Hasn’t it always been about Trust?

The BusinessWeek article "The Great Trust Offensive" is worth a read. We consumers are skeptical of advertising, jaded by bailouts, huge executive bonuses..and let's not get into the rash of bad customer service experiences. This video (go to link above) summarizes the article....and there is hope!! =)

There are many examples of trusted companies. Companies that have figured out how to focus more on people and less on profit. Companies that are strong, sustainable and financially successful. Companies that view their people as the key ingredient to their success..not a "cost center" or a "human resource". Companies like John Deere and Chapmans Ice Cream come to mind.

In the B2B world, trust and credibility matter today more then ever. Why? Because trust is what makes or breaks a relationship and builds a solid reputation.

A value proposition means nothing if we can't deliver on it. And, today, even if we do deliver on it we must be able to prove that we did! Ideally through word of mouth. This is where I think social media and networking can play a role. (Future post planned on this!)

Lets not jump on the "trust" bandwagon and start peppering our copy and conversations with hollow promises and taglines like "trusted advisor" or "you can trust us". A great book that has really opened my eyes about earning trust is Chris Brogan and Julien Smith's book Trust Agents. I highly recommend it.

Linkroll (other links of interest):
Building your b2b brand
Importance of strategic references
Trust in the Online Retail World

If you'd like me to link to an article of interest let me know and I'll add it to this link roll.

How one leader is impacting society

One of the many CEOs I follow is Richard Branson. He's a visionary and believes in giving back to the community and helping people. Entrepreneurs can have a positive impact on society. In fact, Peter Drucker has stated that a key objective for a business should be how it will impact society. This video gives you a first had look at how this can and is being done. UPDATE: Richard Branson is now on Twitter.

A 90 Second view: The Potential of Collaboration using Social Media

Best Buy social media case study

Dear Mr. and Ms. Executive,

Please enjoy the video below. It shows how Best Buy is using social media to create connections, knowledge and collaborate. I hope this video encourages you and your company to adopt and embrace social media. It empowers people, it connects people and it includes people. The future of your company rests in the hands of your people. Give them tools like these and let them create.


Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson in conversation with Peter Hirshberg at Google Zeitgeist from peter hirshberg on Vimeo.

Weak Economy? Strengthen your B2B relationships.

This is an interesting video on the importance of building strong relationships in the B2B space. Creating strategic relationships brings mutual benefit to the customer and supplier. In an earlier post I talked about the importance of strategic references. These are strategic relationships you establish with key customers and partners in order to help all parties be successful.

Given the challenges we face with our economy now may be a good time for you to take a look at your customers and suppliers and figure out new ways to work together to weather this economical storm. The video by Traci Entel from Katzenback Partners below may give you some ideas.




Timeshift Track
00:00 to 2:00
* Empathy defined
* Expedia used empathy to think about their relationships with their suppliers
* Empathy is rare in the B2B space with little emphasis on building strategic relationships
* Expedia challenges and what they did to overcome them

2:00 to 4:30
* Expedia decided to become partners with their suppliers
* The importance of philosophy follow through when enacting change
* Involving employees in change discussion helps drive behaviour and institutionalizes change
* Listen and learn

Additional resources:
* Importance of Strategic References, Marketing That Matters
* The "4 R's of Marketing", Marketing That Matters
* Expedia Interactive Case Study, Businessweek

Five!

There is a lot of buzz around (here comes the laundry list...man we marketers suck!) collaboration, unified communications, knowledge mgt, social media, social networking, web 2.0, web 3.0, semantic web, presence, iphones, tags, folksonomy, user contribution, social bookmarking.....yadda, yadda, yadda. Whether you view these as technologies, services, apps doesn't really matter. What matters is what you do with them and what you get out of them.

Social media and collaboration can be broken down into five key experience categories:

1. How it makes us feel. We are using it to emotionally connect with friends and family. To build a social support mechanism so to speak. Examples: Facebook, mySpace, Twitter.
   
2. How it builds on what and who we know. We use tools and services to build our knowledge and our network of people. We want to know things, know people and some of us want to be known. Examples: Wikis, Blogs, Friendfeed, Linkedin, Ning, Squidoo
   
3. How we use it as a soapbox to tell people what we think about things.We write posts and comments about things that matter, things we like, things we don't like and ideas we have and invite people to join in the conversation. This conversation creates an iterative thinking dynamic where people can interact, persuade, argue and explain. We voice our opinions and test our thinking. Examples: Blogs, Ning, FriendFeed, Knol
   
4. How we use it as a gateway to share our information, experiences, successes and failures. Whether it's pictures, career successes or a video of that big ass fish you caught we want to share. Examples: Flickr, YouTube, Delicious, Google Reader, Google Notebook, Facebook, Linkedin
   
5. How it enables us to do stuff. Whether it is to make an idea real, raise money, manage a project or do something on the side we want to get things done. Examples: Basecamp, BatchBook, Freshbooks, eBay.

My question is when will a social media application do these five things in an integrated fashion? Perhaps the better question is should it? From a business perspective the social media application that can accelerate and institutionalize knowledge, create tribes of collaborators and subject matter experts, build strong professional AND productive relationships that create results will be the killer app! If you've got something in mind...I'm all ears.

Tribal Leadership, the case study

Tribal Leadership, a book I recommended in an earlier post, toured Zappos.com and below is a play by play breakdown of that video. This company clearly is a "Stage 4" tribe and they get it. Here's why:

First, they get the fact that what matters the most in any business is people.

Second, they understand the importance of creating an atmosphere that is fun, comfortable and collaborative and fosters community.

Third, coaching and goal setting is extremely important as is recognition of achieving goals.

Fourth, executives have an open door policy and they sit in cubes. No offices, no bull, no favourtism.

Fifth, they know what key metrics matter and they measure and publish their results.


Enjoy the video.


Tour of Zappos.com, A "stage 4" tribe (at least!)
:10 Fun time
:33 Nap time
1:15 Emotional Connection with customer
1:49 Key performance indicators - measure, measure, measure
2:16 The three important questions around customer loyalty
2:30 Introducing "Doc". Coaching, goal setting and recognition.
3:18 Special group dedicated to research and resolution for customers (The "R" Desk)
3:40 Showing results for all to see
4:30 Lot's of smiling faces, party environment
4:55 Monkey row, where the execs sit. Free books for all staff and no "class" system
6:00 Open door policy, stir the pot and hear the buzz. No disconnected executives here!
6:15 Business units sit together. "Ride Shops", "Outdoor shops"
6:25 Sectioning of sites around themes like "running" and creating communities with blogs and events

Additional Articles on Zappos:
Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh: Customer Focus Key to Record Sales During Retail Slump

Tribal Leadership, the book

There are few business books that stand the test of time. The ones that you can re-read and they still make sense. Books like Good to Great, Built to Last and In Search of Excellence are a few that come to mind. The book Tribal Leadership is one that may qualify as re-readable! The concept is very simple but real. If you get right right down to the core of human nature we are members of tribes of interest, community and necessity. I'm hearing the word "Tribe" being used in my daughters school. This book talks about the different types of phases that tribes go through...and how they evolve from a me to a we culture. I recommend you add this book to your business library. Zappos.com, a "Stage 4" tribe are providing a free audio version here.