Speaking with our wallet, in a world of options, what your CEO says & your company does matters

Look around us, we all like supporting the “good guys” - there is a resurgence in Farmers Markets, Eat Local, Supporting Artisans (who wouldn’t want to buy a bike from this guy or a knife from this guy).  There is something about watching those videos that makes you say, hey if all things are equal, and prices close why would I NOT buy a motorcycle or a knife from those lovely gents.

We are all commodities

Every business benefits on client service when you think of yourself as an easily replaced commodity, you’ll have to differentiate on caring about your customer.

Now think, in markets where all things aren’t always equal, many of us will pay a little more for going with someone / or something we believe in. Again,  all things being equal, wouldn’t we like to fly the airline with this awesome pre-flight video or this one (I’ve flown with this guy once from PHL-LAS Vegas) versus this company’s Video? I’ll support Zappos over Footlocker, regardless of the difference in price, and I know some others reading this do too. 

The inspiration for this post came from reading this about dropbox’s founder. As I read it I must say Drew Houston started feeling like a normal regular guy, in a world of CEOs who think they are awesome, Its great seeing some humility. To check that sentiment I went to twitter. I really like his tweet stream, the way he talks about new people, newly acquired companies, etc. 

I feel like he’s a human.  For a long time I’ve been watching his competitor Box and their CEO the highly successful Aaron Levie, whom I have been a customer of for probably 6-7 years.  Drew seems so much more like a guy who fits my beliefs, one of my big things are “normal” CEOs that no matter how many people say they are great, they continue being, well … NORMAL.

Just watching the first few minutes of this video, I just go yeah his guy feels normal - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUxBdBexmFI

So today after spending hours researching him I decided it might be time to switch from Box, file storage is something I see as mostly a commodity, box, dropbox, etc they are all just a place to put my files, but they are critical to creating the type of company I want to work in.

I’ve always admired Box’s consistent innovation getting me features before I even thought I’d need them, but for the most part they aren’t much different than the others. All things being equal, guess what?  I’m going to go with the CEO who seems to be building a company that reflects my values most, for the same reason why I feel better buying from my local farmers.

I’m going to have to put together a team to re-evaluate that I’m not crazy here, but I can say that I expect to be a Dropbox customer in 2014, purely because I think he’s my kind of guy.  For some reason I feel that following Drew will help me become a better manager, founder, and company-leading guy, following Aaron won’t.  So why not put my money with the guy who can solve my needs as well as the incumbent and help me become a better CEO.

So lastly this whole thing got me thinking about SEER, and I thought all things being equal, when a client selects SEER over several other great firms out there, our clients should know that the money they invest and trust in SEER goes to not only us, but it enables us to do great things in our community for various non profits, it enables us to share what we learn in the marketing community, it enables us to build a company that can employ great people, who get together and kick ass.

Dropbox, we will see you next year!