Is Your Business Model Built for the Long Haul?
Public statements notwithstanding, more business plans in Silicon Valley are built around technology than around customer relationships. It's just the way it is; we're talking about technology companies, right? The problem is that, given time, all technology either becomes obsolete or a commodity. With the increasing pace of technological change, this is happening sooner rather than later. The risk in building on technology rather than customer relationships is that you are never more than a wrong turn or two away from putting your business survival at risk. Customer relationships provide your business with more options, and strong relationships can be very forgiving of the occasional misstep, meaning your business is more resilient and your plans can be bolder. Further--and perhaps even more important--technology-centric business models limit your offerings and growth potential, so they are associated with lower valuations over the long term.
See Rubicon at SoftLetter's Marketing and Selling SaaS Seminar
October 23, 2008 - 10:00 AM
, San Mateo, CA
Online Reviews Second Only to Word of Mouth as Purchase Influencer in US
A broader investigation into how business can exploit online community underlines the importance of online information in driving purchase decisions, but the most influential information is beyond the direct control of companies selling products and services. Courting the small fraction of Internet users who write online reviews and comments is a very important task for many companies, but one they often neglect.
Many companies downplay the importance of online communities because only a few percent of all Internet users contribute to them heavily. What they don’t understand is that most other Internet users read those reviews and rely on them heavily when making purchase decisions. Taking good care of online communities can be a huge money-saver for companies trying to get more marketing impact from limited budgets.
Dear Rubi
An advice column on business and strategy.
Today’s Question
Dear Rubi:
How do I measure the culture of my company, and hold the team accountable for it?
submitted by: Nehal Gajjar, Principal, General Nautical, Inc.
Rubi Says…
Dear Nehal:
I assume that by “culture” of your company, you are concerned with values and behavior such as honesty, trustworthiness, and perhaps concern for the rights of others or the environment. While it is easy and straightforward to measure “hard” data like sales, profits and return-on-investment, measuring organizational culture is not so easy or straightforward.
Your concern should not be so much about measuring the organizational culture as about feeling confident that certain values are entrenched within your organization and exhibited by all your employees.
The values for any organization start at the top (that’s with you). Anyone that tells you differently doesn’t understand how organizations work. While what you say is important, it is not nearly as important as what you are seen to do by the rest of the organization. If you talk about the importance of honesty, but are seen (or even perceived) as shaving the truth when it serves your needs, you will find that the rest of your organization does the same thing. Ditto if you demand results that cannot be achieved via the desired behavior. Organizations are amazing in their ability to sniff out what the boss really cares about. You can try, but you can’t fool them—at least not for long. If you even think privately that results are more important than behavior, your employees will pick up on it, and act accordingly.
Of course, not every organization is filled entirely with good apples. If certain cultural values and behaviors are important to you, you must trade out the bad apples for better ones. If you allow your top sales rep to get away with stuff because she’s blowing out her number, you are sending a clear signal about what is really important to you. Likewise, if you put values first and force the sales rep to stay in line or leave the organization, you will send a positive message heard loud and clear throughout your organization.
Sincerely,
Rubi