Ugg! UgUg Uggg!

Or, "What are they putting in the ground?"

During the Neolithic Era era mankind made a seismic shift in its approach to life. It was called the Neolithic Revolution and it heralded a new way of thinking and being. In its simplest essence it was the beginning of an agrarian lifestyle, farming had begun! Disparate groups of nomadic hunters began to settle into collectives of family groups and started domestication of plants and animals. It became apparent that by focussing on the area in which you were living you could produce a level of stability and security that allowed you to grow and develop. You could grow enough food to see you through the winter, it became worthwhile investing the time and resources to build habitations. The improvements in nutrition and shelter allowed families to grow as mortality rates dropped, and by working together mankind learned to act for the good of more than just self.

So what has that got to do with a business networking site? Well, think about your business, do you farm or hunt? Are you managing your relations with your customers to produce the best for you and them? This is farming, working with what you have, nurturing your customers growing the business you already have, investing time and energy in to programmes of retention and continuity. Or are you a hunter? Are you always trying to find the next customer to prey on, are you expending energy on the chase trekking after a suitable victim and throwing spears and arrows after them in a constant effort to secure them. It’s a high risk strategy and it burns up resources, yes you might bring down a mammoth but once you’ve eaten it then what? And what if the high attrition rate takes out one of your best hunters? So why risk your resources, stop making spears and try and grow some more relationships instead.

Mankind discovered that farming allowed him to develop and advance. Farming is the reason we have cars and planes and computers and all the other clever things we made. Today we can still connect with our inner hunter gatherer if we choose to but it is no longer the reason that drives us. And so it is in business, you can still utilise the hunter’s skills in developing “conquest” business but the core of what makes you successful and provides a future is nurture. Nurture your customers, nurture your teams. Farming your business is what provides the hunters with the resources to be hunters.

Michael McKenzie is a director at PENNMcKENZIE Consulting Ltd, specialising in bringing order and discipline to your customer database and developing strategies of communication to encourage retention and build relationships.