Tuesday, February 27, 2007
What Makes a Good Client (and Why You Should Care)
No where more than in the consulting world does the phrase "time is money" have more relevance. At its most basic level, Kaleidoscope sells hours. When clients engage with Kaleidoscope, they expect to receive high quality work (as good as or better than from their own staff) at a fair price as fast as possible (almost always faster than on the inside). A good client enables Kaleidoscope to help them realize these goals for the client. It also save the client money.So, what is a good client?
o One who is organized and disciplined
When the client is organized, they marital and manage their internal resources to rapidly review, evaluate and comment on Kaleidoscope work in process. When they are disciplined, they execute on internal processes working with the Kaleidoscope team minimizing unnecessary distractions and 'downtime' waiting for answers. Minimal downtime and distractions save time and time = money.
o One who is decisive
When a client is decisive, they know how to quickly and consistently reply to questions and render consensus decisions at reviews. No time is wasted waiting for responses and the client holds to decisions it makes. A decisive and consistent client saves time, and time = money.
o One who communicates
There are consulting firms which take the project and tell the clients to stay out of the way while they work. Certainly, this minimizes impact on the client's time. But, is the end result useful or practical? Does it make business sense? Can the client realize what is shown in the sexy presentation? A client who communicates well brings their domain knowledge to the process on a frequent basis. This allows for corrective 'nudging' of the work in process insuring that the outcome is one which has the best shot at realizing business goals. Clear and frequent communication minimizes mistakes and misunderstanding which saves time and time...
o One who develops a relationship
A key to providing seamless, high quality work is when Kaleidoscope can learn your processes so that our output can efficiently be integrated back into your company. Understanding the nuances of your process takes time and patience. The development of a continuing relationship leads to intrinsic understanding of your processes and culture. Every company has unwritten processes and norms of behavior that can only be learned over time. Simply, these details can never be fully captured in a Request for Proposal or specification. While Kaleidoscope strives to delight on every project, including the first, inevitably, mutual learning leads to better results as the relationship builds over time and multiple projects. When the relationship with the client matures, Kaleidoscope knows the clients unspecified needs and can target the project activities. This saves time and... you get the picture.
And why should you care?
Kaleidoscope tries its darndest to delight its clients. The delight comes when we can produce an extraordinarily surprising and pleasing result very quickly without asking for more money (on fixed price projects) or under budget (on time-and-materials projects). The delight also comes when the result of the engagement can quickly and seamlessly be integrated back into your company … as if your own best people executed on the project. Lastly, when Kaleidoscope can efficiently manage its projects for a client, the work takes less time and inevitably fewer man-hours. Remember, time = money. Inefficiency leads to higher cost projects as proposals need to account for this uncertainty in proposal estimates. Conversely, Kaleidoscope can provide a much tighter and less expensive proposal to a 'good client.' At Kaleidoscope, our goal is not to maximize the revenue on any given project- the goal is to be a partner for developing a continuing stream of successful products with our clients for many years into the future.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Starbucks: Strategy Drives Action
Almost every organization has a mission statement, but how many of them really mean anything? More of than not, they end up sounding like something out of the Dilbert Mission Statement Generator:Our challenge is to globally network progressive deliverables in order to proactively utilize business solutions to meet our customer's needs.Sure, it sounds important, but it's not really saying anything, and more importantly, it's not doing anything. One of the things we've learned at Kaleidoscope is that strategy is only useful when it drives action. It's easy to fall in love with the process and create volumes of elaborate documentation full of charts, graphs, and tables, but if they're not driving action, they're just a waste of time and money.
Starbucks does almost everything really well, and their mission statement is no exception. It's clear, powerful, and most importantly, it's obvious that it's the foundation for their everyday operations:
Establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow.From HR to sourcing to pricing, these six guidelines provide a baseline for just everything they do, and give clear direction for action. It's also important to note that they work when facing both inside or outside of the company: they're a promise to consumers as much as they are directives to employees.
The following six guiding principles will help us measure the appropriateness of our decisions:
Provide a great work environment and treat each other with respect and dignity.
Embrace diversity as an essential component in the way we do business.
Apply the highest standards of excellence to the purchasing, roasting and fresh delivery of our coffee.
Develop enthusiastically satisfied customers all of the time.
Contribute positively to our communities and our environment.
Recognize that profitability is essential to our future success
Use this mission statement as a benchmark for your next piece of strategic thinking. Ask yourself what it means to consumers, to internal personnel, and how it's going to drive action.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Brand Inequity
Kaleidoscope has been in business for 18 years. In that time we've had hundreds of clients, many of whom we still partner with to this day. What's interesting as we look back is that we've been spoiled by working with Procter & Gamble so much: we now take for granted an understanding of brand equity, consumer desires, and process that's anything but the norm.We've worked with brand masters Procter &Gamble for the better part of the last 6 years, and I think we've come to expect that type of depth from all clients. No other company that we have ever interfaced with spends the kind of time and resources establishing and constantly refining criteria for what their brands' equities are and what they really stand for. They build upon these to define design themes, product architecture pillars and design principles which ultimately drive the physical manifestations of the final products. Naturally, this is a time consuming and highly iterative process, but the end results give all internal teams involved with that brand a solid basis from which to develop any new product initiatives to ensure that all happily fit the brand and deliver on the expected promise to build and maintain consumer loyalty.
Conversely, we have and still do work with clients who for right or wrong, approach product development and brand building in much different fashions. Our experience assisting P&G in building brands from the ground up has given us the insight to guide these clients and take them through a process that fits their products and consumers' needs. By having a client really take a step back and ask themselves a few simple questions like, “What do we stand for? What is the heart and soul of my brand? What promise are we trying to deliver on?”, it provides a eureka moment which can be a powerful tool for years to come.
This sounds like the way it should be done, right? Why arbitrarily design products without knowing not only what emotional and functional needs they'll fill, but what does its brand stand for and what do WE stand for?
Product experiences, not unlike concerts, sports championships and major events can define a generation. The only way to create the type of product loyalty that every company desires for their own wares, is to not only know who or what you're making a product for, but to know what you and your brand stand for. The need fulfillment may be the motivator that draws the customer, but the personality that will bring them back.
