The Most Important Thing In 2007

From the Magazine Person of the Year: Time's Person of the Year: You

"In 2006, the World Wide Web became a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter"- Lev Grossman

From Business 2.0 July 2006 issue - The 50 Who Matter Now

"Why you matter: They've always said the customer is always right. But they never really meant it. Now they have no choice. You...continually crate and filter new forms of content, anointing the useful, the rel event, and the amusing, and rejecting the rest."

I think its interesting that both Time and Business 2.0 have listed "You" as the most important person of the year - or as the person who mattered most (Business. 2.0 ranked you number 1 which incidentally that is above Bill Gates, Bono, and Rupert Murdoch - I guess they are more important as part of the collective "You" than they are as individuals.....)

Both sources site "You" as the most important because of our ability and willingness to create, filter and user customized content on the Internet. Everyone with a computer today has the ability to create a community, connect with people of shared interest regardless of where they are in the wold. This blog is a simple example of that.

The world is smaller, that is for sure. I am amazed every week when we are shipping sales content to users in Europe, Australia, India....all because someone saw an article I had written on my site, someone else's site, or a blog. Very little of our business comes from someone who didn't see me on the web first.

How web enabled is your business? Does your company have a newsletter? Do you post articles to web based magazines? Do you blog? Run surveys? Have special email promotions? Create user communities?

And its not just about creating your own unique content either. Some companies are now using their web communities to help them develop new slogans (Delta and T-Mobile), while Lego actively incorporates your product ideas into their new product designs.

VW allowed you to select unique car colours only by ordering on line when the new bug was released and Proctor and Gamble currently takes suggestions and ideas from their website.

"You" are driving business decisions worldwide.

Imagine how powerful this is as a sales strategy. Your company can solicit ideas online from your user community, you then launch the product and sell it back to those same users who contributed to the product idea. How can your community no?? Truth is they can't. Engage clients who incorporate client ideas into their product and service design reduce their closing ratios by as much as 50%. "You" simply can't resist buying something they had a hand in creating.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen