surround yourself with creative people. That might mean joining together with like-minded peers to brainstorm ideas. Or it could mean setting aside time to meet you’re your staff and give them a safe space to come up with ideas.Whatever route you take, make sure you take practical steps to catch ideas. Put pads and pens everywhere at home and at work. Carry a journal. Capture ideas whenever you can.
- Write down the top three problems facing your business right now. Come up with 10 solutions to each problem. Abandon the obvious answers. Stare at your problems until they make sense. Try applying old solutions to new situations. Ask “why?” Look for new answers to the problems you are facing. Spend a little bit of time each day thinking about these top three problems and brainstorming solutions. When you think you’ve come up with an effective solution, but it into motion and measure, measure, measure. If you don’t test your ideas, you’ll never be able to gauge their effectiveness, so make sure you keep track of what you’re testing, what the starting results are and what the results are once you implement your test.
Creative problem solving is an integral part of being a leader. You must learn how to use these strategies every day in your dealership in order to streamline systems and processes and establish your business apart from the rest of the herd. Don’t underestimate the power of creativity in business.