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Monday, December 11, 2006
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 Monday, December 11, 2006
started 12/11/2006; 1:26:26 AM - last post 12/12/2006; 12:01:38 PM
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Doc Searls - Monday, December 11, 2006 
12/11/2006; 5:26:26 AM (reads: 4506, responses: 5)
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Getting from duh to do 
| | The question I ask myself about VRM though is what does the Relationship mean? Many of the situations that have been proposed for VRM to play a role are Vendor (am I the only person to call them VenDUHs in conversations?) selection systems, where you establish a new relationship or transaction. I agree that's important as well, but what I often find more personally frustrating is the after-the-fact relationship. |
| | One of my pet projects relating to this has been trying to formulate a simple set of customary guidelines for a Venduh to provide a "Secure Feed" for your account. Nothing fancy, just SSL+RSS/Atom and specific to your account. The idea is to simply have a better form of official messaging from a service/product provider to each customer (email is slum, barf). It's been an hour here or there over the last few months, but if there's interest I'll noodle it some more and post something to start that conversation. |
| | There is interest, and look for conversation to happen at ProjectVRM, as well as on its mailing list. Tag: vrm. |
| | Bonus linkage: RSS Delivers Web's Best Deals. Pull-quote: Putting the user in control might be the fastest route to online sales success, says JupiterResearch's Evans. |
| | Of course, we'll really be in control when no vendor needs to "put" us there. |
Motherserver
| | The six pillars of Wikia¹s OpenServing offering are: FREE software, FREE bandwidth, FREE storage, FREE computing power, FREE content over the Internet, and GIVING AWAY 100% of the ad inventory and revenue to bloggers and website owners who partner with Wikia. By tapping Wikia¹s OpenServing utility, anyone can set up and maintain their own collaborative content project for news and opinions for free. |
| | No time to dig in. Anyway, there it is. |
| | Oh, one thing. That link above, to which I was pointed by a PR agency, is an "announcement" written in PR-ese. There is something weirdly retro and not fully helpful about a wiki entry that is actually a press release. Getting to the meat of the offering — that is, discounting the grandstand on which the "announcement" is made — is kinda labor-intensive and unnecessary. Reminds me of Cluetrain's 15th thesis: |
| | In just a few more years, the current homogenized "voice" of business—the sound of mission statements and brochures—will seem as contrived and artificial as the language of the 18th century French court. |
| | It took two of us, sitting here in a kitchen eating popcorn, the last ten minutes to begin figuring out what exactly the announcent is about. In fact, we're still not sure. Right now we're sorta stuck at the "sounds cool, but..." stage. |
Approaching departures
| | Just shot this series of photos (including this one, of a searchlight hitting a cloud, seen from above) from seat 9C (the one with the legroom, by the exit) of the usual United Express Embraer 120 that I take from Santa Barbara (SBA) to Los Angeles (LAX) en route to anywhere else (in this case Boston, BOS). I'll shoot some more on the way out, and hope to sleep the rest of the way. It's now 10:20pm Pacific, and 1:20am Eastern. I arrive at 6:30am, I think. See ya there. |
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Mark Seremet - Re: Monday, December 11, 2006
12/11/2006; 5:29:50 PM (reads: 566, responses: 0)
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Doc, I would definitely make a Wallhog www.wallhogs.com out of that!
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Mark Seremet - Re: Monday, December 11, 2006
12/11/2006; 5:30:20 PM (reads: 570, responses: 0)
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Doc, I would definitely make a Wallhog www.wallhogs.com out of that!
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Mark Seremet - Re: Monday, December 11, 2006
12/11/2006; 5:31:27 PM (reads: 605, responses: 0)
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I would definitely make a wallhog (www.wallhogs.com) out of that.
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Dave - I Love It When You Dream... and Dream Big
12/12/2006; 12:43:51 AM (reads: 683, responses: 1)
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Doc,
Dreamers see what is and propose replacements. VRM is a replacement for
a power mismatch of the vendor over the customer.
I'm such a skeptic about most new visions... even tho' I rate high as a visionary on some business personality "quadrant".
I think the big vendors seek to maintain their customer base by being excessively "in tune" with their customers (if they can justify the economics of it... i.e. being generous with returns, repairs and upgrades).
VRM (as I interpret your vision) leads to a reduction in profit margin for the vendor and a corresponding reduction in the ability of the company to finance that feedback loop you so desparately seek.
People seek the best possible terms on a purchase and that leads to a Costco model where the incentive is to maximize the effective savings on each transaction... VRM has the potential to apply Walmart or Costco like dynamics to the world of high service boutiques. In the end, the niche players get squeezed out of the market and a few large distributors are then able to create a barrier to entry and the effective prices of goods rises due to limited sources. Like Walmart scaling to begotiate at every level of the value chain... from labor terms in China to RFID tags on the widget moving past their automted check out system... It ain't pretty but it works so damned well.
The "lowest prices" is a catch phrase for more than money saved... it's markets captured.
Please keep dreaming about VRM and it's potential... I want to be wrong on this but I still believe everyone must enforce caveat emptor
and maintain diligence over the forces at play in our markets.
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Doc Searls - Re: I Love It When You Dream... and Dream Big
12/12/2006; 4:01:38 PM (reads: 790, responses: 0)
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If VRM is only about pounding lower prices out of vendors, it will fail.
Markets are not just about prices, or about the best price-based deals. Much more goes on there.
We call it "vendor *relationship* management" for a reason: because actually relating is better for vendors AND for customers.
Yesterday I bought audio gear from AV123 because they not only have good prices and good products, but answered their phone immediately and helped me work my way through a purchase that is sure to be one in a series. This approach to all customers not only causes loyalty but helps improve the products and services offered.
Earlier I had the same experience with Sonos. Both companies make better products than other companies in the same category because they actually relate to customers.
Equipping customers with tools of independence and engagement, which make *relating* better for both sides, is what VRM is about. Not just customers escaping from vendor traps and then beating better prices out of everybody.
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