What happens in Vegas ...

Last week I was able to speak at the Technology Services World Conference in Las Vegas. And you know what they say - what happens in Vegas ... ends up on a blog. My session was focused on community. Specifically, using community to become a customer-centered business. It was really nice to go and brag about the Altru community. And not just bragging about our internal team's level of commitment, but also on our members. Here are some things I realized about our customers.



You are social.

I had several discussions on getting customers to participate in the community. When I explained how our "Introduce Yourself" post was the most popular topic to date, people were amazed. "You mean, they just offer up introductions?" Your efforts to get to know us and each other are not the norm. We're lucky to have such a social group of customers.

You are tech savvy.

I spoke with businesses who weren't sure community was for them, because their product is large and the support questions are difficult. They were concerned that customers wouldn't excel with online support. I realized you guys do not fear technology - makes sense since it's a community for software users. You are willing to read our advice and try things yourself, instead of asking support to fix it for you. You want to learn more.

You are invested.

We are lucky enough to know exactly what our customers want - because you tell us. You have a lot on your plate, but you come and offer suggestions because you are invested in our success - as we are in yours. So,we genuinely appreciate you taking the time to submit your ideas, preview and review new features, offer tweaks to current functionality, and just in general discuss with products. You keep talking, we'll keep listening.

So thanks for being the kind of community that I can brag on. The kind that people takes notes about. The kind that inspires other businesses to give this community thing a try. You guys are awesome.