Who wants a hippopotamus for Christmas? Probably very few people. While most of us grew up believing Santa can give us anything we want, even the big man probably has his limits. The simple fact of the matter is we just cannot please everyone. You'll always want clients who want you to do more than you're doing, and offer features and solutions that are outside the scope of your organization's mission. Question is, do you know what it is you're trying to achieve? Do you know where your limits are? Zappos, one of my favorite customer experience companies, says they're in the business of Delivering Happiness. Not shoes, not clothing, Happiness. So when they're asked to add new offerings, does it fall within the delivering happiness goal, and does it make sense, meaning will it make most of their customers happy?
As we head into 2012 and take a final look at what we've accomplished in 2011 to prepare us to move our organizations forward, take the time to outline the scope of your business. Through out the next year as these crazy client request come up for hippos, you'll know whether it lies within your mission or outside of it. If it's within your mission, then it deserves deeper internal discussions.