A transparent trade association

Amazon sold 72.9 items per second on its busiest day over the Christmas period (if you want to know it was December 15) and in the current economic climate such figures make quite a contrast to the experiences of High Street stores, writes Craig McGinty.

One of the reasons behind the success of Amazon is due to the amount of information and detail that is available for individual items, take a look at this page for rechargeable candle lights, and have a read of the comments by actual users towards the bottom of the page.

This transparency is becoming increasingly important across a multitude of industries, whether it be retail, publishing or services, because potential customers are putting more value in the views of their peers and expecting companies they want to buy from to be online and public.

That's why any trade association that wants to move with the times and help its members needs to place transparency at the heart of its operation, and provide the tools for such to take place.

In days gone by because it was expensive to produce magazines and newspapers information was controlled, usually by those with the deepest pockets, excluding many and not always producing the best products or services for customers.

Many professional associations still act in this manner, believing that scarcity enables control over such things as membership lists or simple contact details, because they reason that from these they can generate income, but thankfully the internet has flipped such ideas on their head.

Today powerful digital printing presses are available to everyone meaning information is now only a mouse click away, this enables groups to work together on providing useful advice that helps potential customers find individual members, or reduces the chances of making poor purchasing decisions by sharing tips and opens up people to new thoughts and ideas on helping their business.

More importantly potential customers can easily compare, contrast and review the work of contractors, ask questions and often have their eyes opened up to new ideas that may provide more value to both sides.

But you may ask what's stopping any Tom, Dick or Harriet joining up to the site? Where's the quality control?

The quality control is built in. Customers can compare the work and effort put in by individuals on the website by looking over the pages they have produced, whether their full contact details are available, see if they have put their name to forum posts, uploaded photographs of their work and even themselves.

All these small steps enable a customer to build up an image of a person and their company that people can connect with and trust, creating transparency between the two parties.

But you as a business owner are also kept in check by such transparency.

Like you customers have exactly the same online tools at their disposal so should they believe you have made an error or provided a shoddy service they can leave a comment, tell their friends via social networks such as Facebook and link directly to a company's internet presence.

This is where something like the Landscape Juice Network comes in, as it provides simple blogging tools, photo and video upload options and member pages built in allowing individuals to easily create new pages on the internet about the work they've undertaken, or discuss new design ideas, which are found via search engines and others swapping link.

Equally it enables people to connect with other members to provide an overall 'package' to customers if necessary, source new suppliers or share machinery and equipment.

If this is your idea of what a trade association should enable, then it is very similar to mine, and it all comes from seeing things transparently.

Craig McGinty is a freelance journalist based in south Manchester and a full time blogger writing on subjects ranging from anything French to social media and the Internet.

Comments

[Kevin Munt]

Great article Craig, another step towards the world being a more open platform for us all to work, trade and communicate on. Thank for the chat earlier.

[Craig McGinty]

Hi Kevin, glad you enjoyed the piece and hope it sparked a few thoughts and ideas.
All the best, Craig

[Nicky Patterson]

Craig I must admit that since joining the LJN, reading your many articles and adopting many of your ideas my business and my confidence in business has increased remarkably. Many of my clients comment that they have been following me on my Twitter acount or through my personal Facebook or business Facebook accounts, and I think they welcome the transparency that my use of these networks offers.

All the best and many thanks, Nicky.

[Craig McGinty]

That's great to read Nicky!!!

[ofer]

Very true Craig,
While I worked in a big garden centre for few month I noticed same thing that it's power is the huge selection.

but real quality come from extra points like quality as you said.

Mostly agree with LJ being great for quality.
I many times mention to customers proudly that I am a member of LJ so can get answers for questions, I think that it make you look more professional too.

good luck
Ofer

[Kerry Jackson]

Craig

This is the whole structure of our garden design and landscaping business at www.JacksonsLandscapeDesign.com

I have many clients now friends who are directed to LJN whilst I'm on a consultation.

I trust LJN will go from strength to strength.

[Kenny Ritchie]

I agree as well. The added benefit of the extra text is that google finds it and multiple mentions of the product on the one page when the customers add comment.

And there will be regular fresh content for it to find as new comments are posted. Which will draw it back to the site and e-index it on a regular basis.