 The Changing Nature of Business Reality
Nov. 24, 2003
Someone once said, "the only constant in life is change". Nowhere is this more true than in business. Companies that are doing 'business as usual' are missing the boat. Consumers are what drive change in business and there is a huge ground swell of change brewing right now. People are tired of over-hyped spin and hollow phrases. Consumers what results. A prime example of this discontent bubbling over is in the recent 'recall election' craze.
There has been an awful lot of attention put on recalls these days. The largest and probably best covered has been the California governor recall election, but we have even seen some of the recall fever here in Pocatello – we recently had a recall vote concerning some of the school board. What is interesting in this phenomenon is that it’s yet another manifestation of the changing nature of today’s business reality – Consumer Outrage is on the rise.
An example that most of us are familiar with is the Consumer Outrage over Microsoft. The company’s products are under attack for their lack of relevant features and sieve-like security, their monopolistic business methods are being sued over, and people are looking elsewhere to fulfil their software needs for either real or purely spiteful reasons. It’s hard to find anyone (who’s not an employee) that will admit that they love Microsoft.
And this is arguably the most successful software company in the world! They have over 40 billion (that’s billion with a ‘b’, folks) dollars in cash! The vast majority of their employees have genius-level IQs! They have managed to acquire in most cases, 90% of the markets they operate in on a global scale!
So what is going on? Why don’t they fix it?
Just like in politics, the voter/consumer is in charge. We decide who will be ‘elected’ to receive our money when we make purchases. And it’s not the governors or the companies who have suddenly metamorphosed into oozing slugs that the public would like to see salted. We as consumers are changing – and we’re getting Outraged.
The signals are everywhere. We used to be content with “that’s just how things are” when hanging out on the phone for eons on hold, waiting to talk to a real human being. We tolerated people calling us during dinner to emotionlessly read their scripted sales pitches. We simply deleted offensive Spam email with a “what can you do” shrug. We would ignore hideously constructed and intellect-insulting advertising. We laid down money for inadequate solutions, because “that’s all there is”.
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| | | | Consumers are getting annoyed, frustrated, and yes, even Outraged. | | |
Are these things totally done away with? Not yet. But we’re on our way. For a long time consumers have been patient, but that feeling is going away the longer we have to deal with the ridiculous. New legislation has slapped down some of these offensive practices and legal battles are being fought almost constantly to help right other “wrongs”. And through it all, the Outraged Consumer continues to place his or her vote with money.
People will talk about how quickly our world is moving – how rapid the pace of development and progress is, but they rarely see that it is precisely for this reason that some companies and organizations can’t keep up. They haven’t being keeping up with us. Public patience and attitude have been changing just as fast as the rest of the world.
Consider the following statements said by out-of-touch industry leaders recently:
“You should not ever change the configuration of our software! You people need to change the way you do business first!”
“We’ve been in operation for more than 50 years. We have the most expertise. We are the true experts.”
“Spam may annoy some folks, but the bottom line is that it works. Getting it is just part of the price of doing business online.”
Do these statements get under your skin? If you are like most people, then the answer is "you bet". But how common are these philosophies? Very. That’s why there’s Consumer Outrage! As consumers, people are becoming more aware of their power, and more importantly, the power of their annoyance.
Consider the following statements made recently by business magazine editors and small business owners as they talk about companies that are missing the mark:
“They can’t produce a top-notch product, so they’re distracting a naïve or apathetic customer base to manage the perception of the core issues.”
“We’re leading ourselves into a vision that we didn’t create, but rather bought from vendors that is, in reality, unsustainable.”
"We have tried every single company in town and all of them have terrible customer support – and not one of them cares.”
“We – the media – are increasingly disconnected from what people are talking about.”
Would any of these statements fit your company or organization? If the answer is “yes” or even “maybe”, start figuring out to fix it right now! Because today’s Outraged Consumer won’t put up with it. They’ll leave and go try out your competitor.
What do Outraged Consumers want? People want to be treated like people. They want to hear the truth and get value for their dollar. They want to be courted, not assaulted or conned. It sounds like common sense, but if that’s what it is, then why is it so rare?
The bottom line: Consumer Outrage doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere but up – so become the company that people flee to after they “recall” their current vendor.
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