Tribes Presentation

Part I: There are no more "secrets" as people (aka customers and potential customers) communicate with each other more and more via the Internet.

Heard of Facebook? Twitter? MySpace? Each of these social networking tools facilitates instantaneous communication between people on the Net. In a matter of hours, a "viral concept" can spread all across the Internet. Nobody chooses what goes viral and what doesn't. If you're in business, you want these powerful forces working for you - not against you. Even if your business has nothing to do with the Internet - the Net can still help it or hurt it.

People all across the U.S (and the world) are connected like never before.

Story of Jeff Jarvis and Dell Computers:

Jeff Jarvis purchased a laptop from Dell. Rather than offering quality customer service to Mr. Jarvis and simply overnight him a new laptop computer - they chose to take their time - causing him to be weeks without his new computer. This prompted Mr. Jarvis to write a blog post about the situation. Before long, other people who had experienced similar problems with Dell came forward and joined Jarvis to complain about Dell's customer service. By now, the story had grown so large, the national media was covering it.

Needless to say, one person (Jarvis) was able to inflict tremendous "damage" on Dell's reputation - simply by telling the truth about the way they were treating him.

What can we learn from this? Lessons abound.

There are no more secrets. One customer is just as important as 5000 customers. You can't pick and choose whom to treat well and whom to blow off.

One person (in this case, Jarvis) can bring down a giant corporation. That's powerful.

Even if your business has nothing to do with the internet, chances are there's a story that's permanently scripted into the Net by the search engine known as Google.

There's good news here too. When your business does really good things for people, they'll tell each other.

People connected in tribes communicate, they communicate frequently, and if your business is any way related to idea behind their tribe - they'll talk about you. I don't know about you, but I want them saying good things about my business.

The concept of "tribes":

A tribe is any group of people, large or small, who are connected to one another, a leader, and an idea.

......Seth Godin, Author of Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us

People of similar interests are coming together on the Net. Why? Because people are tribal. We love to connect with people who have interests that we have, ideas that we have, share passions that we do, and seek similar goals that we seek. Before the Net, people were barely able to connect in the way they do today.

Anywhere you find a topic, idea, product, service, business, etc. that people are passionate about - chances are you'll find a tribe there. The key here is passion. Some people are more passionate about certain things than others.

There are literally millions of tribes out there. You probably belong to many of them and you might not even realize it. Do you have an Internet forum you visit often? Are you a Sooner fan, a Cowboy fan? Maybe you visit Orangepower.com or OUhoops.com? These are examples of online tribes.

Notice the picture of me standing beside my Prius?

I (Karl) am in a tribe, it's called the Toyota Prius Tribe. That's right, I'm quite passionate about my Toyota Prius and I've noticed that other Prius owners are similar to me. We don't just own a car, we don't just own a hybrid, we own a Prius. When we're together, we talk about our Prius and what we like about it. I feel connected to other Prius owners, even if I don't know them. I could have a great conversation with just about any Prius owner.

Traditionally, customer service has been thought of as a department. A customer has a complaint, and he/she is directed to the customer service department to voice that complaint. How often do you walk away from (or hang up the phone with) the customer service department feeling good about the conversation, feeling like the business really cares about you and your problem? You probably don't feel that way very often. Suppose customer service doesn't treat you well, what do you do? You complain? To people you know, right? I do. What happens when the business actually does care about you and your problems? You feel good, right? What do you do? You tell people, right? 15 years ago, what effect did "telling people" have on that business? Not much.

Today, what effect do you think that "telling people" has on the business? Think about the story of Jeff Jarvis and Dell, what effect did he have? Now, you're learning about the power of tribes.

Today, businesses can no longer think in terms of a customer service department. Everyone in the business should be in "customer service" because everyone is a marketer. You might be wondering what "marketing" has to do with customer service? Everything. If a "check out person" doesn't treat you well, how does that reflect on the business? If a plumber leaves mud on your carpet, will you remember how well he/she fixed your faucet or the mud? If a general contractor requires 2 years rather than on year to build your new home, what will you remember? What will you tell? When your friend asks what plumber general or general contractor you use, what will you say?

The Power of Connections:

Do you view your customers as individuals, as a large group or both? The focus of your business should be to build deep, meaningful connections with your customers.

Customers who feel valued will market your business for you. These people are called customer evangelists. They're the folks who make a point to tell everyone they know about your great business. This is the best marketing in the world.

When you work to build meaningful connections with your customers, they'll spread the word about your business, they'll connect with other people who are (or might be) interested in your business. Before long, your customers will have become a powerful tribe. They'll be the people spreading word-of-mouth marketing for your business.

Best Practices - What NOT to do:

- Never send an unsolicited email to someone attempting to "sell" or "market" to them. It's called "spam" and nobody likes to receive it. The worst thing is that people will develop a bad feeling toward you or your business.

- Avoid any behavior that could make you look like a sales person. Most people enjoy buying things - but they don't usually like for others to try and sell them on something.

When you're a member of a tribe, never try to "push" your products/services onto other tribe members. That will only decrease the quality of connections you have with the other tribe members.

Best Practices - What TO do:

- Build trust and connections within the tribe BEFORE anyone in that tribe discovers what you do or what your business sells.

- If the tribe has a profile page, fill it out genuinely and truthfully. It's okay to list your business/products here. The important thing is that you never appear to be "marketing" yourself in this environment.

- Make quality contributions to the tribe. You can't fake this. You'll never truly be accepted into the tribe if you're only "going through the motions". People can tell when you're sincere and when you're not.

- When you notice the tribe having a discussion about any topic related to your business, its okay to join in the discussion - using your expertise to present facts and figures. Just don't use any form of "traditional marketing".

Note: Eventually, you'll be accepted as a valuable member of the tribe. One way or another, your business, products and expertise will eventually be known among the other tribe members. Before you realize it, other tribe members will be coming to you when they need advice on what to purchase in your area of business/expertise.

A practical example of marketing in a tribe:

- You'll need to locate a tribe that meets on the Net. This tribe should be connected to the product or service you're offering. For example, suppose you sell lawn care equipment online. You could search the Net for a tribe that meets in an online forum for the purpose of discussing lawn care issues.

- Remember, you ARE NOT there to market (in a traditional sense). You're there to join the tribe. This is critical. If you join a tribe like this with the intention of "marketing" your products, you'll likely be ignored or possible even kicked off the forum. You'll be seen as simply another "spammer".

- Make a point to contribute to discussions, and even start discussions. After a time, you'll learn who the "tribe leaders" are and who spends the most time there. If you're making quality contributions, you'll be viewed as a trusted member of the tribe.

- As you continue to make connections with other tribe members and make positive contributions to the tribe - your "occupation" will become know.

- Now, the other tribe members will view you as a trusted, valuable member of the tribe and an expert on lawn care equipment. When the tribe members have questions, they'll come to you. If you can help them, you've probably gained a customer and more importantly, another member of YOUR tribe.

- I've successfully used these methods in my business and I've seen them used successfully by many other people.

No more secrets.

- With widespread Internet connectivity - the way a business treats it's customers is not likely to remain isolated to a geographic area or group of people. Treat all your customers as if each one has the power to "make or break" your business. Remember the story about Jeff Jarvis and Dell.

Your customers can be a powerful tribe.

- If you connect with them and treat them well, they'll spread good words about your business - most likely on the Net. You want these people to be satisfied and working for you and your business, not against it.

Marketing in a tribe.

- Remember, the key to successfully marketing in a tribe is to build connections with tribe members. Don't make the mistake of using traditional marketing - if your goal is to sell products/services to those members of the tribe.

Karl has been with Kiamichi Technology Center in McAlester for 27 years, currently serving as small business training coordinator. A past-president of the Oklahoma Association of Career & Technology Education, he was named Outstanding Vocational Educator in 1998 and he was named "Man of the Year" for the McAlester Chamber of Commerce for 2008. Karl currently serves on the Board of Education for McAlester Public Schools, is active in the Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club. He holds a Bachelor's and Master's degree from the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond.

Karl is married to his best friend, Kathy. They have two children who both live in Stillwater. James is married to his wife, Shawnee and is a student at Oklahoma State University and working full-time for Wilson Chevrolet. Kara is a full-time student at OSU and will graduate in May 2010.

You can contact Karl any time via his email: Karl Scifres Email

Ed Welch is an entrepreneur, author of 101 Ways to Destroy Your Tribe, author of Learning to View Your Customers as a Powerful Tribe contributor to the Tribes Q&A book, contributor to the Tribes Casebook and founder of Welch, Inc. One of Ed's passions is to help businesses adapt to the evolving tribal nature of people using the Net. He's a member of Triiibes.com and also writes for the Tribe Building Blog. He received his formal education from Oklahoma State University in Business Finance and he's an enthusiastic student of Seth Godin's business principles.