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Mushy Principles
Mission
To help our clients meet their goals for growth, quality, profitability, market share, and efficiency. To provide assistance in a way that leads to self-sufficiency and a superior educational product in the marketplace.
Criteria For Accepting Clients
We have three decision-criteria for accepting new clients.
Fun – We must see a clear path to enjoying our relationship with, and work for, a client, or we will not accept the relationship. Fun is first on our list because we see it as a necessary condition to considering the remaining two criteria. Our insistence that everyone have a good time working together ("fun") is less a statement about hedonism than a practical recognition of how good work gets done. It is also a clear statement of our values as a company.
Distinctive Contribution – Our business is built around distinctive, sometimes exclusive, contribution to our clients' results. If another firm can do what we propose and can do it as well or better than we can do it, we would prefer that they have the business. We have reached the point where our interest is adding distinctive value. Half of distinctive value rests on our ability to deliver. The other half rests on the client's ability to benefit. Therefore, in addition to us being the firm-of-choice for our prospective client, we must be convinced that our prospective client will benefit appropriately from our work. It is not a statement of elitism on our part. It is a simple recognition that neither you nor we will be happy if you are not in a position to apply our guidance, services, and products.
Financial Soundness – Prior to accepting any engagement, we carefully consider whether our services make financial sense — for us and for our client. For our client, we must project an appropriate return-on-investment. For us, we must see an appropriate margin. If the relationship fails to make sense on both sides, we would prefer not to proceed. Sometimes, we will proceed only if the client agrees to implement a system to monitor ROI. None of this means that InterEd engagements must be profitable. We do some work pro bono and are always eager to discuss incremental revenue sharing as an option for clients who are more comfortable with this approach to funding their growth.
The Only Rules That Seem Important To Mention
Guidance – Occasionally we will recommend a third-party vendor to our clients. Since we work in an area that is changing rapidly, sometimes fundamentally, a vendor recommended in 2006 may be recommended against in 2007. We would avoid this turbulence, if we could only see it in advance. What we can assure all clients is that we do not accept compensation in any form from vendors. If we recommend a vendor for your consideration, it is because we believe they will help you meet your goal in way that is consistent with your budget, culture, needs, and calendar. To do otherwise would not meet our goal of being a trusted member of your executive team . . . a bit mushy, we know, but its how we feel.