Ideas for doing things better can come from anywhere. A question asked by a prospect or client, a suggestion from one of your team, a report from an external adviser or regulator.
A few of these will be so obviously the right thing to do, you can adopt them immediately. Most will benefit from some review time.
Why? Because its easy to get bogged down in small changes that add complexity and dilute your Promise, without actually adding real value.
“We’ll get this prospect if we add X to our offer.” Really? Is X consistent with our Promise? Is this a prospect we really want?
“This client is asking for Y. The customer is always right.” Really? Is Y consistent with our Promise? Will it add enough value to more of our clients? Does it allow us to protect or increase our prices?
“We should try this Z way of doing things, everyone else is.” Really? Is Z consistent with our Promise? How does it affect the process downstream? Does it improve how we deliver our Promise?
An easily updated and shared wish list with regular, frequent reviews is a sensible way to handle suggestions for improvement.
If everyone is crystal-clear on your Promise, you’ll quickly agree on those you should implement straight away, those you should reject, and those that need more reflection. And everyone will learn to make better suggestions.