Profitability Checklist: 10 Checkpoints Of The Profitability Packager

DAN SULLIVAN

When I assess new ideas or capabilities, I use a checklist to see if there is a comprehensive, realistic, step-by-step structure to develop them. I created the Profitability Packager checklist to support that process so anyone using it can move forward with greater clarity and more confidence in an idea’s profitability potential.

Profitability Checklist: The 10 checkpoints of The Profitability Packager

1. Plausible
This is the starting point for any future idea. It isn’t a reality yet, and there’s no commitment to the idea, but you can see into the future and feel the vision as though it already exists. You’re able to engage with the idea and talk about it.

Plausibility is a necessary first checkpoint of the profitability checklist, but an idea must be supported by all ten points in this checklist to be profitable.

2. Possible
A project is possible if people can engage with it practically. At this point in the profitability checklist, you’re committed, courageous, and internally determined. You’re beginning to bring about the vision without external support (yet).

3. Provable
A vision needs to move from possible to provable as quickly as possible. To check off this box in the profitability checklist, you must be able to prove with objective evidence that what you’re proposing works. At this point, the vision becomes grounded in reality.

4. Permissible
The idea—the capability—must be permissible by law. Many ideas die at this stage in the profitability checklist.

Peter Diamandis’s first private spacecraft is a good example. When he started the XPRIZE Foundation, it was forbidden by the Federal Aeronautics Administration for a private vehicle to go into outer space. So, he worked to get the law changed, which took a significant amount of effort. Be sure there aren’t any regulatory issues that could kill your idea, or be prepared to do the work to change the laws that are presenting an obstacle.

5. Protectable
If you’re creating something new, you want to take the proper steps to protect your proprietary innovations. You want to own the property, whether it’s intellectual property, physical property, or copyright trademarks. Everything new in Strategic Coach is trademarked to protect our intellectual property.

6. Priceable
If we’re talking about maximum profitability, an essential ingredient is a price that allows you to make a profit. Test pricing with people who would buy your product, not with team members, friends, or family.

If you undervalue your capability at this point in the profitability checklist, you’ll be operating at a loss from the start. So, get clarity on pricing as soon as possible.

7. Packageable
Packaging is how you present the new capability to the marketplace. It must look and feel good and draw in your ideal market. For example, Steve Jobs didn’t start by designing the product; he began by creating the product’s box. He focused on what it would feel like to open that box because he knew that impacted the product’s perceived value.

8. Producible
Once you’ve got something that’s protected, priced, and packaged, it must be replicated and produced to meet market demand.

Many fail at this stage of the profitability checklist because they didn’t have a plan in place in the event that the market wanted more of their product than they predicted.

9. Preferable
Usually, a new capability or idea is created when the existing solution to a particular issue is lacking.

Your capability must be preferred over anything else that’s out there in the same category. That means it’s superior, and supporters aren’t afraid to say so. You can’t get to this stage unless you’ve checked off the first eight checkpoints of this profitability checklist.

10. Palpable
Palpable means people love and want to get their hands on your product. It’s iconic, not just a fad or trend. There’s intense passion and loyalty tied to your brand, and people can feel it.

Instead of simply taking a quantitative approach, this profitability checklist offers a 360-degree view so you can generate momentum from the start. These profitability checkpoints ensure you take the proper steps in the correct order so you can bring your best ideas into existence.

Before using this profitability checklist, it’s critical to get clarity on what impact you want to have in the marketplace. If you’ve got many ideas or capabilities, use our Impact Filter to filter out the best ideas and optimise your thinking process. Then, run those filtered ideas through this checklist to maximise their profitability.