I had a debate with one of my partners recently. Over the last few weeks, we’ve been going through a branding/messaging exercise to refresh how we tell the market what we do, what we’re good at, our core domains, etc.

What a daunting task! It is so hard to put into words or create a sound bite that encapsulates your history, heritage, experiences, values, culture and how you’re different from all the other noise out there. Each one of us is so excited to talk about who we are and what we do, but those who don’t know you are often looking for a very quick synopsis. Wow. That’s tough!

But, back to the debate this discussion caused.

There are two main themes that often come into the conversation when people talk about MIPRO Consulting. One is the extensive experience that each and every individual at MIPRO has. The other is that every one of our associates is empowered, encouraged and expected always to “do the right thing.”

While the statement “do the right thing” seems vague and intangible, we have very tangible examples of what it means to us. Two examples:

1. Telling a customer who hired us for a $500,000 project that our insight into the next software release revealed that it would give them the functionality they need and so there’s no need to engage us now.  The client saved $500K.
2. Pulling a resource who the customer likes because we see signs that this resource will become a problem for them down the road. Very unhappy customer when we made the decision but a delighted customer when we delivered on the project under budget, having found a much better replacement to get the job done.

The list of examples can go on and on.  Since we opened our doors, we’ve never been afraid to do what’s right for our customer, even if it means short-term friction or that we leave some money on the table.

So when we were discussing how we should describe MIPRO to those who don’t know us, “we do the right thing” was suggested. While it’s in our DNA, the statement that seems to resonate more with our prospects is, “we’ll bring more experience than any one else to your engagement.” And while that may be true, it doesn’t give someone insight into our heart and soul, exposing who we really are at our core.

So my observation, is that people choose to do business with us because our experience, however, they choose to recommend us to their friends and work with us again because we “do the right thing.”

Another way to say it: we often win new business with the depth of our experience, but what delights our customers and impels them to refer others (and use us for multiple projects) to us is our dedication to doing what’s right, even if it means we willingly have the difficult conversation with them or refuse to engage with them on an unnecessary project.

But the challenge still remains: how do you sound bite that? Would love to hear from you in the comments.

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MIPRO Consulting is a nationally-recognized consulting firm specializing in PeopleSoft Enterprise (particularly Enterprise Asset Management) and Business Intelligence. You’re reading MIPRO Unfiltered, its blog. If you’d like to contact MIPRO, email is a great place to start, or you can easily jump over to its main website. If you’d like to see what MIPRO offers via Twitter or Facebook, we’d love to have you.

More opinion posts.

University of Central Florida Professor Richard Quinn used statistical analysis and other data forensics techniques to uncover an exam cheating ploy used by a significant number of his students.  Instead of confronting them directly, Professor Quinn recorded a lecture (and video) describing his analysis of the situation and the time-limited deal he’s offering the cheating students.  From the video:

I don’t want to have to explain to your parents why you didn’t graduate, so I went to the Dean and I made a deal. The deal is you can either wait it out and hope that we don’t identify you, or you can identify yourself to your lab instructor and you can complete the rest of the course and the grade you get in the course is the grade you earned in the course.

The video became a YouTube hit instantly, and so far over 200 students have come for to admit participation in the scheme and to try to make it right.  Professor Quinn said that whoever comes forth under the deal won’t be turned over to Academic Services and their transcript will remain clean, provided they take a four-hour course in ethics.

Here is Prof Quinn’s video.

(via kottke)

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MIPRO Consulting is a nationally-recognized consulting firm specializing in PeopleSoft Enterprise (particularly Enterprise Asset Management) and Business Intelligence. You’re reading MIPRO Unfiltered, its blog. If you’d like to contact MIPRO, email is a great place to start, or you can easily jump over to its main website. If you’d like to see what MIPRO offers via Twitter or Facebook, we’d love to have you.

More nerdery posts.

One of the most important things that apply in all aspects of life and business is the quality of integrity.  While I continue to learn each day the importance of integrity and how to both teach and share the importance of integrity, nothing can be more rewarding than when a customer defends your integrity.

So true.  Good post by Jason Averbook.

But first, a story.

When I was younger, I had a friend who could draw anything you wanted on command.  I’m not talking a simple line drawing: Kit could whip up something nearly photographic in under two minutes that would take me a solid week to  try to match.  I’d say, “Hey Kit, draw a stapler,” and Kit would grab a pencil, looking utterly bored, and perfectly whip up a perfectly-shaded sketch of a perfect stapler that would fit into a design catalog. 

I decided, upon seeing this a few times, that I wanted to be able to draw like that too.

Somehow, I harangued my parents into art lessons, which were (a) expensive and (b) an utter waste of my and the instructor’s time.  I simply wasn’t good.  Turns out that in the business, what I had was called “very little talent” mixed with “pathetic delusion.”  My short art career – which led me to create a horrible picture of a wolf’s head and a some variety of mutant panther prowling on some sort of mesa or something – lasted about six weeks.

I tell you this story because a few weeks ago I tried to draw a picture of a dog or wolf or hyena or something, and it was so horribly bad – so laughably buggered – that it actually became funny in its horribleness.  It wasn’t something someone looks at and goes, “Wow, that’s a pretty bad mess, whatever that is,” but instead looks at, nearly chokes on coffee, and starts to laugh audibly.

I am not making this up.  See?

What IS that?  It has three front paws, a pig snout, a one-dimensional mouth and eyes that are set in some sort of trench on the right side of its face.  Not to mention it looks like it’s been in Vegas for the weekend.

I suck.

But the Internet doesn’t!  Look:

• Economist Tyler Cowen argues that autism can be an advantage in the academy, not a detriment.
• Ever wonder where gyro meat comes from? You needn’t wonder anymore.
• NASA will be releasing “greatly improved” video imagery to commemorate yesterday’s 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.
• TechCrunch’s Mike Arrington takes a ton of heat (see the comments) from the web community after writing a post about his dilemma regarding whether or not to publicly post internal Twitter records that were stolen by a hacker named “Hacker Croll”.  After the barrage, Arrington responds.
• Incredible what a half year can bring: 20 brands and products that died in 2009. (thx @bchesnutt)
• Microsoft is presenting a series of lectures on physics by Caltech legend Richard Feynman.  Bill Gates, using personal funds, help secure secure the rights to these.  Bravo, Microsoft.  Awesome stuff.
• The Words You Wear – Rands (Michael Lopp) at the absolute top of his game.  Everyone who works in corporate America needs to read this.  Twice.
• Turns out the simplicity of the iPhone GUI allows users to actually make use of more of the features afforded by the device.  Who knew that accessible interfaces translated into user adoption? Bizarre.
• John Gruber has the best analysis (and context-setting) of Google’s Chrome OS announcement I’ve seen yet.
• Finally, here’s a mind-bending series of videos collected by Jason Kottke entitled What Fast Looks Like.  As a sports car nut and speed freak, I couldn’t get enough of this.  Also: I would very much like a Lamborghini Murcielago, so if you have an extra one lying around, I’ll draw you a few thousand three-legged wolves in exchange for it.  Thanks.

Have a good weekend, everyone.