4 ms·

This is extremely naive. These guys are professional marketers and they are doing a job. When you build a product do you really think house best can I help my c

by dmode 10y ago

This is extremely naive. These guys are professional marketers and they are doing a job. When you build a product do you really think house best can I help my customer or how can optimize to get the best click or get the best conversion or get the best retention?

rdtsc 10y ago
> When you build a product do you really think house best can I help my customer This might be a surprise but yes I do! I worked for a tech company which survived and did well for 20+ some years and the reason is because they thought and cared what the customer wanted and always put them first, even at the detriment of yearly revenue. It turns out we didn't need sales people, MBAs or much marketing either, customers were marking for us. I am bit saddened that you think this is "this is extremely naive".
- wahern 10y ago
  At scale and over time, how do you measure "what the customer wanted" except by revenue? Do you give every support request equal weight? How do you measure the satisfaction of customers who never complain? Do you respond to customers with explanations about how horrible your software is (I've never met an engineer who thought their company's software beautiful), or do you emphasis more constructive questions and disclosures? Do you visit their home and chat with them about their feelings and anxieties? Economists call money a signaling mechanism for a reason. It scales and it's honest. It's not the only mechanism, but at scale and over time it's perhaps the most honest one of all. Emphasizing money or votes is hardly something to apologize for, as long as you don't overlook the limitations and ignore other forms of feedback.
  - rdtsc 10y ago
    > Do you give every support request equal weight? Not necessarily. You read them and figure out who it is from and what it says. > How do you measure the satisfaction of customers who never complain? That's harder. You still talk to them, ask the for their opinion. They are people too besides just being "revenue generators". Our customers quite often just wrote back and praised us. We put that on our social media (FB, Twitter, our site). Someone was doing that as a part-time thing. > Do you respond to customers with explanations about how horrible your software is It really depends what it is. Sometime they might be upset about something else in the product or they try to solve a completely different problem. Sometimes they use the product how it is not intended and another company might be a better help for them. > Do you visit their home and chat with them about their feelings and anxieties? Home? No, but we did invite some onsite to visit us. Asked them about their families and had lunch with them. As surprising as it is, customers are people too. Treat them like people they'll sell the product for you. > Emphasizing money or votes is hardly something to apologize for, as long as you don't overlook the limitations and ignore other forms of feedback. And that's probably why Hillary lost. It was just about getting the right vote blocks. Women: that's easy, she's a woman "so I'm with her" works, done. Blacks: "Let's hire Jay-z to throw the N-bomb at them I hear they like that". Easy-peasy, that block is good. We'll call them back in 4 years. And so on. Everything looks good on paper, polls look good, did the right tricks in the book yet delivered the worst Democratic performance in what 20 years? Is fanatical customer support and putting customer needs first really such a radical idea? I would say failure to understand and connect to customer's needs is as a common cause of why companies fail.

by dmode 10y ago

rdtsc 10y ago

> When you build a product do you really think house best can I help my customer This might be a surprise but yes I do! I worked for a tech company which survived and did well for 20+ some years and the reason is because they thought and cared what the customer wanted and always put them first, even at the detriment of yearly revenue. It turns out we didn't need sales people, MBAs or much marketing either, customers were marking for us. I am bit saddened that you think this is "this is extremely naive".

wahern 10y ago
At scale and over time, how do you measure "what the customer wanted" except by revenue? Do you give every support request equal weight? How do you measure the satisfaction of customers who never complain? Do you respond to customers with explanations about how horrible your software is (I've never met an engineer who thought their company's software beautiful), or do you emphasis more constructive questions and disclosures? Do you visit their home and chat with them about their feelings and anxieties? Economists call money a signaling mechanism for a reason. It scales and it's honest. It's not the only mechanism, but at scale and over time it's perhaps the most honest one of all. Emphasizing money or votes is hardly something to apologize for, as long as you don't overlook the limitations and ignore other forms of feedback.
- rdtsc 10y ago
  > Do you give every support request equal weight? Not necessarily. You read them and figure out who it is from and what it says. > How do you measure the satisfaction of customers who never complain? That's harder. You still talk to them, ask the for their opinion. They are people too besides just being "revenue generators". Our customers quite often just wrote back and praised us. We put that on our social media (FB, Twitter, our site). Someone was doing that as a part-time thing. > Do you respond to customers with explanations about how horrible your software is It really depends what it is. Sometime they might be upset about something else in the product or they try to solve a completely different problem. Sometimes they use the product how it is not intended and another company might be a better help for them. > Do you visit their home and chat with them about their feelings and anxieties? Home? No, but we did invite some onsite to visit us. Asked them about their families and had lunch with them. As surprising as it is, customers are people too. Treat them like people they'll sell the product for you. > Emphasizing money or votes is hardly something to apologize for, as long as you don't overlook the limitations and ignore other forms of feedback. And that's probably why Hillary lost. It was just about getting the right vote blocks. Women: that's easy, she's a woman "so I'm with her" works, done. Blacks: "Let's hire Jay-z to throw the N-bomb at them I hear they like that". Easy-peasy, that block is good. We'll call them back in 4 years. And so on. Everything looks good on paper, polls look good, did the right tricks in the book yet delivered the worst Democratic performance in what 20 years? Is fanatical customer support and putting customer needs first really such a radical idea? I would say failure to understand and connect to customer's needs is as a common cause of why companies fail.