By: Pete Turck

A lot of people think I'm crazy when I say that revenue is a measure of performance (and not necessarily a good one at that) and NOT a measure of effectiveness.  I think the most critical measures of effectiveness should relate to how we are perceived by our customers.    

Customer Relationships.  I can remember, with great clarity, what someone said to me on my first day as a Defense Consultant after retiring from the military, "if someone asks you if you can do something, the answer is always yes".  The theory was, that you could always hire someone or find a company with the right capability to fill a customer's need.  

I was never comfortable with that business model so with regards to Turck Strategic Communication LLC, if I can't fill a customer's requirement with fully vetted partners and associates with the appropriate skills, I'll tell you I can't help you.  

Here is my theory: for every customer that walks away and never comes back (maybe every two customers) there will be one who deeply appreciates our honesty, candor and will be more likely over time to establish a meaningful long-term relationship with us.  

Value Proposition.  There was this guy who reviewed movies on the radio when I lived in Tacoma, WA.  He would rate a movie based the amount of entertainment you received per the average ticket price at the time (about $5).  So with some movies, you could get as much as $10 worth of value for the $5 price, and other movies you got $0 worth.  

We aspire to be that $10 value for the $5 price.    

Transparency.  I can't think of anything relating to project cost, performance, or schedule that cannot or should not be shared with a customer including (and most people will differ with me here) profitability.  If I can't justify project profit based on value, quality of deliverables, risk and other such factors, then maybe some of that profit should be passed along to the customer as savings.  While many will disagree with me, if you are in business for the long-term I can't see a better way of operating.  

I guess my bottom line is, that if, in the long-term, we are perceived as both a low-cost and high-value partner then the revenue will always be there.

Comments

Write a comment

Name:
Email:
Website:
Comment: *

Help prevent spam - enter security code above: