Anyone who listens to the news, reads newspapers or magazines, surfs the web, or talks to another person who does, knows that (for better or worse, depending upon who you ask) there is a power shift happening between companies and their customers.

No longer do customers suffer difficulties, whether real, imagined, or made up, in silence. As a result, today’s customer service stars know, and others are learning, that they need to communicate clearly and accurately if they want to succeed.

They should also realize that commitment to this level of communication transcends crises, management changes and acquisitions.

Since this revolution was fostered by and on the web, one would expect businesses that owe their actual existence to the web would understand this better than anyone else—especially LinkedIn, a true child of the web.

Often, when I go to see something specific at LinkedIn, I cruise around to see what’s new and interesting.

Just to be very clear, I am a casual user of LinkedIn and not particularly knowledgeable. However, my friends, who are heavy users, have always raved about LinkedIn’s communications with its community, so, you can imagine my surprise when I saw Vincent Wright’s open letter to LinkedIn’s management.

Hmm. I got Vince on the phone (I knew of him from LinkedInBloggers, a must for anybody who has, or is interested in, blogging/social media.) and asked him about it.

As has happened at numerous other companies, it seems that since the management changeover in Dec/Jan, communications have gotten a bit murky and the company hasn’t been walking its talk.

That’s a BIG no-no these days and one that can be crippling, or even fatal, if customers choose to vote with their feet.

Companies, especially those that earn their living through online communities, should know that it doesn’t take a majority walkout to be detrimental, just a few high profile leaders defecting to or even, in this new world, becoming the competition.

Management everywhere needs to remember

Say what you mean,
mean what you say,
and
always walk your talk.

That’s right. Now print it out and hang it where you’ll see it every day, read it out loud, then be sure to do it!

Your customers, investors and employees will love you for it.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 8th, 2007 at 11:41 am and is filed under Business info, Communication, Culture, Leadership, Motivation, Retention. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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