Have you ever felt worse after hanging up the phone or walking out of the store, because when talking to the person representing the company from which you just purchased a product or service – they didn’t believe what they were telling you?
It’s not that they are intentionally lying; They are just showing you they are either apathetic or have surrendered.
… And let’s blame someone; The failure starts with those charged with executing on the mission of the company and honoring the covenants with their associates. (Ideally you would want everyone in the company to think the buck stopped with them when dealing with customers.)
Have you ever heard the phrase, “Eat one’s own dog food,� Dogfooding, as it has come to be known, is a colloquialism which harkens back to an actor who claimed to feed his own dogs Alpo. Thus, if it was good enough for his dogs, it was good enough to feed your own.
In 1988, it made it’s way to popularity in an e-mail Microsoft’s Paul Maritz sent Brian Valentine, titled “Eating our own Dogfood”, which challenged Brian to increase internal usage of the company’s own products.
I’m a believer in using what we sell in our own business. After all, can’t you tell a story better if you have lived it!
Show your customers just how committed you are to not just talking the talk of a “solutions provider†but actually empowering your team to tell a POWERFUL story about how their company made their lives easier – and let them tell the customers they serve!
If we show our team we can solve their problems, wouldn’t it stand to reason they will be our most vocal advocates to our customers we can solve their business problems too – and not just try to sell them something because we have 10 left in a warehouse?
Image courtesy of TenSafeFrog.
Ken Stewart’s website, ChangeForge, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology in an information-centric world. Ken serves on the board of the new Managed Print Services Association, an international industry organization seeking worldwide best practices for the managed print services industry. He is also the founder of Seeking the Son. He is always interested in connecting with you.
