Partnerships & Buddhism
First, I confess:
- I am not religious
2. I am not a Buddhist
Now, my sermon :-)
A couple of years ago when I was going after marketing to Developers, my manager and I debated if the whole push marketing wave was dying. Should we let Developers discover us? And when discovered, should we let them be delighted by our content and content alone?
Back then, because both of us were trying social media channels and app store models for the first time – we agreed the quality of content and apps should give us conversions. Let Developers & Customers explore, and they will come back if they like what they see. Or, at least, we believed we should set out on that path.
In hindsight, it’s worked great. Hindsight for me. My manager was more confident than me – like he knew it all the time.
Why do I bring in Buddhism into this way of marketing and partnering?
We were letting partners onboard for free, with no financial condition, letting them explore what we were doing – or according to the Dharma: ehi passiko – come and see, or come and explore. Not: come and believe.
My question to you, if you are building a platforms strategy: are you letting your partners come and explore you? Your customers? Your APIs? Are you letting your customers explore your vibrant partner network? Or, are you building in financial and quota conditions?
The “come & explore” Dharma can apply even when you have a brick & mortar model. Do you let your prospects loiter and check your store? Do your service engineers welcome your prospects to experience the repair shop or nudge prospects to explore the showroom?
Can you learn from this doctrine? Are you willing to let partners explore? Experiment?
Or will you continue to regard a partner’s doubt as a failure?