The Key to Success in a Blog-Driven World: “Outbehave the Competition”

Thomas Friedman has a suggestion (TimesSelect) for you business types who are trying to game the blogosphere just like you used to game the mainstream media: don’t.

The subject of Friedman’s column this morning is Dov Seidman’s new book How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything…in Business (and in Life).

The basic thesis of the book is that we live in a world where people are constantly observing and blogging about one another’s behavior. Therefore, our reputations are much harder to change or escape from than they used to be. Friedman writes:

Our generation got to screw up and none of those screw-ups appeared on our first job résumés, which we got to write. For this generation, much of what they say, do or write will be preserved online forever. Before employers even read their résumés, they’ll Google them.

That is, what you do isn’t important anymore. It’s how you do it that sets you apart as an individual. The same is true of business:

Companies that get their hows wrong won’t be able to just hire a P.R. firm to clean up the mess by a taking a couple of reporters to lunch — not when everyone is a reporter and can talk back and be heard globally.

But this also creates opportunities. Today “what” you make is quickly copied and sold by everyone. But “how” you engage your customers, “how” you keep your promises and “how” you collaborate with partners — that’s not so easy to copy, and that is where companies can now really differentiate themselves.

Seidman writes that this presents a unique opportunity to simply out-behave the competition by providing a better customer experience and connecting to your customers on a human level.

How can you outbehave your competition? In Michigan, Seidman writes, one hospital taught its doctors to apologize when they make mistakes, and dramatically cut their malpractice claims. In Texas, a large auto dealership allowed every mechanic to spend freely whatever company money was necessary to do the job right, and saw their costs actually decline while customer satisfaction improved. A New York street doughnut-seller trusted his customers to make their own change and found he could serve more people faster and build the loyalty that keeps them coming back.

In this changing world, the company that consistently adheres to an ethos of excellent customer service and human connection will succeed. A unique product simply isn’t enough anymore. And in the presence of all this need for transparency and human trust, the best thing a company can do is blog.

Because while being a fantastic company is more than half the battle, having a voice really matters. Even the best people and companies have issues and concerns that they want to discuss and explain. A company blog is the perfect place to shed light on exactly how you do things.

Many thanks to Robert S. Klein (a.k.a. my dear ol’ dad) of Short, Cressman & Burgess for the heads up about this interesting article.