dumbest ecom decision makers decisions
How can people who know nothing about traffic aggregation, life time value of a customer, analytics, web site development, design, whole sale, logistics, human resources, financials, traffic aggregation, offline pr be allowed to set up a company and think they can run it and be successful. If a company thinks they can operate like this, it’s a recipe for anarchic business practice that can only end up in the demise of the company because the wrong people are making all the business decisions.
This article is aimed at all those MDs, Board of Directors, decision makers that don’t have the guts to hold up their hands and say “We suck and we need help” Hmmm but I have to concede that some times that’s easier said then done.
I can confirm that many people who know nothing about ecommerce set up businesses every day and are very successful, how can that be? Because they buy in the right skill sets to help them do the job, they push their own ego, arrogance and their own lack of knowledge to one side and gain respect from the industry at large because they are doing the one simple thing we all learnt from the moment we started school, we ask questions because, knowledge is power.
Often is the case that buying in the help comes with its own set of problems based on lack of knowledge in core business key areas. How do you know if the company/person you have just spoken to are not out to rip you off? How do you know the person you have just spoken to is right for the job? It is, for some decision makers, a catch 22 scenario.
Quick quiz to get you thinking, these are real scenarios by the way.
World’s dumbest decision makers decisions.
Scenario 1
You have just started up a brand new company and you have retained a company that has a history of successful business practice and can prove results, you would…
a) Listen and implement their suggestions no questions asked?
b) Ignore their advice?
c) Bury your head in sand?
d) Ask the company why they have recommended xyz to get a better understanding?
Here the company did
b) & c)
Creating a World: Aeon Flux psp
Scenario 2
You want to hire an ecommerce expert to look after your core business, traffic aggregation initiatives and analytics and logistics would you hire..
a) Website Development Company with no marketing, analytic experience, all they do is create 100k websites in flash?
b) Promote the woman who does editorial content, no experience in anything web related, to head of ecommerce?
Colour Me Kubrick: A True…ish Story movie download c) Hire an ecommerce consultant who has a proven track record?
Company did a) & b)
Ok so it’s all very obvious which you would have opted for, but the lunacy out there never fails to surprise me. In scenario 1 & 2, these are real companies who had some of the best in the business sat at their table, not just referring to APA, but they decided that they knew better and so we watch as they go from “That potential” to “They lost the plot”
This is not just APA that has had to bang their heads against a wall, I can hear loads of you out there with your own baffling tales of stupid decision making practices.
But it gets a bit more serious when your company is a PLC. There can be no margin for ignorance, arrogance or ego, your share holders deserve better.
Moral in this story is if you have the right people at your table, you will know soon enough as your stats will prove this. If you have the right people at your table and you chose to ignore them, do so at your own peril. If you are looking for the right people to sit at your table, go get references from past/present clients and do your home work, if you go to these lengths to get the right people then for the love of god listen to them. The Happiest Millionaire movie
Its ok not to know things, no one said you had to know everything, most successful online companies, I can guarantee they did not start out knowing everything, they looked at where their areas of weaknesses were/are and they went out and got are getting educated.
Rock on and respect to them!
Its ok to make mistakes too, just as long as you lean from them, in scenario 1, that company should have known better!
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