"THE RULES of ENGAGEMENT"
The Internet has Changed Business Forever
1.
Physical Stuff. It matters less.
Many say that information is
the currency of the 21st Century. Physical Products
matters less, since the processing of information
and the distribution of information are becoming
dramatically more powerful and cost-effective.
Access to information is more valuable.
Example: Yahoo!, the online search engine
company, went from $400 million to $5 billion in two
years. Google blew up practically overnight. Why?
Because the market believes these companies have a
lock on key intangibles that will build giant profit
streams in the future.
NBBTA is a
"Global people and technology membership network".
NBBTA is about connecting people to processed
information, intangibles, products, services, other
technologies as well as to each other in the
network. We connect people to people and
people to information.
2. Distance.
Distance has vanished. The
world is your customer and your competitor.
Geography has always played a key role in
determining who competed with whom. Now your
business can connect instantly with customers all
over the globe. Flipside: You're exposed to
worldwide competitors as well. The opportunity, and
the threat, has never been greater.
Example: Amazon.com has sold millions of dollars
in books to millions of people in 160
countries, out of an office in Seattle, Washington.
Jeff Bezos is a Billionaire, but his company has yet
to make a profit. Meanwhile, the giant U.S. telcos
are starting to face competition from Internet
Telephony VOIP start-ups founded around the world.
NBBTA is leveraging the Internet and
other technologies to expand worldwide at a much
faster rate than conventional Black organizations.
NBBTA will do this by partnering with people
believing in the same ideals.
3. Time.
It's collapsing. Instant
interactivity is critical, and is breeding
accelerated change. In a world of instantaneous
connection, there is a huge premium on instant
response and the ability to learn from and adapt to
the marketplace in real time. Winning companies
accept a culture of constant change and are willing
to constantly break down and reconstruct their
products and processes - even the most
successful
ones.
Example: Dell Computer has revolutionized
PC sales by offering machines built directly from
buyers' requests. Its lightning-fast inventory and
purchase cycles terrify its competitors, and its
analysis of customer orders allows it to adapt to
trends ahead of the curve.
NBBTA keeps current on leading edge
technology, while using database information and
member input to stay in front of the curve. NBBTA
recognizes that in order for its members to become
and stay competitive and leading edge, it needs to
be connected to its members, providing them with the
the tools they need in an instant, for they can go
where we cannot. Networking collapses time and
transfers information.
4. People.
They're the crown jewels...and
they know it. Brain power can't be tallied on a
ledger sheet, but it's the prime factor driving this
New Economy. More than ever in history, huge value
is being leveraged from smart ideas - and the
winning technology and business models they create.
So the people who can deliver them are becoming
invaluable, and methods of employing and managing
them are being transformed.
Example:
Microsoft successfully "locked in" one of the
world's most talented work forces by giving them
stock options worth literally billions of dollars.
NBBTA has created a business and networking
model, which profit shares with its members when
they refer others to join our association, and to
those they refer, and so forth. Its the practical
application of geometric progression. It serves as
an incentive to encourage the increased creation of
Black business enterprises. Causing a slow down in
the "brain drain" which depletes our community, when
people use their brains to build wealth for others.
Your NBBTA sponsor is listed below.
5.
Growth.
It's accelerated by the
network. The Internet can dramatically boost the
adoption of a product or service by "viral
marketing," network-enhanced word of mouth.
Communications is so easy on the Web, product
awareness spreads like wildfire. So once a company
reaches critical mass, it can experience increasing
returns leading to explosive growth. This principle
means that in this New Economy, first-mover
advantages are greater than ever.
Example:
Hotmail, a free email service backed by relatively
modest funding, was able to grow a subscriber base
of 10 million within two years. It was bought by
Microsoft for a reported $400 million, and today it
is still attracting more than 100,000 new sign-ups
per day.
NBBTA uses a network-enhanced
word of mouth method to spread its value and
opportunity. NBBTA uses a more active approach in
recruiting members that would like to share in the
opportunity. Those members bring the message of
"Black Business Awareness" to the rest of the world,
which in turn, benefits all Black businesses in the
network.
6. Value.
It rises exponentially with
market share. For products that help establish a
platform or standard, the network effect is even
more pronounced: The more plentiful they become, the
more essential each individual unit is, a striking
exception to the economic rule that value comes from
scarcity. In addition, some companies give away
their products to establish market share, then sell
linked services later on. Network effects were
experienced historically in the adoption of
telephones and fax machines. The difference today is
that because everyone is linked, far more products
and services gain their value from widespread
network acceptance.
Example:
RealNetworks, who produced Real Audio, invested
heavily in its streaming media players, distributed
them free on the Web, and created a standard, which
the markets now value as being worth hundreds of
millions of dollars.
NBBTA has
established a platform standard for those that wish
to connect with other like minded people and to
develop small office-home office (SOHO), or home
based businesses connected on the Internet.
7. Efficiency.
The middleman lives.
"Infomediaries" replace intermediaries. Traditional
distributors and agents are seriously threatened by
a networked economy in which buyers can deal
directly with sellers. But a new brand of middleman
has been created. As the amount of info-clutter
grows, these infomediaries are needed to turn
dumb data into usable information. They offer
aggregated services, or intelligent customer
assistance, or powerful technology-based buying
aids, or an attractive, community-based buying
environment.
Example: NBBTA, America
Online, Travelocity, and virtually every e-commerce
site on the Web are infomediaries.
NBBTA and its members will be the
quintessential Infomediary, connecting Black
businesses and consumers around the globe. Access to
good information can shorten the distance between
poverty and wealth, if applied.
8.
Markets.
Buyers are gaining dramatic
new power - and sellers new opportunity. It's no
longer necessary for your customer to walk down the
street to compare prices and services. Your
competitor may be a mouse-click away. And
intelligent software will help buyers find the best
deal. So businesses that genuinely offer unique
services or lower
costs will flourish, benefiting
from a flood of new buyers. Those that have relied
on physical barriers to competition will fail.
Example: The annoying hassle of
purchasing a car has been all but eliminated by
online shopping services, which allow you to
research vehicle model and pricing information.
Within 24 hours, you can be contacted with quotes
from nearby dealers. One such service handled over 1
million transactions in their first year.
NBBTA believes whoever "owns" the
customer has a key to longevity. Empowering its
members with the tools needed to establish a
customer base and combining these members into a
consortium, we are able to negotiate better deals
for products and services to pass through to
our distributors and customers - giving NBBTA
Members the power.
9. Transactions.
It's a one-on-one game.
Information is easier to customize than hard goods.
The information portion of any good or service is
becoming a larger part of its total value. Thus,
suppliers will find it easier and more profitable to
customize products, and consumers will begin to
demand this sort of tailoring.
Example:
Office-product supplier Staples uses personalization
to reduce the costs large companies incur when
ordering office supplies electronically. Staples
creates customized supply catalogs that contain only
those items and prices negotiated in contracts, and
retains lists of previously ordered items. In turn,
Staples learns a great deal about its customers'
preferences and uses that information to make
customized special offers. Even paper clips can be
sold one-on-one.
NBBTA gives each
member a variety of personalized web sites, so when
customers want to learn more and then join the
association they can do so through the sponsoring
member's web site. The variety of websites allows
members to market to customer's preferences and uses
that format to market customized membership offers.
10. Impulse.
Every product is
available everywhere. The gap between desire and
purchase has closed. The shelf space of the World
Wide Web is unlike any other in that it has no
bounds. Artificial constraints on choice are
replaced by the ability to purchase the precise
product you desire. The impulse to buy and the
purchase itself used to be separated by a
combination of physical and mental barriers. When
you hear a song
on the radio, you had to both
remember the song or the artist and actually go to a
store to purchase. Online, it's different. Discover
a product you desire, and just hit the "buy" button.
Consequence: the processes for marketing, sales, and
fulfillment have merged.
Example: A visitor to any artists website
who decides to buy a CD after seeing it reviewed can
do so straightaway through a link with Amazon -
without leaving the media context (the ATN site) in
which the demand was generated. No more month-long
waits before the next trip to a music store. And the
Internet's powerful audit loop means that the agent
of demand generation - ATN can be correctly
identified, credited, and compensated.
NBBTA promotional offers are utilized to
present discounted and even free products and
services to the Member Network and all they need to
do is click a link to get it. The savings from these
offers will put more money in their pockets for use
in buying from Black owned businesses in and
connected to the network.
This is
the New Way of Doing Business. New Rules. New
Paradigms. New Business Models. New Economy.
Attention Black Business Owners and Entrepreneurs. Are you Ready to do Business the New Way?
Click here to hear Paul Zane Pilzer discussing "The Next Millionaires"
THE RULES (c) NBBTA, copyright, 2003-2007