Ksa "Best-in-the-World" ebook

v 1.2b

In 2010, KSA Interiors, a small and somewhat anomalous interior

design firm, embarked upon a journey to identify what made their

methodology to project delivery unique. This process of identifying

and reinforcing their strengths would force KSA to evaluate many of

the ingrained cultural behaviors they had adopted as an organization;

some of which needed to be reinforced, others ejected. One

constant, however, would be the centerpiece of their evaluation.

KSA’s greatest strength was its “Client-Centric” approach to serving

clients. With this understanding, KSA worked to promote a

methodology of success they like to call “Best in the World”. This

ebook is an exploration of this process and provides an outline of

their approach to achieving it.

Methodology of Success

Being a service firm and providing said service is not the same as

serving one’s client. A Client-Centric approach establishes service to

the client as the key value proposition and places all other concerns

as secondary to this goal. Solutions must serve the client, interactions

must serve the client, everything in and about your organization must

serve the client. Far too many service firms have cultures that rely on

the opposite approach. They have adopted a value proposition which

places their own proprietary solution as the top priority and asks the

client to sacrifice for the sake of their solution. This represents an

unbalanced equation where the client’s needs are rarely considered

to their full potential.

Client-Centric

Client-Centric

A traditional approach focused on solutions may carry with it a

prescribed agenda which may not align with the client's

needs. While a service focus alone may not bring enough

outside perspective to deliver appropriate solutions.

What the Designer Wants

What the Client Wants

What the Client Actually NEEDS

A Client-Centric approach utilizes empathy to achieve both

personal service and inspire intuitive and appropriate

solutions, forgoing any prescribed or external agendas.

Service should come to mean that your clients have your commitment

to consider every decision from the standpoint of their own

organization. You should encourage your employees to act, feel, and

make decisions as if they were the employees of the organizations

they serve, not as outside consultants. The only caveat to this way of

thinking is that in the end you truly are just that, outside consultants.

The value of which lies in the fact that no matter how much we wish to

think and act like members of our clients organizations, we are the

ones who bear the ultimate responsibility of bringing nonnative

knowledge and outside perspective to every problem we face. Think

of it as a best of both worlds scenario, an objective, outside,

nonnative mindset paired with the respect, accountability, and

understanding of an integral partner.

Nonnative Thinking& Integral Partners

In a Client-Centric approach contractors can possess both native and

nonnative knowledge and thinking skills.

Nonnative Thinking& Integral Partners

Objective Expertise

OrganizationalKnowledge Base

Objective Expertise From anIntegral Perspective & Understanding

In a traditional approach, employees typically possess knowledge and

thinking skills native to their organization. External contractors, by

contrast, utilize nonnative knowledge such as objective outside expertise.

A better description of this approach is not to think in terms of the

“best of both worlds”, as mentioned previously, but rather as the

“Best in the World”. This premise is born out of a bit of insight

gleaned from Seth Godin and his book “The Dip”. Seth explains the

idea of “Best in the World” as being something quite relative. “The

best in the world is a relative thing. It’s a selfish thing. It’s my

definition, not yours”. This premise requires that you take the time to

understand what represents a “Best in the World” solution for each of

your clients as individuals. You must acknowledge that every client

has an entirely different perspective on what they consider best. Most

importantly, you need to understand that “Best in the World” does not

simply apply to solutions, but that it also applies to each and every

aspect of the design process. This ranges from client interaction and

project delivery to communication styles and accountability. This

empathic response to both developing solutions and maintaining

relationships can lead to the true secret of business success: repeat

business from loyal, loving, integral partners.

“Best in the World”

Love sounds like a funny thing to share with your clients, but it is

essential. Love is the root of why your clients should want to do

business with you. Marketing guru Mark Stevens wrote a smart book

with a simple and unambiguous title, “Your Marketing Sucks”. In it he

describes that there are only two reasons to commit to a purchase.

You either buy it because it is cheap, or because you love it and are

passionate about it. A “Best in the World” approach demands that

you choose to be loved and to be passionate about your clients.

What does it mean to be loved, however? How do you convey this

overt emotion in a business setting? Jeanne Bliss states in her book “I

Love You More Than My Dog”, that our decisions and actions tell the

story of who we are. These decisions and actions speak louder than

words and ultimately determine how or if you will be loved. Such

great synergy since our decisions and actions are essentially how we

provide service. It’s about the interactions. It’s about relationships. It

is about what you do every day and you cannot fake it.

It’s all about love

Providing unique and tailored approaches to serving clients is quite

difficult. The amount of emotional energy required for genuinely

learning, responding, and reacting to a client and their needs can be

daunting. Why else would so many other companies in just about

every other sector of the business world adopt a model which

responds with a single monotonous customer service voice designed

to be good for most everyone. Good however is not great, much less

the “Best in the World”. Devoting the emotional energy required to

understanding this simple fact and to finding what is the “Best in the

World” for each of your individual clients is the only way you should

wish to be treated and in turn should be your golden rule ethic as you

approach your clients. Interestingly enough, the emotional reward for

a job well done and the recognition for providing an empathic project

delivery can often be the most valuable recharge to you and your

teams emotional systems. Consider it a perpetual energy machine for

charging up your own EQ emotional intelligence. It becomes a lot

easier to share the love when you feel loved in return. Seek the love -

Share the love.

The perpetual emotional energy machine

So how do you develop and reinforce a “Best in the World”

approach? At KSA, we developed a simple outline which describes

what it means to be the “Best in the World” in our approach to our

clients. Before you can embark on this process, however, you have to

acknowledge that for this to be successful you need to be willing to

devote yourself and your team to the process while including each

and every individual partner, team member, client, and vendor with

whom you interact. Remember, what is best for me may not be best

for you. The moment you try to apply one person’s “Best in the World”

to another, you are no longer providing truly individualized service

nor are you likely achieving empathic understanding of that client’s

situation, organization, and or needs.

How do I become“Best in the World” ?

1. The “Best in the World” is a relative thing

2. Being loved is the only way to be

3. We are loved via our actions and decisions (the services we provide)

4. Good is not good enough

5. KSA’s five keys to service are: Elicit-Empathize-Empower-Enthuse-Eject

How to Become“Best in the World”

The first step in our service methodology is to truly understand those

we wish to serve. We have to identify their needs, goals, wants, and

values. You have to think like them and share an identity with them.

Once you are open and receptive to their world, you will then need to

expertly elicit valuable information. At KSA, we have found that our

preferred strategy is to immerse ourselves into our client’s culture.

Our greatest successes have, therefore, come from teams which we

have imbedded into our clients organizations for a variety of long and

short term durations. Of course, full immersion into a client’s

organization is not always possible or practical, so you may need to

rely on other exercises, tools, interactions, or observations to extract

valuable insight. Look for opportunities to gain perspective from your

clients, spend time with them outside of the formality of a meeting.

Schedule interactions designed to get them reacting naturally (or

don’t schedule them…try just showing up). Do not just ask questions

to get rote answers, seek understanding to gain perspective. Practice

the “5 Whats” or develop your own methodology for eliciting an

intimate understanding. (See the additional resources identified at the

end of this book).

KSA’s 5 keys to service:Elicit – Empathize – Empower – Enthuse - Eject

Once you have elicited information from your partners, it is time for

you to take it to heart. When you can place yourself in the shoes of

your client, you are more likely to respond with a heartfelt and

pertinent solution. “Empathy” and the ability to “Elicit” go hand in

hand. This is the thrust of the emotional effort needed to build a

trusting and loving relationship with your client. If this stage is not

engaged with the full passion of your organization, you cannot

proceed beyond this step and achieve desirable results. Similar to

the process of eliciting information, the ability to “Empathize” may

require you to broaden your range of interactions with your team and

clients. Weekly meetings do not beget empathy. Immersions into your

partner’s culture is best, but if not possible, seek other tools to

expand your interactions beyond the meeting room.


To effectively “Empathize” with your clients you need to “Empower”

your team to take the initiative to truly care for and about them. They

need the willingness and incentive to act in a self-directed and

autonomous manner. This establishes the ability to respond to your

clients requests in an instinctive and “Best in the World” manner.

Empowered, self-directed, autonomous teams drive their own

decision making, collaborate smoothly on behalf of their customers,

and do not need permission to make something happen, especially if

that something will build trust with the client. Your team needs to be

motivated to apply autonomy to decision making and actions in order

to improve client relationships and your ability to meet the client’s

goals. This will not only improve your client relationships, it will also

motivate your team. If you have not already, read Dan Pink’s, “Drive”.

He tells it far better than I can. Just repeat after Dan,: “Autonomy-

Mastery-Purpose!” Extrinsic motivation wins the battle for the creative

mind every day. In the end, empowerment is the reward for all the

emotional capital we are expending to begin with.


The fourth stage is to make your clients actively love you and to

convert them from customers into proclaimers. Continuous, relentless

customer service, is the key to turning customer satisfaction into

“lasting consumer enthusiasm”. Richard Whiteley and Diane Hessan

write in their book, “Customer Centered Growth”, about establishing

“outstanding” interactions with your customers. They reinforce the

idea that outstanding interactions with your customers make such an

indelible impression that your service can become a brand in and of

itself. Developing the perfect solution for your clients is not enough in

and of itself. Especially if the way the solution was developed and

serviced was not performed in a manner that built a loving, empathic,

enthusiastic relationship. Enthusiasm is only born from the hard

emotional work of building relationships. What good is a client who

receives a great solution but is never interested in working with you

again? What are the odds that a client with whom you do not have an

integral relationship will get an outstanding solution to their problem?

It is a self-perpetuating relationship. Enthused clients are not only

more likely to work with you again because your solutions were

empathic; they are also more likely to get empathic solutions

because your relationship is so strong.


This is the simplest of the keys, yet probably the hardest to enforce

and employ effectively. Simply put, once you place your focus on

your client you need to eject those things which stand in the way of

meeting their needs. Sometimes this means putting the client before

your own organization and your internal needs. Sometimes this

means determining what your client values most and abandoning

other pursuits which could potentially be fruitful but not necessarily

best for the client, or worse, at the expense of the client. How many

beautiful structures exist in this world fail to serve the primary

functions of their end users? They are “monuments unto themselves,

in spite of themselves”. The difficulty in the “Eject” methodology lies

in developing a proper balance. Throwing out everything to achieve

your focus is as much a recipe for disaster as being inflexible and

arrogant in your approach to your client’s needs. To ensure that you

are on the right path, you must constantly verify that you are working

towards “Best in the World” solutions and processes, while

consistently ejecting the various inevitable missteps all along the

way. Do not be afraid to ask your clients what it is they value in your

services. Regularly debrief them. Be willing to uncover ugly truths or

mistakes. Eject the processes that led to them and build a stronger

more understanding relationship.


“Best in the World” is a relative thing. It is a mindset, not a process. It

is an attitude, not a policy. KSA chooses to employ a client-centric

“Best in the World” approach, partially because this is our own best

in the world and because being loved is the only reason to do

business.

Christopher M. Good, CID, ASID, LEED AP

Chris is an Associate Principal at KSA Interiors, an award winning interior

design firm located in Glen Allen Virginia.

To learn more about KSA Interiors - visit their website:

http://www.ksainteriors.com

The relative mind

Check out these resources, books, and other ideas to help you adopt the 5 key’s to “Best in the World”:

Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford. aka. “The D-School”

Check out the bootleg-bootcamp for great ideas, thought starters and other tools and Design Thinking methodologies to allow you to elicit great

info from your team, partners, and clients.

http://dschool.typepad.com/news/2010/12/2010-bootcamp-bootleg-is-here.html

IDEO

Try the IDEO Method Cards, a 51 card deck designed to inspire you to think from a variety of perspectives and approaches.

http://www.ideo.com/work/method-cards/

Also available as an iphone app

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ideo-method-cards/id340233007?mt=8

Resources:

Trouble eliciting?

Practice asking “the 5 Whats”

To get to the root cause of an issue you should practice asking “What” no less than 5 times.

For example: ask a question and respond by asking “What do you mean by….” and continue at least 5 times until you reach the root cause at

hand.

Need to check your focus and prepare to “Eject”:

Ask Yourself:

“Who is our customer?”

“What are we selling?”

“What are our customers buying?”

Be prepared to learn that what your customers are buying is not necessarily what you thought you were selling.

For more on these ideas & thought starters check out the book “Customer Centered Growth” by Richard Whiteley and Diane Hessan.

“Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell.

Read this book! The chapter titled “The locked door” provides great insight on interpreting the meaning of the things people say and do.

Sometimes the explanations and rationale we apply to thinking which occurs within our subconscious can be misleading.

Resources:

Need some more reading? Of course you do… try these great books

referenced either directly or indirectly in the development of this methodology

“Whole New Mind” & “Drive” by Dan Pink http://www.danpink.com/

“The Dip” & “Linchpin” by Seth Godin http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/

“I love you more than my dog” by Jeanne Bliss http://www.customerbliss.com/index.php

“Your Marketing Sucks” by Mark Stephens http://msco.com/blog/

“Customer Centered Growth” by Richard Whiteley and Diane Hessan http://books.google.com

“Change by Design” by Tim Brown http://www.ideo.com/by-ideo/change-by-design/

“The Design of Business” by Roger Martin http://rogerlmartin.com/

“Emotional Intelligence” by Daniel Goleman http://danielgoleman.info/

“Blink” and “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell http://www.gladwell.com/

Resources:

This methodology could not have been developed without the support the leadership and business development staff at KSA Interiors:

Kim Schoenadel, CID, ASID

Cameron Stiles, CID, FASID, LEED AP

Lorri Finn, CID, IIDA, LEED AP

Tamera Sharpe

Sara Lowery Anderson

Thanks