Today's market place is more demanding than ever. Customers expect more from their service providers. Let's face it, being all things to all people is a difficult task. Most of the business advisors I have spoken with tell us, "do one thing, and do it to perfection." Being a "Jack-of-all-trades, expert at none" is not a recipe for success. The best companies I know do one thing, and do it perfectly. Think Coca Cola, what do they do? They make some of the best beverages that are loved world wide! Coke has a global distribution network that rivals UPS and FedEx, but do they use their network to deliver packages? NO! Why not? They have the reach, they have the customers, they have the brand recognition. What they don't have is the desire to be all things to all people. It would dilute their value as a brand to branch out too far from their core competency.
In our line of business, Technology Consulting, expectations are that we can and will service all things electronic. While it is true that our team has the technical know-how to figure out just about anything, it just doesn't make sense for us to get into certain things. For instance, I have experience with phone systems. Once upon a time, I did a stint with a company that installed and configured Avaya equipment. On occasion, I have been called to service various phone systems. Mostly, it is not a big deal to step out of our core business to help a customer out. But sometime it just doesn't make sense. I have a customer with a fairly sophisticated IP Office setup. When their service went down, I jumped right in. After trying about 10,000 things, I realized that this was a waste of time for me and the customer. I needed to be doing the things that make money, and the customer just needed a working phone. So, I reached into my network, and called up Bill Davis of Phones Plus Atlanta, who has been working with phones systems for decades. Bill came out and quickly determined that there was a problem with the way the T1 was configured. As soon as he got the provider to fix their problems, the customer had phones again!
This was a valuable lesson for me about using experts that really know their stuff. Even though I had done everything right, I was missing just a little bit of experience to prove to the provider that the mistake was on their end. Contracting an expert got the job done right.
Some of our best customers aren't always the people paying for our services. We often partner with marketing firms to provide that corner stone of messaging for their customers, their Web sites. Marketing companies have to pull together a variety of talents to help their customers put together an effective marketing campaign and brand. From graphic designers, printers, advertisers, to copyrighters, video editors and Web developers, marketing firms rely on experts to give their customers the best product.
Graphic designers are also great partners for us. Some of the most talented creatives I know are graphic designers. They are often called upon to create a brand image for companies, designing business cards, brochures, banners, and Web sites. I have seen some beautiful designs from these people. But, when it comes to the technical side of building a Web site, graphic designers may not be the best resource on their own.
This is why we offer our services as "White Label" and "Subcontractor" services. We will work directly and transparently with other service providers, with the same level of perfection and care as our direct services.
If you have questions or comments about our "White Label" services, please comment below or contact us.