Conglomerates May Become Extinct

People have had enough of businesses concerned about their bottom line. They are becoming increasingly concerned about their own needs. They are even now turning away from those who fail to recognize this. Business success in future will depend heavily upon effective customer support provided immediately upon request.

Conglomerates may be dinosaurs, so huge, so driven by their own inertia, they will disintegrate back into smaller parts from which they were created. Such companies talk of customer relationships, but often do all possible to avoid any semblance of one-on-one customer support. Smaller firms can be responsive. Those who are, will outperform those who are not.

I am excited about future for Cyberpreneurs. They will understand they need their customers more than customer needs them. Untroubled by constraints of contemporary business practices, they will see responsiveness to customers as an essential fundamental of their business. This characteristic of itself will give them a competitive edge over large businesses that do not.

The Future Is Yours For The Taking

One by one, creative people will consider ways in which conglomerates produce and deliver products. They will then discover a way in which they can do so more effectively. The much larger company will hardly be aware of tiny loss in revenue. But given many such losses, bottom line will begin to erode.

Completely new business models will emerge. They will seem so right, so perfectly attuned to both needs of businesses and consumers, we will wonder why they did not appear much sooner.

There will be a return to a "Rural," rather than an "Urban," pattern of living, one independent of where you choose to live. In this "reversal," there will be a return to individuals being valued. Once again, as was so prior to Industrial Revolution, people will be both producer and consumer, making a significant contribution in both roles.

The Real "New World"

I continue to hear Web is not real. That it is nothing more than herds of impulses stampeding about on copper or optical cables. What is reality? I will leave this to philosophers. But there is no question in my mind; Web is real. A new reality, at that.

You can feel awesome power and unlimited resources surging from collective dynamic of millions and millions of people world over. People who are real. Our interaction with each other is real, and now unlimited by national boundaries. The Web itself is but a tool. Not unlike telephone, but magnitudes more powerful. It facilitates ability to interrelate, to communicate one-on-one. And we will do so in ways not yet imagined.

Welcome to today's "New World."

(Taken from "Your Path To Success" to be released in September, 2001) __________________ *"Beyond Information Revolution" by Peter F. Drucker, "The Atlantic Monthly," Oct 1999, p47-57.

If you don't list proper contact information at your virtual business, you may be losing customers. Your name and e-mail address will go a long way. Even better, give them a physical address and a telephone number they can call. You may wish to have an "800" number, but you will get a lot of "tire kickers". Even if you don't give a free number, just fact that there is a number listed goes a long way in allaying their fears.

Let your potential customers know that if they have questions, they can email you their phone number, and you will call them. Many times, they won't as all they really wanted was to know is that they are dealing with a real person.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words - consider putting your picture on your web site. This gives instant identification to your name and goes a long way in building customer confidence.

E-commerce is here to stay, but mortality rate of "wannabes" will be high. Those that remember "Human Touch" will be among survivors.