Is it Really a Negative?

When you have had trouble in the past with trying to start a business that ultimately failed is that really such a bad thing? The truth is businesses that fail usually carry with them some bad experiences from the customers which in turn speak as loud as they can. This usually causes attention from other sources whose only job is to look for negatives to exploit and to hold people accountable.

Someone in Automotive technology has such a problem. Many people accuse Richard Keith Latman of being a criminal. His competitors use his failed business attempt against him to get people to search out his criminal past. The truth is his past is not that awful and he embraces it in his book "The Good Fail", where he discusses in intimate detail the failure and his transformation into CEO of his new company.

The real question to be answered is do you try to hide the past or meet it head on? For some that is a fine line they do not like to walk. For those that have had problems in the past it is usually best to meet them head on and drive forward. Let the naysayers be damned. People with no past usually have never taken a risk or ever had to overcome real adversity.

How Much is Enough?

To much technology gets bought up by other companies just to be shut down. We see it all the time Twitter buy Posterous and shuts it down, Google bought and shut down Wavii. It is not uncommon at all in technology for this to happen.  That is why it is surprising when you see a lot of buy outs in the premise of consolidating services in automotive.

There are two schools of though one is that Technology Consolidation is the way of the future and the other thought process is that if services are consolidated then no one does anything exceptionally well. The truth is both points of view carry valid weight but the question is why all the consolidation?

Automotive Technology vendors shutter services too.  We have seen CRM's and Data Management companies bought by bigger companies only to be shut down after acquiring the client base. In both of those instances the acquired companies only real value was the client base due to the fact the technology was not up to day.

What is funny is to see one of the companies opened after the buy out was as poorly conceived as the company that was sold. Just goes to prove that the technology for car dealers will always be a few steps behind the rest of the world..

Does Technology Improve Relationships?

As time passes we find more and more ways to stay connected with others.  I have friends all over the country that I have never met face to face and that is the product of technology. Technology has definitely made finding like minded individuals easier.  Whether it is via social networks like Twitter or forums like Dealer 20 connecting with others has never been easier.

Using technology for income producing activities has also been made easier the problem is many over use the opportunities presented to them ineffectively. To many times aggressive sales people will use tools and mediums to "over communicate" with potential customers and drive them further away from making a purchase from an organization.  When the communications should be to improve upon the relationship.

Just make sure your outreaches bring value to your relationships and that you don't let the frequency afforded via cheap technology drive wedges between you and your friends and customers.