Fred Wilson and I rarely disagree on many things about technology, but finally we disagree on something – it is his whole “WE” versus “They” argument.
And so you’d better involve the consumer, make them enjoy doing business with you, and make them part of your company, and give them something for doing that. That’s ‘we company’ behavior.
The best response to thise comes from a reader, Brady Joslin.
In reality most companies are “they” entities, but perhaps th “We” companies may simply use PR (talking with them) more effectively than they companies who rely mostly on advertising (talking to them). Each is nothing other than an attempt at consumer manipulation (aka marketing). The difference lies in the taste remaining in the customer’s mouth. But, in each instance the company is a self-serving entity.
“We” vs “They” is just a new way of saying “Mom & Pop” vs “Corporations”. As a business grows from a small affair into a larger entity it starts to make choices affecting how it interacts with its customers due to demands of efficency and the bottom line ultimately.
Smaller companies typically are more customer focused because to compete with the large companies they usually have to provide a greater customer experience to win them over to their side. More hand-holding basically.
The corporate or “They” see greater internal efficency as a way to get the cost of their product or services down to act as the carrot to attract more customers. However this usually means the corporation is seen and experienced by customers as huge and impersonal. Massive voicemail menus, hold times, scripted responses, lack of accountability, tendancy to react slowly to changes/problems.
At least that is how I see things.