Hewlett-Packard leaped ahead of the competition when they launched an innovative advertising campaign, "What if we stopped here?" over a photo of an early HP device. This ad sent a message to the marketplace about HPs innovative products and the future focus of the company.

Superior products and services differentiate your business from your competitors. This requires enhancing your products and services by anticipating market fluctuations over the years. This includes introducing new products, expanded services and other enhancements that grow your business.

It is advantageous to complete a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis as it provides an examination of your current products and services in order to seek new opportunities and mitigate threats. The SWOT analysis is a baseline for the future. Using the baseline as a benchmark, it is possible to access "strengths" and "weaknesses" and identify "threats" that need to be resolved. Most importantly, the "opportunities" are forward thinking and allow an assessment of potential new products and services for your customers.

Once again, the key ingredient to assessing "what if" opportunities is brainstorming ideas. There are two types of brainstorming used for this exercise: individual and group. Brainstorming alone is very effective because it eliminates the distraction inherent in a group environment and the urge to conform to the group (or boss). You will be given one to two weeks for individual brainstorming that allows the time to generate a group of ideas.

After the individuals assimilate their ideas, the group brainstorming sessions have a value-added component, as there are a larger number of ideas to evaluate. You should set one important ground rule for the group brainstorming sessions: "No idea is a bad idea."

The goal of the group brainstorming sessions is to discuss and reach consensus about each proposed idea. This will also ignite sparks that lead to other suggestions related to ideas. Next, it is important that the group assign an idea ranking for each. The ranking is based on reaching the company mission. Finally, the group brainstorming sessions are used to determine the best course of action for the top-ranked products, services and enhancements as follows:

· Steps for expanding into new products or services

· Targets for entering new markets

· Requirements for seeking acquisitions for a new or complimentary product line

· Timeframes for divesting or spinning off obsolete products or services

After the group brainstorming sessions the research phase begins with the goal of reviewing each top-ranked "what if" idea. This is accomplished by forming research teams to perform an evaluation of each initiative. The goal of the evaluation is to determine if an idea has potential to produce a viable new product or service, enhance an existing product or service or satisfy a customer need while generating significant revenue for the organization. The research phase culminates in developing a project plan that addresses both the short-range and long-range strategies for implementing the new initiative. The evaluation may occasionally identify when an idea is not viable.

You are going to be in transition during this period. Flexibility is key to the success of each initiative. When priorities shift, you need to adapt to these changes and make adjustments in the project timeframes. It is also important to stay focused on the critical success factors for each project, and communicate constantly with key staff assigned to the project.

As you roll-out each of these initiatives, you will achieve your goals of introducing new products and services, expanding into new markets, seeking strategic acquisitions, and divesting obsolete products and services. This allows your organization to achieve their growth potential and enhance their competitive advantage and global presence while increasing revenue exponentially.