Access challenges run both ways: smaller companies face challenges selling to bigger ones, but oftentimes, bigger players can’t get small enough to sell to smaller companies or individual buyers.
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From the category archives:
Strategy
AT&T’s response to Verizon’s brilliant “Map for That” campaign is this: Make stuff up! The core problem with AT&T’s response is that anyone who uses AT&T – myself included – knows that it’s just not true. See the ad below and hear the galling “spin”. AT&T has a shoddy, overburdened and unreliable network. Verizon’s is the class of the field. Consumer Reports’ annual survey of 20 metro centers lists Verizon as number one in ALL markets surveyed. It’s not even close.
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Consumers are using the iPhone to read eBooks. I know I do, and it’s not a great experience. The selling point is that since I always have my iPhone with me, the service is accessible to me at any time, day or night. Regardless of what I want to read, or when I want to read it – from Chris Anderson’s “Free” to Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers” – the service is always there. I might listen to the audio book, or I might listen to the audio book and read along, which cognitively for me makes things stick.
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So often, especially with smaller businesses, companies don’t really understand that their prospects look at the world of opportunities, the world of options very differently than they think they do. They often think that prospects are looking at the universe of options that look like them, i.e., a new type of printing service, or a new type of contact management software, (or some other kind of category that their wares most closely fits in to) and that their prospects are only looking at other companies that are just like them.
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Here’s the thing: I was commenting to the two guys from Lowe’s that assisted us on how great their service was. Specifically, I noted how different Lowe’s was from Home Depot in terms of customer service and how helpful they are. One of them, Tom, said something to me that was very telling. He said, “Although I work for Lowe’s, I’m also a contractor, and for that, I use Home Depot.” Here’s a guy who clearly enjoyed his job and enjoyed helping customers – who did not seem to have “an ax to grind” with his employer – but who was simply telling me something in a matter-of-fact way.
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For the thrid year in a row, the Wall Street Journal and Winning Workplaces have teamed up to identify the top small-to-midsize business.
Among the small-to-midsize companies that were highlighted in this article, a common thread emerges:
Commitment to “strong people practices” in the workplace creates a better work environment, and in turn reduces turnover, increases retention, and facilitates satisfied and happy employees.
Inside these successful companies – there’s a lot of discussion, and a lot of time spent with people – breakfast meetings, annual meetings, idea sharing, etc. All this internal activity pulls together to make a better work environment, which manifests itself in the quality of service the company provides, and in the positive image the company is able to sustain – whcih translates to growth and revenue, even in a tough business environment. These companies have figured out how to maintain “service with a smile.”
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Today, I know that these memories are shared by many thousands of other business leaders in high-tech and other “soon-to-be revolutionized” industries of what is now referred to as the “dot bomb.”
Since that time, I asked myself – and anyone who would listen – what was there to learn from this incredibly expensive education. [...]
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