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On Relating to the Marketplace

May 16th, 2009

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Yesterday and today I’m attending a VRM gathering in northern California. This is where conversations are happening–some technical, some organizational, and some theoretical–about putting people in charge of their relationships with the world. One important part of the world is the marketplace, which includes all of the stores and people that we do business with.

The notion of VRM is about enhancing the personal control that we have over our data, our money, and our lives. The people here, many of them developers and marketing people, are discussing structures, formats, and methodologies on how to do things with technology that is all about your needs.

Today, for example, the discussion I’m sitting in is about how to make a personal request for something (like a request for proposal, or RFP). A couple of examples of a personal RFP:

I need new shoes, of a specified size, color and style, in the city that I’m now in, at the best price available today
I am looking to buy a car within the next two months, and only want to know about used cars listed in my neighborhood as they get published, or new cars from specific dealers or people.
I need a ride downtown tomorrow sometime between 8-9am. Is anyone going that way that I could catch a ride with?
Some of my friends are talking about something new. It sounds interesting and useful, and I need to learn about that. I’m new to this subject area.

Some of the questions raised here: is this request shareable or tweetable? is it going to lead to a purchase or is the request just information-based? how do vendors or stores find your request? do (specialized?) search engines fit into this picture? Do you need help building specifications for your goods or services (which somehow implies that you are a qualified and ready buyer)?

Coaching moment: This post isn’t about answers. It’s about thinking about how we recognize ways that we need or ask for things, how we learn, and how technology can help. If you have thoughts on how YOU would like to process this very complex area, please add your thoughts to this post.

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future, records, tools California, personal requests, qualified and ready buyer, request for information, request for proposal, search engines, social media, specifications, Vendor Relationship Management, VRM

VRM and Pickle Ice Cream

May 12th, 2009

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It turns out that ice cream and VRM, or Vendor Relationship Management, have a lot in common. VRM is like the truck that drives into Scoopville in this video.

Here’s a video by Rob Knight that explains VRM pretty well. The whole idea behind social media and VRM is that it empowers people. You and me, our friends, our relatives, people we don’t know, and even people that also represent companies. It’s about people, and it’s about time.

Coaching Moment: Do you use social media like MySpace or Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or Flickr? There are many more, but you don’t need to use them all. The current set of sites and tools aren’t for everybody. What’s the worst thing about the current “social media” tools? Each one is proprietary, so you have to find and connect with your friends in each one. What a pain! Think outside the box. What would your ideal network do for you?

Note: There are two conference coming up next week that deal with topics of VRM and Identity. I’ll be blogging both. Stay tuned for updates!

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Putting Customers in Charge

May 8th, 2009

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I first met Doc Searls when he was advising a panel of speakers at a conference that the long-used metaphors of using war tactics by advertisers against customers was wrong. The advertising industry speaks in terms of slaughtering the competition, capturing and owning customers, and launching new campaigns to gain ground. Searls suggested that instead of fighting, we should be encouraging conversations with our customers, and that the marketplace was one large conversation. For example, if we (customers) loved something, it would sell well. Conversely, if we didn’t, that good or service would not meet with such success.

Ten years ago, Doc and others wrote The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual. This book has ignited a conversation among certain people on all sides of the market (stores, advertisers, software and applications developers, and customers) that are now open to exploring how this might work. There’s a lot to discover!

Recently Searls has been energizing a conversation which was dubbed VRM. There’s more about it at ProjectVRM. At its heart, this is about putting customers and users in charge of everything that affects them. Watch this video for a better idea of what he means.

Coaching moment: What would it mean to you if a company that you cared about asked for your opinion? If you asked them to remove all of the data that they stored about you–and they said OK–what would you think of that? There are proposals currently being discussed, and tools being created, to allow you to control (store, allow selective access to) all of your own data. Are you interested in exploring and controlling information about yourself? Not all can be controlled, but much can!

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