How you do business matters more

How you do business matters more. It matters more than before. It matters more than what you sell. It really matters. The how, though, is not your processes, efficiencies, strategies and tactics. It’s the people interactions of listening and responding, giving and sharing, taking responsibility, doing the unexpected.

Do you have the company culture now to be able to offer this to your customer? You may already be doing this or some of this, but possibly in a one off, subculture way. If you can be honest and say that this is not your culture, could it be?

Do you think it would be a waste of time to cultivate this type of culture? If you do, then you definitely would think social media is a waste of time. If you have seen people in your organization foster close connections with your customers, then you know the value behind a social culture…and you would identify with Robby Slaughter’s discussion about why social media isn’t a waste of time.

There’s been relationship selling, customer relationship management, relationship marketing….we know the importance of relationships. But, it has continued to get trapped inside a process and procedure. We seem to be comfortable in putting a lot of time and effort into these programs. However, much of the time is spent inside the data instead of connecting with the customer.

How can you extricate yourself from the traditional manner of doing business?

• Remove your corporate goggles and let the sun and fresh air in
• Spot the patterns then define and create new more rewarding ones
• Discover how you are already being social with customers
• Get in tune with your already existing company personality
• Uncover how you have influenced your customers and how they have influenced you
• Tap into and identify the passion of your business, employees, and customers
• Look at the content you have generated and get creative in how you could share that same information in a new, dynamic way
• Start by being social inside your organization

Then you can graduate to, yes, using tactics (social media tools) to facilitate conversations and community building outside of your organization.

It just might open new doors.

How have you changed how you do business?

(photo by tawheed manzoor)