Recently I have been talking to a lot of packaging companies that either have no independent web presence at all or are in the process of improving it to better connect with their customers. To my surprise, I have also been speaking to several e-business solutions providers, who are now starting to think about the packaging industry in less generic terms. Some of the questions that they all ask me are:
• How much information should be communicated through the Internet?
• How can we duplicate the personal relationships over the Internet now that we have customers that are no longer within our standard geographic territory?
• What is the most effective strategy to manage the conflict in communicating with customers through personal interaction and the Internet?
Amount of information to be shared
As part of an unscientific survey that I conducted with a few executives, I presented the following two scenarios to them:
Scenario 1: Company A has a website that provides comprehensive information related to the company, its products, customer testimonials and all the other standard information that you typically see.
Scenario 2: Company B has the standard information but has also gone several steps ahead by including details on problems with products encountered in certain cases, limitations on product use and, most interestingly, a detailed comparative evaluation of their products with their competitors.
Among the individuals that I talked to, the overwhelming majority wanted to conduct business with Company B. Some of the reasons cited were:
• A website that appears to be direct and straightforward develops a sense of trust.
• Warning about potential problems and highlighting limitations right away is helpful in making better decisions and preventing problems from happening.
• Comparative assessment with competitive products is time-saving and makes them trust Company B for future purchases.
• Company B is not only selling products but is also imparting knowledge. As one executive put it, “I will do business with Company B indefinitely because I can trust them to always act in my best interest.”
Managing long-distance relationships
As we all know, whichever type, long-distance relationships are difficult. The only comforting factor is that current technology can make these less painful. If we analyze the basis of business relationships, it is not because someone is better than others at memorizing your children’s names; it is because of the sense of trust that develops by someone always doing what is good for your business.
While it would be hard to duplicate the relationships that are developed in person, it is still possible to duplicate a lot of other things. For instance, it doesn’t take long for you to acknowledge and help a customer who walks into your office in person. Why then does it take companies days or weeks to respond to e-mails?
As long as companies can duplicate the fundamental principle of a business relationship — “acting in the best interest of the other party” — it really does not matter if you cannot shake each other’s hands.
Managing channel conflict
It is not surprising that some of your privileged customers will be upset that information that they received, either on an exclusive basis or at least ahead of others in the past, is now available to everyone at the same time. Several companies are quite upset that it is now so easy for even their small competitors to find out about new technologies so easily.
There are two simple ways to handle this. Since some of these developments are still new and people are trying to adjust to the new realities of business, it will take some time before we all get used to the ease of accessing information. If you want to be a risk-taker, just go ahead and do it and some time very soon everyone will have gotten used to it. However, if you do not want to upset your traditional customers, it is not hard to control what information is available to whom by using the various security tools that are now available.