Ratings and Rankings
We are used already to get ratings for products or for services that available to consumers. We can get ratings for TVs, Hotels and Restaurants or Airliners.
But what about business to business services and products? It becomes much more complex because those products and services are many times tailored to a specific need. You cannot browse the web and get the rating you are looking for.
And the number of ratings is directly connected with the presence of the product. Smaller companies have smaller exposition and it is unlikely that a large group of people talks about their products and services.
The way to pass through this is to use vertical portals. But again usually these portals are destined only for consumers. Have you ever come around a rating for an hotel talking about their conference and meeting services ? No, what you get is ratings about individual rooms and consumer amenities.
We are used already to get ratings for products or for services that available to consumers. We can get ratings for TVs, Hotels and Restaurants or Airliners.
But what about business to business services and products? It becomes much more complex because those products and services are many times tailored to a specific need. You cannot browse the web and get the rating you are looking for.
And the number of ratings is directly connected with the presence of the product. Smaller companies have smaller exposition and it is unlikely that a large group of people talks about their products and services.
The way to pass through this is to use vertical portals. But again usually these portals are destined only for consumers. Have you ever come around a rating for an hotel talking about their conference and meeting services ? No, what you get is ratings about individual rooms and consumer amenities.
SMEs are all alone out there
Small and medium businesses are on their own. Nobody speaks of them and they cannot find rating and rankings of others SMEs. The first issue limits their market exposure and thus limit growth. The second limits their purchase options and decision quality.
For those SMEs to expand rapidly they usually have an outstanding product or service. It has to be far better than the average quality of the products of the bigger players, so that the consumer and other companies decide to opt for that product rather than for the well known brand.
Small and medium businesses are on their own. Nobody speaks of them and they cannot find rating and rankings of others SMEs. The first issue limits their market exposure and thus limit growth. The second limits their purchase options and decision quality.
For those SMEs to expand rapidly they usually have an outstanding product or service. It has to be far better than the average quality of the products of the bigger players, so that the consumer and other companies decide to opt for that product rather than for the well known brand.
Internet comes to rescue
Collaboration within SMEs (read the older posts) is one of the big problems. But internet offers now a solution. It provides a low cost collaboration structure where SMEs can share their views regarding their suppliers and customers.
By sharing that information you are increasing a common wealth that will serve you in choosing better your suppliers and making more educated decisions about products, risk, price or delivery.
By sharing that information you are increasing a common wealth that will serve you in choosing better your suppliers and making more educated decisions about products, risk, price or delivery.
You can see the internet for SMEs as the intranets of the large enterprises, where internal systems for providing ratings for suppliers and customers are already in place.
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