The 5 Secrets of Hidden Innovation - Secret #1

Everyone knows about the big ideas that were unexpected and which made a huge impact on sales (and the world more generally) - you can imagine the other electronics makers saying 'Let's invent the next iPod!' But there are other ways to innovate which are open to everyone, but are often hidden. The ideas you generate in these ways may not bring out ground breaking new services or products, but they will add to your profitability and number of clients. Over the next few weeks I'll be discussing each of one of the 5 secrets of innovation, and giving examples of how they might be put to use in your practice. This week's secret is:

The Unexpected Win

Have you ever had a time when you had a few requests for advice on the same issue, when nobody had ever worried about the issue previously? If so, you've run into the 'Unexpected Win'. Odds are you dealt with the queries, sent out a couple of fees, and that was all. A blip on the screen. Did you miss something? The Unexpected Win means looking beyond the first rush of work and finding out why it arose in the first place. In this way it is not really an innovation in the sense of developing a new service from scratch, but more that you are recognising current trends and applying a different approach that others aren't using. In this example, you should do the following:

* Ask clients why the issue arose. Is there an issue beyond the technical question? Has something changed in the marketplace to make the issue more important?

* Consider if the issue would have wider appeal. Could a mailing to targets be appropriate?

* Find out from others in your firm if they've been having the same queries. The more queries, the more likely you should be going outside your current client base.

Sounds easy, doesn't it? Maybe. But ask yourself whether the following is common practice:

* Do you ask in management meetings about what is going well? Or do you discuss all the current problems that have come up? Make sure you take time to think about areas which have increasing interest from clients. Ask yourself whether you have a formal process to capture common themes emerging from client requests. Remember, the opportunities are often hidden in smaller queries.

* Have you asked others in your firm what they are working on? Quite often we keep to ourselves and don't see the wider picture.

* When is the last time you thought about the wider implications of a new issue and sent out information to clients based on this? I'm not talking about the obvious budget changes, but something which other firms haven't identified.

* Do you ask clients why they've asked you about an issue? My experience is that we don't always consistently seek to understand the underlying problem the client is facing, especially when we are extremely busy.

The idea itself is very simple, and some would say common sense. That is its danger. Everyone thinks they are doing it, but in reality it is not approached in a focussed way, so opportunities are missed.

There are a few examples on Accountingweb to back up the above, but I'd like to hear from you. Have you ever applied the above principles to make additional fees or improve client relationships? If so, please respond with your examples. I'd love to hear them.