I have a client who is in one of our training programs, and once a quarter we’ll get together and talk about his business. You might call it “personal coaching,” but it’s really just me hearing what his struggles are and giving some advice and tips and ideas on how he might be able to alleviate them.

The thing I love about his approach is that he always tells me what each idea I give him could be worth.

About two months ago, I suggested to him that in his sales process he put in a “diagnostic assessment” that allowed him to assess the customer’s business in a way that would help him determine if he even wanted to spend any time with that customer. And, of course, it would help the customer know if he/she had pain that was worth spending any time to fix.

Prior to this he had only asked questions and taken opinions from prospects. He had never put in any kind of a process/assessment. That idea just earned him a $1.3 million sale, which will generate about $300,000 of net profit in his business—one idea, $300,000.

But That’s Not Typical

What’s more typical is that ideas that we toss around in training meetings and coaching sessions go unused. They go unused because most of us have no way of executing anything new. We get so rigid in how we’ve done things that a new idea goes in one ear and out the other.

The Challenge

In 2011 I have a challenge for you: Make this the big idea year. And big ideas don’t mean earthshaking new ways to do business. It could be a very small idea that becomes a big idea because it leads to a windfall of economic benefit.

So the next time you ask someone for advice, and they give you something, don’t let it pass through your brain without filtering it through to see what that one idea could be worth. New ideas are the coin of today’s realm, but they’re worthless if no time is spent understanding them and deciding how they can be of economic benefit.