GLOBAL Common Ground: Reaching Our Customers

The global economic crisis and the increasing use social media have created a powerful duo in changing how we reach and communicate with each other and our customers. It is helping us discover the common ground upon which we walk across the world when it comes to pioneering the new global marketplaces, workplaces, and communities we share. Recently, I had an opportunity to see first-hand by asking this question:  What is your BIGGEST CHALLENGE today in connecting with customers? Over 200+ leaders, business owners, and innovators from all over the U.S. and 10+ countries TOLD US! 

What was surprising --- and perhaps not so surprising --- was how similar the issues were across industries, sectors, cultures, countries, and kinds of organizations. They were also similar between small, medium, and large businesses, schools, churches, and government organizations --- and not so different from the experiences, frustrations, and issues individuals expressed regardless of their station.  

At our "The Future of Connecting with Customers," an online exploration of how social media changing the possibilities and making it essential for us to find the right combination of tools to reach our customers, answering this question certainly identified that we do walk on global common ground. Today, through social media and web 2.0 technologies, we can be in dialogue together in an instant --- learn from one another --- benefit from even the comforting fact that our issues are not isolated. We are all pioneering an new customer frontier and writing the new rules for how we connect and communicate in new ways that are meaningful to the clients we serve.

See if you agree? 
Check THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES in REACHING CUSTOMERS [PDF]

Futurist and filmmaker Joel Barker joined me for the session as part of our ongoing INNOVATING in HARD TIMES Series, along with our special executive guest: Jim Blasingame, one of the world's foremost thought-leaders on small business and entrepreneurship, to explore the future of connecting with customers.

The experience of discovering this notion of "global common ground" affirmed truths I discussed in  Chapter 12 - The Power of the Virtual Gathering Place of my book, Putting Our Differences to Work:

• You don’t have to sit “knee to knee” or even see or hear others to appreciate their differences and see our points of unity and shared challenges. Virtual space is creating new possibilities for all of us to have this experience.
  
• When you put your differences to work to co-create, a sense of shared ownership and personal responsibility emerges that brings out everyone’s ability to step up to take the lead.

One participant summed up the experience...

"The diverse dialogue was valuable. The online dialogue connected people worldwide. Exploring "common ground" allowed us to move forward."

Learn more in our ONLINE DIALOGUE Library and add your name to our ONLINE DIALOGUE invitation listto join us next time. Also, see our recorded program with Jane Scandurra, former senior marketing manager for IBM called  "Connecting for Success: How do you get smart about social networking?"
It's excellent with some great tools.

Write me. Let me know what YOU think!

Best...

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
founder, President and CEO Global Dialogue Center  
and Leadership Solutions Companies

author, Putting Our Differences to Work
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership,
and High Performance (Berrett-Koehler 2008)
Buy a Copy at Amazon.com