101 Activities For Teaching Creativity And Problem Solving

What if...? Handout

What if you were a car dealer who wanted to increase repeat business? To think of ideas,

you might begin “Whatiffing” as follows:

• What if I gave repeat customers a free car?


• What if prospective repeat customers had to beg to let me sell them a new car?


• What if prospective repeat customers tried to pay double the price for a new car?


• What if a customer’s current car hypnotized the customer into buying another car?


• What if new cars followed people around town until the people bought them?

Next, use these questions as idea triggers. Here are some sample ideas:

• I can’t give repeat customers a free car, but I could give them a substantial discount.


• I can’t get repeat customers to beg me to sell them a new car, but I could contact cus-
  tomers on a regular basis to see if they have any problems. Such constant attention
  may encourage repeat sales.


• I can’t double the price for a new car, but I could offer to pay customers double the
  difference of any better car deal they can get from another dealer.


• A customer’s car won’t hypnotize the customer into buying another car, but I could
  mount a relentless advertising campaign using all media.


• New cars won’t follow customers around, but I could offer repeat customers free use
  of a cellular car phone for one year.

216 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving

101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving.Copyright © 2005 by John Wiley &

Sons, Inc. Reproduced by permission of Pfeiffer, an Imprint of Wiley. http://www.pfeiffer.com

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