This anecdote illustrates one of the major pitfalls of developing
new ideas for clients: failing to distinguish between what your
clients really need or want from what you think they must have.
All too often, we look at our clients’ situation through the lens of
our own product or service offering—and our own desire for a
sale—and fail to offer ideas that will really work for them.
Developing New IdeasLet’s first look at some of the fundamental strategies you can use to
develop new ideas for clients and customers. Rather than talk
about traditional research and development (R&D), with its focus
on technology evolution and science, I’m going to suggest a variety
of low-tech, less talked about, inexpensive but highly effective
techniques you can use to create value-added ideas. Then I’m going
to turn to an equally important subject: how to get those same
clients to accept and act on these ideas.^1
Create a Client Panel
Every year in March, ERM, a large environmental services consult-
ing firm, brings its senior management and about thirty-five top
clients to a summit meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. Many companies
hold meetings like this, but they tend to be “schmoozefests” with lots
of golf and alcohol and at best a few morning seminars where subject
matter experts hold forth for an hour or two. ERM takes a very dif-
ferent approach: its senior executives conduct workshops to explore
the most important and most problematic issues that its client exec-
utives face, as defined by the executives themselves. These execu-
tives share experiences in an open atmosphere, and ERM opens a
valuable window onto the daily challenges facing its clients, who in
turn benefit from these valuable peer-to-peer exchanges.
“But doesn’t it seem like you’re pumping them for their issues
just to go back later and try to sell them on something?” I asked an
ERM board member who participates in these sessions.
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