Experience vs. Doing the Right Thing: How Do You Communicate Both?
I had a debate with one of my partners recently. Over the last few weeks, we’ve been going through a branding/messaging exercise to refresh how we tell the market what we do, what we’re good at, our core domains, etc.
What a daunting task! It is so hard to put into words or create a sound bite that encapsulates your history, heritage, experiences, values, culture and how you’re different from all the other noise out there. Each one of us is so
excited to talk about who we are and what we do, but those who don’t know you are often looking for a very quick synopsis. Wow. That’s tough!
But, back to the debate this discussion caused.
There are two main themes that often come into the conversation when people talk about MIPRO Consulting. One is the extensive experience that each and every individual at MIPRO has. The other is that every one of our associates is empowered, encouraged and expected always to “do the right thing.”
While the statement “do the right thing” seems vague and intangible, we have very tangible examples of what it means to us. Two examples:
- Telling a customer who hired us for a $500,000 project that our insight into the next software release revealed that it would give them the functionality they need and so there’s no need to engage us now. The client saved $500K.
- Pulling a resource who the customer likes because we see signs that this resource will become a problem for them down the road. Very unhappy customer when we made the decision but a delighted customer when we delivered on the project under budget, having found a much better replacement to get the job done.
The list of examples can go on and on. Since we opened our doors, we’ve never been afraid to do what’s right for our customer, even if it means short-term friction or that we leave some money on the table.
So when we were discussing how we should describe MIPRO to those who don’t know us, “we do the right thing” was suggested. While it’s in our DNA, the statement that seems to resonate more with our prospects is, “we’ll bring more experience than any one else to your engagement.” And while that may be true, it doesn’t give someone insight into our heart and soul, exposing who we really are at our core.
So my observation, is that people choose to do business with us because our experience, however, they choose to recommend us to their friends and work with us again because we “do the right thing.”
Another way to say it: we often win new business with the depth of our experience, but what delights our customers and impels them to refer others (and use us for multiple projects) to us is our dedication to doing what’s right, even if it means we willingly have the difficult conversation with them or refuse to engage with them on an unnecessary project.
But the challenge still remains: how do you sound bite that? Would love to hear from you in the comments.
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MIPRO Consulting is a nationally-recognized consulting firm specializing in PeopleSoft Enterprise (particularly Enterprise Asset Management) and Business Intelligence. You’re reading MIPRO Unfiltered, its blog. If you’d like to contact MIPRO, email is a great place to start, or you can easily jump over to its main website. If you’d like to see what MIPRO offers via Twitter or Facebook, we’d love to have you.
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