So many companies have isolated themselves from the communities in which they participate. It’s easy to see what happens; it happened at Radar. I started Radar in my garage. While the garage was crowded, noisy and full of interruptions from neighborhood kids, it sure was fun. It also functioned pretty well. We were all generalists. There was no need for meetings. Everyone always knew what was going on.
Now that we are in an office and ten times as big, much more effort must be made to communicate, hence there’s less time for us to be out in the community with our customers. It is also much more difficult to keep the internal community of Radar as close as it was when we started. It’s not a bad thing. But it takes a lot more effort and management than it used to, and that all can get in the way of spending quality time with the right customers.
While growth certainly demands more organization, it also means that you have to make a greater effort to be a part of all of your communities. Many of our clients are big, complex business organizations and their executives often tell us that they’re too busy to actually go out and spend time with their customers. The reality of doing all their internal tasks precludes the time or the energy it takes to get outside the confines of their offices.
In this dynamic environment, the companies who will be successful will know their customers as they know their friends. They will be creatively engaged in their communities.
To be a part of these communities, companies must develop new ways to communicate. It is a prerequisite for social and emotional connections. They must form community network strategies to give them the ability to understand and react to changes occurring in every corner of their community.
Comments