Why Blog – A Business Perspective

July 19th, 2006Business is about ‘relationships’. Blogging is about publishing your thoughts for the world to read. Blogging showcases how you think.
I’ve learned that “willing to pay me money” is not enough of a reason to work with a potential client. It’s important that we see eye to eye on big picture stuff. For example, if a client wants to do what everyone else is doing they probably aren’t a good match for Caffeine Group. It’s not that they have to share the same ideas. After all, that’s what we get paid for.
I pitched a GM dealership one time on a plan that would have 9000 young families coming into his dealership in a four week period right around the time the all new GM minivans and SUVs were launching. He gave two reasons for turning down the plan. First, the plan would eat up 25% of the money he had earmarked for newspaper advertising for 3 months. He went on to explain that all the dealers advertised in the newspaper and if he did less ads in that period he would not be maintaining the status quo. The second reason he gave was “I don’t know if I want 9000 families with their kids in here touching all the cars.” He was not anti family, just concerned about how to handle crowds like that and was missing the point.
After turning down the pitch he said he liked my ideas and offered me work. I didn’t pursue it as it became obvious to me that we did not see eye to eye. In my mind we were just not compatible in how we thought about the world.
This is where blogging can help. Whenever I am looking at working with someone new whether it is a supplier or client I try to first get an idea of how they think. If they have a blog I can discover in a matter of minutes if we should work together or not.
So if you are thinking about working with Caffeine Group, either as a supplier, independent contractor, client or team member, read this blog and see if we think like you think. And if you believe in your ideas and in what you can do for your clients and customers, blog and give the world some perspective about how you think and why they need to work with or buy from your company.