How to Create & Measure Impact

I promised in the last edition to define what we mean by our y-axis Actionability, and make it actionable for your business, and for you personally. I hope this helps drive some interesting conversations in your business. So let's get into it.

What Happens After You Hit Send on the Deliverable?

Do you know how it performed?

Do you know how it performed relative to all your other deliverables?

Do you know what happens to it? How it gets used?

Do you measure Client Satisfaction?

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to measuring impact.

As an Industry, It's Almost Cliché at This Point: We Talk a Lot, Message a Lot, and Position Ourselves a Lot as Companies That Do Actionable Insights and Impactful Research, But:

Is it true?

In order for a claim to be true, it must be falsifiable—meaning, capable of being proven wrong through measurable evidence.

So:

1. What do “Insight”, “Actionable”, and “Impact” mean?
2. How do they relate to each other?
3. And then, how do we measure them?

What “Insight”, “Actionable”, and “Impact” mean, & How They Relate to Each Other

An Insight is a tool [noun] our clients can [verb] in the world to help them make decisions, take action, overcome obstacles, and achieve goals. Screwdrivers, a set of lock picks, a sword—these are all tools with which we can [do action] to solve a set of problems.

Insights as Tools are Actionable, meaning, verbable. They serve a clear purpose and are of value to the business. Our clients can use them in their minds, and in the world. And the actions they are empowered to take can make an Impact.

Make an Impact in Your Clients’ Business—AND Your Own.

Here's that matrix from last week again:

When we make an Impact, the force of that Impact should felt tangibly in our client’s business—and that energy should ripple back into our own business in a real, tangible way.

Impactful Insights should build our brand, differentiate us, and make people want to work with us. We should make more money, gain more respect, and open up more opportunities to do the kind of work we find meaningful and fulfilling.

And this goes for both the vendor- and corporate-side.

So that's items #1 and #2 sorted. Now, for #3: How do we measure them?

So far, there hasn’t been any standardized definition of “Impact”, or any means of measuring Impact in a tangible way. We need to be able to answer at least three questions:

What, if anything was Impacted?

How much of an Impact have we made for our client?

How is that Impacting us?

By understanding what creates Impact, we should be able to set goals and objectives for our professional growth.

1. How do we know and prove that we're actually driving decisions for our C-suite partners and stakeholders in non-research functions such as design, product, retail, marketing, finance, and all the rest?
2. How can we understand what that’s influencing people to say about us when we’re not in the room?
3. How can we leverage all of this into building our authority (which reduces friction in the sales conversation with the next prospective client)?

Create Measurable Impact by Targeting 3 Things: Actionability, Achievement, and Authority.

Aim for:

1. Actionability. To recap, we create clear Insights that clients can use in the world as tools to create value in the business. Nail your product delivery. Get Actionability right. Consistently deliver for your clients. That is going to create...
2. Achievement. That we can put out there and leverage as proof and evidence of our...
3. Authority. Be known as the expert at what you do.

Qualitatively or quantitatively, these are KPIs we can (and must) track as Objectives & Key Results (OKRs). How we specifically formulate those OKRs and track them over time will look different for you depending on your mission, values, area of expertise, industries served, and other factors.

They should integrate with what you're already measuring, such as customer loyalty, referrals, lifetime value, churn, obviously revenue, and other metrics. Adapt these OKRs accordingly, and reach out if you’d like some help.

How to Measure Actionability.

Visual Clarity ??

The more clearly and visually you present information, the more likely it is to be easily understandable, memorable, and useful, thus increasing presenter confidence and client satisfaction. This bleeds into everything you do; it goes far beyond PowerPoint.

Client Satisfaction ??

This is an easy one. How satisfied are clients and stakeholder partners with what was delivered?

"Effective communication is 20% what you know and 80% how you feel about what you know." —Jim Rohn

Presenter Confidence ??

Even if they didn’t personally create the deliverable, how confident did the Principal/presenter feel when presenting and discussing these insights? Were they able to confidently deliver a clearly summarized elevator pitch for the entire deck, in 1-3 sentences? Were they prepared to answer any questions thrown at them during the presentation? If not, were they able to confidently tell the client that they knew where to find the answer, and would be able to get it to them in a timely manner? Did they feel prepared to drive and mediate the conversation?

Usefulness ??

Did these Insights get used on business initiatives? What specific actions did they take as next steps? By which stakeholders, departments or business units? What specific decisions were they able to make, or what decisions did it help drive? Who did it help, and in what way?

Citations ??

Does the deliverable, or parts of it, get referenced or cited often? Are people across the organization able to access it? Easily?

Get Those Right First; Then, Here's How to Measure Achievement.

Tangible Results ??

Do we have tangible results from our clients that we can use in case studies and marketing efforts? If results are difficult to describe quantitatively, do we have good quotes and stories about the results stakeholders have experienced? If clients were able to improve or innovate or create XYZ Real Product or Service or Messaging That’s Out There, which one(s)?

Assets ??

Can you visualize your unique approach that garnered tangible results as a visual model? Are you able to close the loop with your deliverables, and repurpose them as sanitized assets you can use as content in thought leadership pieces and sales materials? Can you use them to land speaking engagements? Can you write about them? Can you turn them into digital products that can further help more people at different price points (cf. the airplane metaphor)?

Which Then Drives Authority. To Measure Authority, Track...

Differentiation ??

Do prospects and customers seek out our expertise? Are clients reaching out to us directly for non-competitive projects?

Reputation ??

“This is the kind of work ____ does.” What are you an expert at? What do people say about you when you're not in the room? What are you known for? And, how’s your personal brand? Are you a trusted resource for XYZ? Have you become known for XYZ thing or area of expertise? Are members of your team rockstars at [something]?

Relationships ??

When is the last time you spoke to XYZ Stakeholder about what they need to do their job better? What do you know about their needs, fears, and biggest questions?

Proactivity ??

How much did we recommend and sell-in follow-up research, creative deliverables, upsells, or consulting engagements? Rather than reacting to their requests for projects, are we behaving as experts and proactively coming to our clients and stakeholders to create opportunities for uncovering Insights and impacting business value?

And Authority Reduces Friction in the Next Sales Conversation, Circling Back into Opportunities to Create Actionable Engagements for Prospects.

Adapt, baseline, target, and measure these 11 OKRs in a way that makes sense for your unique business, to become known for Impactful Insights.

P.S.

I would recommend starting with Visual Clarity, because growing in that area will help you articulate, pitch, and present ideas you can leverage as assets to grow your authority. I just happen to be teaching a workshop on this August 1, 2024.

Send your questions in—I'm always happy to answer them.

?? https://slidedesignr.com/ask-vashte/

Look out for a reply from me answering your question on the Slidedesignr YouTube channel, or right here in this newsletter.

I'm Vashte, the Founder of Slidedesignr. Connect with me here on LinkedIn, and find out more at slidedesignr.com.

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