Customers will buy from you if you meet these criteria. However there are other reasons they will buy from you rather than your competitors.

1 - If they think you're an expert and a specialist 2 - If they think you're product or service is better 3 - If someone tells them to

Let's look at each of these in turn -

#1 Customers want to know that you understand them and their business. It therefore makes a great deal of sense to specialise. Work in a niche and become known for it. For example - If a customer is in hospitality industry and they know that you specialise in supply of hygiene products to that industry; then you're more likely to receive a call from them. They know that if they raise a particular problem with you then you'll understand.

a) The difference between creativity and innovation. Often used interchangeably, two must be thought of as separate and distinct. One definition for creativity is that it is problem identification and idea generation, whilst innovation is best described as idea selection, development and commercialisation. These definitions alone imply at least six competencies (including one holistic). At a minimum, differences mean that, at each stage, varying skills, processes and structures are required.

b) The size and richness of idea pools. Initially creative thinking is used to generate an idea pool and then critical thinking reduces those ideas to feasible ones. To maximise quantity and quality of idea pool, a conscious application of processes and techniques must be applied. Some of these include

i)Using a variety of stimuli and frameworks to open up pathways ii)Not stopping when a good idea seems to present itself iii)Consciously stimulating change in direction iv)Distinguishing between numbers of ideas produced, their novelty, diversity and frequency of production.

c) Creative types. There is common belief that some people just are more creative and certain theorists argue for creativity characteristics such as tolerance of ambiguity and intolerance for conformity. However, traits are notoriously difficult to detect and not stable nor transferable across situations. Also, motivation is thought to be more important than traits – this is similar to possessing high intelligence - one must be motivated to improve and apply it.

d) Learning versus Talent. Can creativity be learned and developed or is it a natural talent or gift? The best way to answer this question is to investigate whether creativity improves with practice. The experience curve, automisation, learning theories and experiences of practitioners suggest that people do get better at generating more, better, diverse and novel ideas - but there are caveats, such as an increase in path dependency and peaks and troughs in motivation.