Firing unprofitable clients

Hi Richard,

I had a question I wondered whether you or your blog readers had any opinions on.

Many companies have unprofitable customers. This situation may arise for many reaons including:

• Poor pricing controls -- offering large and multiple discounts
• Historic over-servicing and under-charging long-term customers
• Lack of understanding of the true cost to serve

Nonetheless, whatever the reason, when companies do find unprofitable customers they need to manage them. They can be made profitable or they can be "fired".

Do you have any ideas or strategies for actually firing customers? Does anyone have any examples of how their companies (or others) have done this and what the results were?

Regards. Daryn, Sydney, Australia

***

Well, gang, what say thee?

Bob Sutton wins Quill Award for "No Asshole Rule"

Bob Sutton was awarded the Quill award for "best business book of the year" for "The No-Asshole Rule."

Way to go, Bob! As I said on his blog, we all look forward to the movie of the book!

Consultant Seeks Advice

A consultant sent me this emaial, soliciting advice:

Last week I spent a couple of days with group within my client's organisation. The group was all male with one female. I was appalled by the pre-pubescent behaviour of the males towards the female. I'm a former Marine, played football in college, I'm not unfamiliar with male environments. Their behaviour towards their own female staff made me uncomfortable. My test is that I don't want to put our employees in an environment in which I would be uncomfortable putting my wife or daughter.

But, it's a really big client. And, my desire to back away from this client is being challenged by others.

Our first, agreed-upon principle is that our employees come first. Great employees, who are truly experts in their area, are harder to come by I think than clients. This is an interesting test of our application of our principles.

Any suggestions about how best to handle this would be appreciated.

Books by Consultants

Here's a great piece by Jonathan Copulsky, (a consultant at Deloitte in Chicago) published in the October 22, 2007 issue of Brandweek.

Smells Like The Publishing Spirit

While any self-respecting management consultant strives to achieve stellar results for his clients, there's one desire that often seems to permeate both body and soul more than any other: He dreams of being the author of a bestselling book.

Don't believe me? Browse the business section (or even, at times, the center-aisle tables) of the nearest mega bookstore, and count the number of books with the grinning guy in a suit on the dust jacket.

Naturally, he wants to demonstrate his in-depth knowledge and experience, share his insights, purvey his skills -- and earn your respect. Perhaps I should say "we," however, because the siren song of publishing oft tempts me -- a veteran marketing and sales consultant -- too. Only the fear of being unable to make my book truly stand out from the stack has kept me from succumbing to the temptation.

Until now, perhaps. Last week, you see, I finally found my inspiration -- the talisman sure to set my book apart from the rest. A newspaper story informed me that, when it comes to business books, animals are "in." The article cited Spencer Johnson's mice tale, Who Moved My Cheese? which has topped bestseller lists for almost a decade. More recently, John Kotter recast his 1996 organisational change bestseller as a fable about a penguin who mobilises his colony against the threat of its melting iceberg. Our Iceberg is Melting sold more than a quarter of a million copies.

With these zoological precedents in mind, I have decided the world is now ready for Who's Buying Our Guano?

A book about guano can't miss. A prime ingredient for both fertiliser and gunpowder, guano is rich in history, nitrates and adorable animals. Produced by birds, bats and even baby seals, it can be found throughout the world, from tropical islands to dank caverns. Guano's geopolitical influence also has been profound.

Peru, Bolivia and Chile waged war over guano 150 years ago. Perhaps it fueled their cannons, as well as their feud. Long before the world worried about weapons of mass destruction, Congress authorised the takeover of islands rich in guano deposits and even empowered the president to use the armed forces to protect our newfound national guano interests. Bats, seals, birds, war and American imperialism; that, friends, is an unbeatable combination.

Who's Buying Our Guano? will be set in an impoverished but guano-rich bat colony. Mobilised by one of its wiser and more experienced members, Sollie (short for Solomon), the colony wakes up to the commercial value of its deposits. Sollie convinces his fellow bats that they need a robust marketing and sales strategy, as well as a premium product, to achieve results in the lucrative but highly competitive global guano market.

Under Sollie's leadership, the colony quickly creates a multitiered distribution structure that includes exclusive agreements with the top-tier organic retail gardening chains. The bats' brand of guano immediately achieves market acceptance and generates an impressive rate of return. Less than 12 months after the bats launch their branded line, however, they come under fire from the seals. Although the seals' brand of guano is lower in quality in terms of its fertilising value, they promote it heavily with coupons and bulk-purchase discounts.

Our bat-marketer is, of course, baffled and disheartened. Despite their clearly superior product, the bats are losing market share. The ensuing crisis of confidence prompts Sollie to proffer his resignation. Fortunately, the CEO and the board rally behind him. Re-invigorated by this show of support, Sollie leads the attack on the guano sector by identifying value-added guano services, launching a boutique series of guano varietals and creating a series of beautiful complementary products for the home, including an ergonomic guano spreader available in six colors.

All of these innovations put the bats back on top of the guano pile. Determined to stay there this time, Sollie launches an in-depth study of the bats' target demographic. Following a thorough analysis, Sollie is shocked to discover that the bats' guano brand is failing to make a profit on nearly 15% of its customers. He concludes that the colony is literally giving away services, ranging from expedited shipping to custom packaging. Sollie convinces the board to introduce a menu-based pricing scheme. The result? Profitability increases by more than 500 basis points.

As just these little teasers prove, Who's Buying Our Guano? has all the ingredients of a blockbuster. Although bats may strike some as icky, just think of cute bats, like Jannell Cannon's Stellaluna or Fu-Fu from the PBS cartoon Sagwa.

Trust me, after my title hits the shelves, the business publishing sector will never be the same. As Sollie and his talented marketers teach us, when it comes to marketing and sales books, there's always more guano to buy.

***

Thanks, Jonathan, for permission to reproduce this.

So Young and So Jaded

I was giving a presentation to a group of young people (mid to late 20s) newly promoted to their first supervisory position.

As always, I was making what I thought were obvious points -- that the best means to get productivity and quality from those you manage is to help them find the meaning, the purpose, the excitement in what they have to do.

The reactions were amazingly cynical. "Have you ever worked in a professional service firm?" asked one young man.

A young woman asked, "But how do you motivate people to do the unexciting tasks that have to get done?" (I told her that she was unlikely to get much commitment, productivity and quality by delegating with an air of "We all know this is boring, but someone's got to do it, so I chose you!")

Obviously, these young people had not (yet) been managed in a style that elicited their enthusiasms. Even though their firm (like all others) had grand statements about its commitment to developing its people, they had already learned (or so they thought) that the world did not really work that way.

I said that I hoped they would not just pass on to the next generation the poor way they had been managed, but I didn't leave the room with much hope.

Sad, sad, sad.

Summary Proverb -- new careers videocast & audiocast

In the 25th and final episode of this series, we will close with a proverb that I use to conclude many of my seminars. It illustrates that what most businesses need is not clarification on what the right thing to do is, but the courage to not give in to short term gratification.

Audio Timeline

00:39 -- Introduction
01:00 -- Summary Proverb
01:21 -- Conclusion

You can download Summary Proverb or sign up to receive new videos automatically with iTunes or other video players. (Click here for step-by-step instructions on how to subscribe.) My seminars are always available for download at no cost.

Summary Proverb

We will close this series with a proverb that I use to conclude many of my seminars. It illustrates that what most businesses need, is not clarification on what is the right thing to do, but the courage to not give in to short term gratification.

Blawg Review #131

It is a great honour and privilege to be invited back to host the Blawg Review again. I did so previously for the Blawg Review #76.

The Blawg Review is designed to be a collection of posts on blogs relating to the law. In making my selection, I have focused on issues relating to the business of law, rather than legal matters (which I am not qualified to judge.)

Let's begin with some MARKETING blogs.

Charon QC ... the blawg has an absolutely amazing post about marketing at the UK firm of Eversheds, which talks about the need for "Innovateers, Knowlivators, Logithiser, Performibutors, Proactilopers, Professionaries, Prioricators and Winnowmats."

Intrigued? Go check it out -- it's worth it.

Dan Hull, at What About Clients? has a good post summarising the key elements in winning high-end clients.

Michelle Golden, president of Golden Marketing is also an active member of the VeraSage Institute, which is committed to abolishing the billable hour. She reports on the advice given by another consultant on how to implement a value-pricing approach.

Susan Cartier Liebel at Build A Solo Practice, LLC offers tips on how to build a practice. I was surprised, to put it mildly, that she was passing on "classic" sales advice with questions like: "Is the prospect pre-qualifed? What is their motivation to buy your product? Always conclude with a call to action."

I had hoped we had moved on beyond such traditional sales advice in our understanding of how professionals get hired. See, for example, (my co-author) Charlie Green's blog for an ongoing discussion of an alternative approach -- trust-based selling.

To be fair, there's a lot of otherwise good stuff on Susan's site. See, for example, this post:

Lori Herz, on her blog Write for Clients talks about Customer Experience Management (CEM). Evolving in tandem with the new experience economy, the CEM model considers a customer's relationship with a service or product from the vantage point of user experience. As she notes, people tend to translate their consumer (or, I'd note, professional service) experiences into stories that they quickly share with others.

***

Now, let's turn to the topic of LEADERSHIP.

The ever-stimulating and readable Bruce MacEwen asks whether "transformative change" is on your agenda. As he notes, it's probably in your future, though, regardless whether it's made it onto your agenda. Relying heavily on McKinsey research MacEwen offers relevant advice on how one can successfully drive radical change within an organisation. He takes us through the steps of aspiration, leadership and engine (or ideas) and process.

Tom Collins, at More Partner Income, reacts to Bruce MacEwen's post with some thoughts of his own on "The Right Way to Manage Change in the Law Firm."

As I also try to stress in my new article, Tom points out that the benefits of change are not immediate and do not follow a smooth linear line of improvement. He tells us that the magic ingredient is "KASH". KASH stands for new Knowledge which, when combined with the right Attitude, results in new Skills, which, through use, become Habit.

Another of my favorite legal bloggers, Arnie Herz at Legal Sanity, quotes an executive coach in posing an interesting and, perhaps, daunting question for law firm leaders: If you lost your title, position and power tomorrow, would others still support you and want to work with you?

Actually, that's not a bad question for any trusted advisor who provides client counselling advice to ask himself or herself!

Patrick McKenna, has a checklist of questions to self-assess your leadership, including: alignment; engagement, retention, innovation, collaboration, talent, productivity, agility, responsiveness.

Katheryn Hayes Tucker, asks whether the General Counsel job could be a route to a CEO position. She cites Delta Air Lines' new CEO, Richard H. Anderson, the former Texas prosecutor who started in the airline business as an in-house lawyer with Continental Airlines and then became general counsel at Northwest Airlines Inc. before moving up the ranks to CEO there. She also mentions Home Depot's CEO Frank Blake, a former GC at General Electric and Former Coca-Cola Co. GC Deval Patrick, who is now a chief executive of a different kind: governor of Massachusetts!

Brian Sommer is a former Accenture partner whose blog, while it does not explicitly address law firms, is essential reading for those tracking the latest thinking in managing professional businesses. In one of his latest blogposts, he interviews Beth Carvin, CEO and President of Nobscot Corporation. Her firm has software that allows workers to request and find potential mentors and mentees within their own firm.

***

Some ECONOMICS issues are touched on by these posts:

Peter Lattman at The Wall Street Journal Law Blog provides a link-heavy blog covering a lot of stimulating territory, including whether deal-making attorneys earn enough money, and the ongoing debate about whether (for example) Goldman Sachs should be allowed to buy Simpson Thatcher. If you want to track the latest chat about money-making in the law, this is a good place to start.

A recent ruling blogged by Joseph Palazzolo on the Legal Times blog hits contingency fee-based firms where they'll feel it. From the case: "A client may discharge his attorney, with or without cause, and such a discharge will not constitute a breach of any agreement between them," Judge Janice Rogers Brown wrote. "This rule is admittedly harsh to attorneys, especially to those who provide services under contingent-fee agreements, for they bear a substantial risk."

***

A couple of BLOGS ABOUT BLOGGING are worth noting.

When it comes to corporate blogging strategy, some corporations, even cutting-edge ones, are more conservative in their approach. Kevin O'Keefe focuses on Google and describes how its blogging strategy may be a good model for such conservative firms, allowing them to participate in the blogosphere without getting in over their heads. Every product team at Google has a blog but their focus is strictly PR, not to give rise to a conversation on the blogs, none of which allow comments. Law firms may also want to follow Google's lead on the use of blogs in place of press releases.

Daniel A. Schwartz at the Connecticut Employment Law Blog discusses his decision not to publish a blogpost rather than risk disrupting his firm's relationships with a client. That leads to a discussion of proposed blogging principles in a law firm.

A warm blogosphere (blawgosphere?) welcome to the renowned Ellen P. Goodman, making her first ever blogpost at Balkinisation.

She shares a few thoughts about the need to radically reform our system of public service media for the digital age. She explores the question of what media regulation might mean in a networked environment, and concludes that traditional broadcast regulation, which assumes content scarcity and captive audiences, is of limited use today in achieving the kinds of democratic values that were advanced 40 years ago in Jerome Barron's important article Access to the Press: A New First Amendment Right.

Professor Daniel Solove at Concurring Opinions has a really interesting discussion of "Who, Exactly, Is a Journalist?" The story is about Howard Bashman, who calls himself a “member of the news media,” yet who also happens to be a Pennsylvania attorney who also operates a blog. Does readership define a journalist? Does receiving money for writing make one a journalist, as Bashman does?

***

On the HUMAN INTEREST topic, Rhonda Muir at Law People reports on a story in Inside Counsel. She quotes John P. Donahue, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Rhodia Inc., as saying "We evaluate 'courage' as a behavioural characteristic of our lawyers, and we link this evaluation to compensation. Rhodia has "embraced professional objectivity of its in-house lawyers as a core value" and Donahue wants to make sure that "our lawyers can deliver bad news to clients," with whom they are often closely aligned.

Rhonda notes that Hospital administrators contend that a ratio of 1 conflict avoider in 4 employees results in a "dangerous workplace" -- think: "I don't want to get so-and-so in trouble over reusing needles" or "Maybe she'll start writing down dosages after she gets used to our procedures". Left to their own proclivities, lawyers' much higher rate of avoidance than hospital workers risks being just as dangerous.

Then there's the story about 18-year-old Kathleen Holtz, who, if she passes the California bar, will be the youngest lawyer in the Golden State, and quite possibly the nation. L.A.'s TroyGould has hired her as an associate, and she's reportedly doing great.

***

And that's it for this week!

Blawg Review has information about next week's host, and instructions how to get your blawg posts reviewed in upcoming issues. Also they are hosting the Carnival of the Capitalists this week, so don't forget to go check it out.

Loyalty to Whom?

Another reader question:

A partner of a large firm specialising in training and development asks how to make sure that the clients develop loyalty to the firm, as opposed to the individual trainer?

When the firm gets a contract to train managers of a company X, the firm assigns a trainer (who is, most commonly, an independent contractor) to the company. If the company likes the results of the training, they would most likely invite the same training firm again and again, most commonly asking for the same trainer. Over time, the relationship between the trainer and the client company flourishes to the degree that the company starts offering training assignments directly to the trainer, without even notifying the firm.

How can the training company protect itself from such an unfortunate turn of events? I realise that there are some "half-baked" solutions like, for instance, try not to send the same trainers to the same company, but there should be something else.

***

There are two dimensions along which this can be examined. There is a triangle formed by the individual consultant (or trainer), the client and the consulting (or training) firm. The question makes clear the strength of the link between the individual and the client. But what strengthens the link between (a) the client and the firm and (b) the individual and the firm?

In both cases, we are asking how the firm "adds value" above and beyond the talents of the individual service provider. Some possibilities:

1. On-going enhancement of the consulting / training product or service
2. Access for both the individual consultant and the client to proprietary tools owned by the firm
3. Access for both the individual consultant and the client to research conducted by the firm
4. Access for both the individual consultant and the client firm to regular "solons", discussion groups, seminars and other learning opportunities, so that there is Value in belonging to the network.

Does anyone else have other ideas?

Call for Blawg Review submissions

The Blawg Review, weekly showcase of the best recent posts on blawgs (law blogs), has again invited me to host the Review for this coming Monday, October 22.

I would like therefore to encourage my readers and contributors to submit your own articles for review.

If you aren't familiar with the Blawg Review, you can look at the Blawg Review home page, as well as the current issue: northern hemisphere edition and New Zealand edition.

Blawg Review Submission Guidelines

• Deadline for submission is 11:59 p.m. PST on Saturday, October 20
• I greatly appreciate if you can send your submissions well before the deadline!
• You are welcome and encouraged to submit blog posts by other people which you'd like to recommend as well as your own writing
• Articles on law practice management, marketing, business strategy and career development are especially welcome
• Click on this Blawg Review submission link to submit your article

With your support, I look forward to presenting readers here as well as the Blawg Review regulars with an excellent roundup of blog articles on the business of law and life as a lawyer.

Adhering to agreed standards

If sticking to diet and exercise programs is difficult for an individual, the challenge is exponentially more difficult for a group. Agreements on group strategy might be reached, but there is always the problem of ensuring that everyone (powerful people included) act in ways consistent with the strategy.

The most basic (and blunt) instruments for achieving this are pay schemes (reward the right behaviour) and terminations (fire those who don't act in ways consistent with the strategy.) It is amazing how many firms still rely just on those two tools.

A third approach is to try and establish agreement on "values," achieving performance consistency through "ideological influence."

To make this approach work, it must be recognised that something is a value if and only if you are willing to enforce it. A value is NOT a high aspiration you plan to strive for (that's a dream). A value is a non-negotiable minimum standard to which everyone has agreed to comply.

However, the agreement alone is clearly insufficient. To have values, there must be a system for responding to and eliminating non-compliance. Such a system would, preferably, begin gently with a closed-door office visit from a group leader (or manager) and a counseling session to provide help would result.

If this does not induce compliance within a finite time, then the group must be prepared to contemplate exit -- asking people who do not live up to standards to leave.

However, I am continually surprised when firm and group leaders tell me they don't have the time to (a) spot non-compliance with standards and (b) devote the time to help people who are not meeting standards get back on track.

Without having this time available to manage, they are thrown back on using the pay scheme to deal with egregious departures from standards, and no system for dealing with minor departures.

The question then gets posed: what else can a group or firm do to ensure that its standards are, in fact executed? Beyond, pay, termination and managerial attention, what else is there?

Some groups try to argue that peer pressure can create a culture, even if no one person has the responsibility (and time) to monitor (and follow up on) the new behaviours.

I'm sceptical. Peer pressure can work to sustain a culture but is weak when introducing a new standard.

For example, in the face of the war for talent, many organisations want their senior people to live to higher standards in coaching, supervising and mentoring juniors. But if it's left to the group to police itself in this "new" behaviour, I think it unlikely that higher standards of excellence will result. More likely would be a "you forgive me and I'll forgive you" culture.

As we know, new (visible) scorecards can help. Even if there is not managerial time to spot and follow up on non-compliance, a new metric tracking the new behaviour (if appropriately visible) can create the incentive to change.

But still I get asked "What else?" We know what we should do, my clients say, we've agreed among ourselves to do it, but we don't have the managerial culture that allows group leaders to spend time monitoring the group.(!)

So, they ask, what else can we do?

What would YOU say?

B-School competition on Human Capital

I received an email from Susan D. Strayer, the Director of Talent Management at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. She included a press release letting me (us) know that students from the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management who focus in human and organisational performance issues are hosting the nation's first-ever competition focusing solely on human capital challenges.

The National MBA Human Capital Case Competition will be held in Nashville, Tenn. on Oct. 19-20. The teams will be judged by a panel of industry executives, including leaders from General Electric and Deloitte, who are sponsoring the competition. The teams will have the chance to win more than $30,000 in cash prizes.

Strayer (a 2007 grad of the Owen school) said "Some of the biggest obstacles companies of any size will face have to do with their employees. It's imperative that business school students make employee-related issues as important as other avenues of business. That's why Owen is taking the lead to elevate the study of human capital to be on the same level with marketing, finance and operations."

For more information on the National MBA Human Capital Case Competition, log onto www.humancapitalcasecompetition.com.

I'm sure other business schools will take issue with the assertion that Vanderbilt is "taking the lead" here. Any current or recent B-school grads have anything interesting to report about the extent to which the "study of human capital" (horrible phrase) is being integrated into the curriculum and treated "at the same level with marketing, finance and operations"?

Earning a Relationship

A core element in my view of the world is that everything we want must be given to us by another human being. So whether it is about getting our staff to co-operate with us, or to get clients to entrust us with business, our main task is to make other people, want to give us what we want. We must learn how to earn relationships.

The following video, taken from my personal life, shows a remarkable effective way, of pulling this off.

Book Review: Lead Well and Prosper

Nick McCormick has written a slim, large-type paperback book (with cartoons) called "Lead Well and Prosper."

His 15 chapter headings are:

1. Adopt a Serving Attitude
2. Teach
3. Provide Honest and Timely Feedback
4. Share Information
5. Listen
6. Treat People Like Human Beings
7. Set Goals, Plan and Execute
8. Learn
9. Do the Right Thing
10. Embrace the Uncomfortable
11. Clean Up Your Own House First
12. Persist
13. Do what You Say You'll Do
14. Always Follow Up
15. Plan your Week

That's a pretty good summary checklist for any manager!

Which of these would everyone say tends to be done best? Which are usually least well done?

Relationships: What's the Problem?

Almost every firm (and individual professional) I know SAYS (and has said for a long time) that they want to build their strategy on having deep and broad relationships with key clients.

But the percentage of firms that have pulled this off is (in my experience) relatively small. I explore this in part in STRATEGY AND THE FAT SMOKER where I explore the fact that while firms say they want romance, too many firms still act in a transactional "let's win this one" mode.

But there's more that needs to be said. It's not enough to argue that relationships are a good thing, or even prove that they are economic. We must understand why they are difficult to pull off.

Here's a preliminary list of some of the possible barriers:

1. Many clients, in fact, don't want relationships. They prefer to buy on a transaction-by-transaction basis.
2. Too many providers are not really trying to build a relationship, they're just trying to sell more product and services -- and clients can tell
3. Firms or individuals are too short-term focused, over-investing in short-term sales opportunities and under-investing in long-term relationship-building: it's a time allocation problem
4. Senior professionals just don't have the time to invest in relationships: it's a time problem
5. Senior professionals are actually not that interested in clients: it's an attitude problem
6. Individuals are not skilled in earning clients' trust: it's a skill problem
7. Internal barriers in firms -- for example, excessive "silos" mean no incentive to create opportunities for colleagues to provide additional services to "your" clients: it's a structural problem
8. Lead professionals see it as too risky to introduce their colleagues -- they worry that their own PERSONAL relationships would be threatened by any attempt to turn the relationship with a client into an INSTITUTIONAL relationship: it's a quality or cultural problem
9. Firms are not discriminating enough in selecting which client relationships actually have a chance at succeeding: they try to develop relationships with too many clients -- they should focus more effort on fewer, carefully selected opportunities: it's a focus problem

What would you add to the list? What do you think is the most common explanation of why most firms' relationship strategies fail to succeed as often as they hope?

Three Months’ Worth of Gratitude

It has already been three months since I expressed my gratitude for all your thoughtful contributions. Your generosity and enthusiasm are clearly essential to the success of this blog. I am looking forward to another season of engaging discussions as we all move forward with new ideas and projects. In the meantime, let’s keep the exchanges going. Thanks to all of you for the comments and trackbacks.

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We Just Don't Want to Do That!

As everyone who reads this blog regularly knows by now, the theme off STRATEGY AND THE FAT SMOKER is that if you don't want to get on the diet, you can't achieve your goals.

Stated that way, it's a pretty tough message, and I sometimes struggle to find a way to soften it while maintaining the point.

For example, in my seminars, it's almost always the case that people ask how to make their practice groups more effective.

As a starting point, I feel it's necessary to go through the (simple, familiar) points that (a) the key is the group manager's time and skills and (b) that it is economic and effective to allow -- even require -- group leaders to take the time to manage the people in their groups, and not just expect them to carry a full personal "sell and deliver" load, and then manage their group on top of that.

Yes, I know these are old points, but that's the message -- "eat less, exercise more" is the answer to losing weight, and everything else is commentary.

But that frequently doesn't satisfy my audiences and clients.

"But what do we do if our culture and systems don't reward people for managing, and pays them on their personal production?"

OR "What do we do if none of our partners wants to take on the role of being a manager, each preferring to build his or her own book of business rather than taking the time to helping other people succeed?"

In essence, I say (with as supportive and comforting tone as I am capable of) "Well, if you don't want to do what works, then just don't expect to get the benefits. Your choice!"

Not surprisingly, people are often frustrated with this "tough love" answer. All of us want the "magic pill."

So, here's the challenge: What do you do if the problem posed by your client is presented with excessively binding constraints?

It is remarkably common to hear clients ask "We don't want to change how we do things, that's our culture, but tell us how we can get more of what we want!"

Can anyone shed some light on the best way to help when people pose things this way?