While reading Lisa Gansky’s book The Mesh, written in 2010, it struck me that her message is even more relevant in 2012. The concept of the book is that we have entered a new era in business, where many companies are now built on network-enabled sharing, rather than specifically owning a product. The strategy is to sell the same product multiple times, as with car-share companies or a service. Gansky writes that “a Mesh network that manages shared transactions has the growing capacity to soar past a company that sells something to one owner.”
Mesh businesses focus on offering something that can be shared, usually, a physical good. Web and mobile data networks are used to track goods, customer information, etc. While Gansky focuses on physical goods, the possibilities for incorporating services are there, too. The concept of social media’s impact is similar to our previous book review of Gary Vaynerchuk’s The Thank You Economy (see our review on the Waytek blog), which pointed out that social media is taking us back to building relationships with our customers and paying more attention to their needs and concerns.
If, like most of us, you spend any time on the web, you have encountered examples of Mesh businesses. I used one recently when my daughter needed a semi-formal dress and didn’t want to spend the money on an expensive one that she would probably only wear to this event. Rent the Runway, a site that rents dresses and accessories for dressy occasions, came to the rescue and did so in a very customer-oriented way. We were able to rent the dress in two sizes, at no extra cost, to ensure that we would have the right fit. The company sent self-addressed large envelopes with the dresses, and we were instructed to drop them in the mail by noon the day they were to be returned. Even easier than calling UPS! It turns out that Gansky knows about the company, too, and mentioned it in her book as a successful Mesh model.
Gansky stresses the importance of building trust with your customers. “Greater trust translates into recommendation through your customers’ social networks, expanding your reach.” Social media and the web help businesses stay more connected to their customers’ needs. Her seven keys to building trust in the Mesh are:
- Say what you do.
- Use trials.
- Do what you say.
- Delight your customers – and often.
- Embrace social networks in a big way.
- Value transparency, but protect privacy.
- Deal with negative publicity and feedback quickly and skillfully.
Most of these tips can apply to all businesses and are relevant to all of us in the age of the web and social media. We are only at the beginning of a new era in social networking that involves our work and personal lives. Gansky sheds interesting light on a topic that we will be hearing more about and that will surely become integral to many business practices in the near future.
