Leaders want to produce the best work possible, while increasing revenue and limiting expenses. Unless they lose some big clients or receive sharp complaints, they don’t always give due consideration to their clients’ expenses. They generally want their clients to spend more, not less.
Quality work is important, but leaders need to be mindful of costs–theirs and others’. At Brand Integrity, the partners met a few years back to set top business objectives. Brand Integrity had helped Wegman’s Food Markets, Hallmark Cards, Erickson Retirement Communities, and other companies to better define and deliver on their brands, so the partners could have continued their profitable and largely effective practices. But founding partner, Gregg Lederman, thought to ask, “How much of our clients’ money are we wasting?”
That question helped transform a pivotal service offering within their business. Over the next few years, Brand Integrity expanded its employee performance practice by moving away from paper-based tools and by integrating a software development and service business. With an online peer-to-peer employee engagement solution, Brand Integrity found they could do more for their clients for less money. The paper system couldn’t detect whether employees delivered the brand strategy consistently. Now, their clients can do so internally to reap the benefits of rapid data collection, information sharing, and employee appreciation. In addition, they can better measure return on investment and identify useful new best practices.
While eliminating the paper-based training may have cost Brand Integrity some revenue in the short term, it has led to far superior results and even created new revenue streams. With their Partner Program, they are now offering their solution to other industries that work on strategy development, such as advertising and branding agencies, business consultants, and providers of Human Resource tools. They are also better prepared to address the needs of organizations of all sizes.
Before your clients turn to one of your competitors to provide better value for their money, ask, “How much of our clients’ money are we wasting?” The answer may yield more efficient practices and more business.
