Technology: Help or Hinderance?
Is Technology a help or hindrance in your business today? I recently had the chance to sit with a long-time friend and experienced business development leader, Matthew Ferrara. He’s a Philosopher, Photographer, and long-time international speaker. He shared with me, when it comes to technology, why more is not always better and how being better can get you more. Matthew Ferrara has been in the business development world for 30 years and his professional roles have encompassed training in sales, technology, management, and leadership.
As technology has developed and grown, there have been more and more services available to interact with customers and connect to the community, however has there been a disconnect or a separation within our relationships with our customers because of it? How is technology facilitating or replacing some of these person-to-person engagements?
Instant vs Trusted
“Traditionally, we bookmark people who do good by us, like our hairdresser, attorney, etc., but technology is replacing those relationships with a different value proposition of Instant vs Trusted,” Matthew says.
There is a real struggle that today’s business leaders and technology developers are experiencing to find the balance between creating a convenient and instant transaction while still fostering a trusted relationship or experience. Although instant technology tries to prove they are trusted by leveraging reviews and ratings within their apps, which is well and good when we want to make a reservation for a table, change an appointment, or book a rideshare. When it comes to the important things, however, we want to have a great experience.
Great work isn’t always being rated on a scale - there might be something more we are looking for in an experience or interaction than a 5-star rating. “Efficiency and speed should not come at the cost of dehumanizing the relationship,” Matthew mentions. What businesses and technology developers should remember is that there are people using all of these products. Then work toward finding the balance to leverage the technology to enhance those relationships instead.
A Technology Enhanced Business Model
“I get email notices all the time to join a webinar about ‘How to Uberize Your Business’ or ‘Grow Your Business Like Amazon.’ There are plenty of businesses who are looking to grow and gain more of their market share, but not everything should be Uberized. We need to look at our business and consider what’s actually appropriate for our business model. Not every business is going to have an Uberized experience,” Matthew points out.
This is where businesses need to ask, “Is more really better for my business?”
What is the solution? The Yes-And Model
“When developers of tech are working on their next great app, the ideal option would be to develop something that allows us to go back to our trusted contacts, like a trusted and curated Rolodex. This will allow businesses to have better outcomes because they aren't looking for volume, but are building on quality long-term relationships.”
Zappos is a company that seems to have found this balance. They have become a leader in the industry because they discovered that customer service is where they thrive. They give their customer service representatives resources to be able go above-and-beyond. There even is a record-breaking service call that lasted beyond 10 hours.
Not only does Zappos make it easy to order their products online, but they also make the customer service experience an enjoyable one, which allows more opportunities for them to make a positive impact and strengthen their relationship with their customers who will ultimately be repeat customers.
Matthew explains there are hotels he stays at loyally, because he can book on the app but when you step through the door it’s face-to-face experience. So the solution is the “Yes-And” Model - using the technology to facilitate the relationship and use the people or experience to carry the relationship from there.
“The idea is to know that more isn’t necessarily better, but better is always better,” Matthew advises. “As a small entrepreneur I haven’t spent much money on advertising, SEO, or branding in 15 years. I don’t have a logo, I don’t worry about my website traffic, I have maybe 150 in my address book, I fill my calendar well enough by just keeping in touch with the humans doing business.”
“There is a great book called Rework, by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson and one of the questions they investigate while building a business, ‘Do we want to get big or do you want to be great?’”
What’s the Advice for Service Providers, Entrepreneurs, Soloprenuers?
“Keep with the core principles of business,” says Matthew. Typically, when you are a service provider in business, most of your business comes from people you already know. “We spend thousands of dollars trying to make contact with people we don’t know and we spend pennies to nothing to stay in touch with people we do know. Sometimes we are missing out on the opportunity to work with someone who highly trusts you and knows you already.”
3 Things you can do today:
Call a client or past client.
Call a peer (some may call these contacts “competition”).
Call someone you don’t know.
Ask them : How are things going? Is there any way I can be of help or help you in your journey?
Technology as a Distraction or a Disruption
New technology is often looked at by the business world as a disruption. How can the business world adapt? “I find that technology that actually disrupts the market or our way of business to be very rare,” Matthew says. “I find that most technology is actually a distraction. I don’t worry about disruption - remember relationships will be able to go through changes.” No matter if we use the phone, email, an app, etc. as long as you are applying the right technology for your business model and keeping in touch with the humans you are doing business with, you can’t be disrupted. You are your competitive advantage.”
The bottomline: All companies should be implementing software, apps, and systems more to create and maintain great relationships rather than just make things easier. Adding back in the basics of doing great business and keeping in touch - and in tune - with the connections they’ve made is doing great business. 3 Data Pulse is a technology that’s on the market today that is empowering business owners, brokers, and team leaders to leverage this very principle to stay involved with their most important assets - their people.
