One of the biggest fears business owners have is the fear of saying NO to a client or any other stakeholder that they perceive as critical for their survival. These fears are paramount when the business is in its infancy or of a size that can be at best described as marginal.
If I’m being honest, I’ve lived through most of these fears myself. I have vivid memories of those sleepless nights where I have toiled with a few questions where the only answer was saying NO to a certain business deal or a candidate that seemed ideal.
The learning from these trials has been – if an organisation has to be successful then it must learn to say NO to few things that doesn’t fit its strategy, values or competencies.
In my last post on our organisational culture, I briefly touched upon our signature style and how things get done at Greyhound Knowledge Group. One of our defining values is doing the right thing – even if it’s the harder thing to do! Blame me for being a purist but there are values I expect all of us at Greyhound Knowledge Group to follow, including saying NO in a few circumstances.
Thanks, But No Thanks! to Vendor Sponsored Research.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Unlike many of our peers who continue to offer vendor sponsored research, we stand against it. We strictly do not write white papers or other forms of co-branded research. Yes, we do work with IT & Telecom vendors but instead offer distribution rights for our independently-authored research reports. In cases where we help a vendor execute a research, we firstly (and most importantly) disclose our contribution in the engagement and strictly do not ask questions that point (directly or indirectly) to them being superlative to their industry peers. I am proud to share that since inception, we have not done a single dollar worth of business that can be tainted as vendor sponsored. Again, blame us for being purists and truly independent.
Thanks, But No Thanks! to Research Methodology Shortcuts.
There are times when clients want a quick and dirty job just to ‘have enough to show enough’ to their stakeholders. Not something that gets us excited and hence doesn’t fit in our scheme of things.
Thanks, But No Thanks! to Cheesy Sales Approach.
Believe it or not, we loathe the goofy, traditional sales tactics. I’ve personally been on both sides of the equation and I understand the dangers really well. Hence our decision to NOT on-board pushy sales reps and instead use a pure value-driven conversation with our clients. Don’t trust us? Read our client testimonials for yourself.
Thanks, But No Thanks! to Self Over Company.
One of the pleasures of running a business is that you get to meet a variety of people – there are those who are keen to learn and contribute to the brand and then there are others who cannot think beyond themselves. The latter kind who treat self over the company are clearly not the ones we like and appreciate, irrespective of the credentials that they may carry.
Thanks, But No Thanks! to Futile Industry Chatter.
In the words of Shannon L. Alder, “There are so many battles worth fighting for. The ones not worth fighting are the insecure battles that rage in another person’s mind.”
We at Greyhound Knowledge Group have set ourselves some lofty aims (and achieving them as we go!). But what we don’t wish to do is battle against industry chatter that adds ZERO value for our clients and can at best be described as futile. Hence, our decision to choose our battles and focus on what we do best. Again, blame us for being bold or just plain honest, but we wish to focus on things that truly help improve our game and deliver more value to our clients.
Thanks, But No Thanks! to Intrusive Email Newsletters
Yes, you read that correct. We are making a move that many others might call foolish, but we truly believe it’s the first-in-its-category like our approach to not use a cheesy sales approach (read above). Allow us a few lines to explain.
While we have been blessed to have a solid base of readers/subscribers in ace time (30 months since launch), we now want to migrate to a completely new-age style of engagement where our readers choose what to read and when. Our decision is in light of keeping focus on our readers’ new-age reading habits and not send out email newsletters that some (including us) find intrusive and waste of time.
To keep on top of our latest insights, we urge our community of decision makers to use the following means of engaging with us. Each time we have something new to share it is posted on each of these forums.
- Business topics (Greyhound Knowledge Group) – Please follow the blog http://TheMarchTowardsCollective.com
- Technology topics (Greyhound Research) – Please follow the blog http://AsDisruptiveAsITGets.com
We encourage you to setup a quick website icon shortcut – this will allow you to quickly access our blogs and also get notifications each time we publish a new article. Below are some quick steps for iPhone users (we’ll be updating this post soon with instructions for other operating systems as well).
- Open the Safari browse and type the name of the blog you would like to use (http://TheMarchTowardsCollective.com or http://AsDisruptiveAsITGets.com)
- Press the Action Key located at the bottom of your screen and press the “Add to Home Screen” button
- Name the shortcut As Disruptive As IT Gets or The March Towards Collective and press add
In addition, each of these blogs also have their unique social presence and the team also pushes all notifications on all possible platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook among others. Please refer to the top right section of each of these blogs to engage with us on social media platforms.
Hope you find this information useful. Do give us a shout (leave a comment below) if you need more details and one of us will be in touch!
Happy reading.
Cheers,
SVG
About The Author: Sanchit Vir Gogia is the Chief Analyst & CEO of Greyhound Research, an independent IT & Telecom Research & Advisory firm. He also serves as Founder & CEO of Greyhound Knowledge Group that operates under four brands – Greyhound Research, Greyhound Sculpt, Greyhound Technocrat and Greyhound Vivo. To read more about him, click here.
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