The marketplace demands it, and brands expect it

Sometimes clients make requests that don’t make sense:

Can you make our company branding really modern, but with a retro flair?

Can you just write some junky code and get it done so we can go live tomorrow?

Just breathe. Try not to punch your screen. It’s not the client’s fault, especially if they don’t have expertise in your specialty area.

Odds are, their company is just stuck in the past with an outdated way of thinking that has made them successful thus far.

This is a perfect opportunity for you to bring disruptive thinking to your clients. We live in a business landscape where a new generation of companies are rapidly taking share from legacy brands, and brands have no choice but to think differently than the old guard. Otherwise they risk becoming irrelevant.

Clayton, the professor who originally defined disruption in his pioneering research, described disruption as a process by which a product or service takes root initially in simple applications at the bottom of a market, and then relentlessly moves up market, eventually displacing established competitors.

Look around. Many of the disruptors aren’t inventing anything, they are just really good at performance marketing, retail, ecommerce, customer experience, and digital. They focused on one existing product or category, tested new approaches, made a huge difference at the bottom of a market, and then relentlessly moved up.

Who says you actually have to invent anything to win?

When you sit down with your clients, take ownership to drive disruption. Focusing on one product or category and rethinking the experience. Lead your clients where you think they should go, and get them there. Even if they’re nervous along the way, they’ll thank you when they eventually look at their revenue growth.

Einstein famously said that the mind that opens to a new idea never returns to its original size. Help your clients get stretching.

However, there is a misconception. Disruption isn’t the veneer you layer on top of your work, disruption is the work. In your early conversations with potential clients, always ask why, rather than why not.

Legacy companies tend to get mired in the details of trying new things, whereas disruptive companies try new tactics, take action on customer centric data, and if possible, spin off into new iterations. They’re curious enough to always be improving.

If you can begin training clients to think this way from your very first project meeting, innovation will always stay high on the agenda. Plus, pitching new ideas will be much less of an uphill battle in the future. And as you evolve your client relationships, you’ll want to push your clients to be more and more disruptive over time.

But you have to lead them. If they politely say no thanks to your design experiments or out of the box ideas, you have to push back. It may feel like a struggle, but being ready to defend your ideas will often persuade clients to take that risk.

Don’t worry, it’s worth it in the end to push clients to do things differently. Even if your new ideas aren’t embraced, or are embraced but perform average or poorly, at least you’ll have demonstrated a track record of innovation leadership.

That makes clients want to stay with you for the long haul.

Sound like hard work? You’re right. But there has never been a better time to bring disruptive thinking to your clients.

The marketplace demands it, and more and more brands are expecting it.

But clients are scared to try innovative approaches, and they’re waiting for you to lead them.

How are you teaching your clients to disrupt themselves?