The document outlines five steps to nurturing a winning idea: 1. Adopt the idea and develop passion for it by sharing it with others. 2. Determine how the idea fits your goals. 3. Activate the idea by researching it without immediately taking action. 4. Proceed with the idea once you have enough information and it aligns with your goals. 5. Test the idea by writing a plan of action.

1. Five Steps to Nurturing A Winning Idea
Greetings from the Garden State, New Jersey! I trust that you had an enjoyable weekend and that your
week will be productive and prosperous.
Today I would like to share with you five steps to nurturing a winning idea.
The typical consumer purchasing decision passes through five distinct stages. In the first sage the
consumer recognizes that he or she has an unfulfilled need or a problem. It could be the need for
transportation which triggers the need for a car. Next the consumer will conduct information search on
cars. This will be followed by an evaluation of different brands of cars or alternatives. In the fourth
stage, the consumer will decide whether or not to make the purchase. In some cases depending on the
complexity of the decision, the consumer may conduct a post purchase evaluation to determine
whether not he or she made the right decision.
A good salesperson is trained to lead buyers through a progression of steps based on each stages
mentioned above. The objective of the salesperson is to guide the consumer to ultimately making a
purchasing decision.
Today I would like you to treat your ideas similar to how a good salesperson treats consumers. I will use
the acronym A.D.A.P.T which stands for adopt, determine, activate, proceed and test to explain.
First,adopt your ideaas your own bydeveloping passion for it. Own your ideas by speaking with your
family and friends about it. However, remember that having passion for something and talking about it
does not move an idea forward. Next determinehow your idea fit into your goals. The next step is
activation. This is where you start to lay the foundation for action. Rather than launching straight in to
acting on your idea, you should research information on your idea. Here your goal is to gather enough
information that will enable you to act on your idea in an informed manner. Once you have sufficient
information relating to your idea you can now make a determination on whether or not want to proceed
to act on your idea. Remember a key question that must be answered is how will acting on your idea
affect your goals? Finally once you decide that you are going to act,you should test your idea to see how
well it works. A good practice is to write down your plan of action.
My idea for a blog came about more than four years ago but I did not have a clear plan of action for
blogging. Don’t treat your ideas like how I treated my idea for blogging four years ago! Use the acronym
A.D.A.P.T to guide yourself to act on your ideas. Just as good salesperson guides a consumer to a
purchasing decision you too can nurture a winning idea.
Mark McKenzie is a leading Subject Matter Expert in financial services regulation and supervision as well
as a professional motivational speaker, corporate trainer and youth mentor. He can be contacted by
email mastbmckenzie@gmail.com or by telephone 647-406-4622. Read my blog
http://mastbmckenzie.blogspot.ca/ and always write me a comment and share. Follow me on Twitter
@mackynacky. Connect with me on www.youtube.com, Google+, Facebook and Linkedin.