Eric West is a Strategy and Operations Executive at Kodi Collective, a global leader in traditional and digital printing, print-related services, logistics, and office products. Kodi Collective is currently on a mission to provide innovative solutions for storytellers around the world.
Key Takeaways
(00:01-07:00) Aligning organizational goals with innovative ideas
(07:00-14:54) The challenges of sparking innovation in large companies
(14:54-23:06) Empowering customer-focused conversations
(23:06-29:35) Ditching Pitch Decks for Real Client Chats
(29:35-37:24) Have better sales chats that match what customers want
(37:24-44:25) Real innovation comes from working together with customers
(44:25-50:51) Innovation isn't always about big changes
(50:51-58:08) The concept behind Kodi Collective
(58:08-1:01) Starting with the customer and moving backward
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The Innovation Catalyst
Proven ability to navigate the complexities of large companies, build influential relationships across teams, and execute innovative solutions from minimal viable products to significant initiatives. Expertise in fostering customer-centric product development, empowering sales teams with enhanced tools, and providing insightful feedback to drive impactful results, honed through roles at Omnicom Group, CallKodi, Google, and healthcare startups.
1. Aligning organizational goals with innovative ideas
Eric West, experienced in growth and strategy roles, shares insights on driving change within established institutions.
He highlights the importance of aligning organizational goals with innovative ideas and differentiating between major initiatives and smaller, incremental steps. Eric emphasizes starting with a minimal viable innovation to showcase quick wins and build a strong case for larger projects. Drawing from experiences at Omnicom Group and CollKodi, Eric discusses challenges within big companies, such as procurement processes and securing buy-in. He emphasizes relationship-building across teams and executing innovation rather than just discussing it.
Even though I've had relatively senior roles in bringing innovations, I've never had a blank check scenario where my job was to bring a $10 million investment idea to the board and expect it to get approved from a spreadsheet. So I think having this minimal viable innovation or product idea is almost a requirement in many businesses nowadays. β Eric West
2. The challenges of sparking innovation in large companies
Eric points to inertia as a major roadblock, explaining how safety and complex decision-making in these organizations often resist big changes. He emphasizes the power of relationships β building trust and credibility is key to getting your ideas heard. Also, understanding how things work on a practical level earns respect and helps handle objections more effectively.
Reflecting on his experiences at Google and healthcare startups, Eric highlights the need for passion in driving change. He guides vendors to connect with that same passion and align their products with what customers truly need. Their conversation shifts to providing feedback β an art that Eric emphasizes requires a delicate balance.
You have to build a reputation for people to accept your point of view or some of your ideas and be open to listening to them. If you haven't built relationships where they're at least open to listening to your idea, then that's obviously going to be a challenge.
β Eric West
3. Empowering customer-focused conversations
Eric West dives into the core of successful product development: understanding your ideal customer thoroughly. He stresses that any innovation must thrill the right customers and boost profits to truly succeed.
Eric talks about the importance of being straightforward when giving feedback to vendors. For him, it's all about ensuring the product aligns with his needs and those of the organization. He reveals that his focus wasn't solely on fixing customer issues. Instead, he aimed to empower sales teams by revamping their tools for better service discussions. Eric paints a vivid picture of how tools like RELAYTO uplift sales teams by adapting to customers' needs, encouraging dynamic and personalized interactions.
If we do this work, is it going to delight our existing customers that much more? Is it going to be able to attract more of those happy customers? If the answers to those aren't yes, then you really have to question why you're working on that initiative.
βEric West
4. Innovation isn't always about big changes
Eric mentions historical examples like calling cars "horseless carriages" to make it easier for people to understand.
They talk about how sometimes new ideas need to connect with what people already know. Eric shares the story of Otis Elevators, calling them a "vertical railroad" to help people see them as safe and easy to understand.
They discuss how innovation isn't always about big, complicated things like blockchain.
Shifting to Kodi Collective, Eric talks about how they combined different companies to create a unified service offering, marketing execution services. He explains that their success comes from understanding what customers need and solving their problems with expertise and skill.
What I have sought to do in my career, at varying levels of success, is figuring out what we need to do to make our clients successful. And then figuring out what that means in terms of what we need to build in order to do that. β Eric West
5. Starting with the customer and moving backward
Alex emphasizes the need for businesses, especially those dealing with complex solutions, to step away from traditional methods and adapt to changing consumer behaviors.
Eric talks about the importance of listening to customers, maintaining brand congruence, and reevaluating approaches. He admits his past inclination towards a more linear, operational approach and encourages others to challenge established industry norms earlier to better align with customer needs.
The customers are changing, at a minimum, in their consumer digital behaviors. If we're not catching up with that as the B2B innovators, whether we're in marketing, sales or delivery, we're not doing anybody any favors. We're not delighting customers; we're not driving our customer experience team later in the journey to be held to a higher standard. β Alex Shevelenko
Check the episode's Transcript (AI-generated) HERE.
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