It is easy to be enthusiastic about a project at the beginning. There is the potential for something great to happen, the excitement of something new, and the anticipation of what your team will come up with.

But later on, that enthusiasm may fade. Once the “new” thing is created, it them becomes “normal.” Creative employees are not focused on what is “normal,” so it is easy to move on to the next new thing.

The problem is, just because something has been created does not mean it is done. Coming up with something new is great, but if you do not put it into use, it is really not doing much good. Your clients/customers expect you to follow through with implementation, to make sure that what you have come up with is something they can use and maintain, something that is really right for them.

Just because you’ve designed something based on a client’s requirements does not mean you got it right. You may have misunderstood, you may have come up with a different way of doing things than they were thinking of…it just might be the right result but still not meet their requirements. You will not know that, and your employees will not be able to fix it, if you are not engaged in the implementation process. Do not just turn the product over to your sales force and walk away toward something else; instead, wait and see how everything works out.

Your customers also need to know how to maintain what you have given them. Whether it is a hairstyle or a website, they need to know how to keep it looking like it did when they got it. Your employees should be able to help with that. Sometime after delivery your clients are going to look for a replacement, or a touch up, or some bug fixes, or something else along those lines, and no one knows how to do that better than the people who created the initial product.

You should consider, too, what it will take to get your new design out the door. Think about things like manufacturing, or ease of maintenance, or profitability, or other factors important to both your firm and your customer. Great innovation means little to your firm if it is impractical when it comes to putting it into use.

The bottom line is, your customers are not just looking for you to create something new, they are instead looking for something they can actually use. Your company needs to make sure it can deliver the products your employees create and ensure the clients can use them effectively. You might GET customers through a reputation for great design, but you will KEEP customers by having a great reputation for follow through.