A hundred years ago, a man could roll into your little town on a horse-drawn buggy, set up shop and start selling some or other elixir that would grow you hair, give you energy, make you money, improve your eyesight, cure the common cold or put the lead back into your pencil.
Now, he turns up in a Ferrari.
The difference between then and now is not the horsepower, but your ability to check him out before you do business with him. Our horse-drawn buggy salesman would, back then, have arrived in your town before the news of his exploits. In other words, all the people he ripped off in the previous towns could not send you an email or write a blog about him.
Today, if you buy from a snake-oil salesman, you really have no one to blame but yourself. You can't really blame him and you certainly can't blame Google, because you could easily have checked the blogs and newsgroups or 'Googled' him and his products in just a few seconds.
The trouble with this kind of verification is that our Ferrari-driving snake-oil salesman can probably afford all kinds of Search Engine Optimisation that means your Googling efforts may only turn up his marketing information which will, of course, look wonderful. In other words, his Ferrari might reach you before any bad news or feedback.
Enter the era of business networks. Using online networks like Ecademy and LinkedIn, you can look, for first-person references and testimonials. These networks allow business associates to share information about their experiences of each other including testimonials in their own words.
So now, as the buggy clatters up your street, bottles of magic pencil filling elixir rattling away as the horseshoes clip and clop toward your home or business, you have a solution. Grab your keyboard and find out the truth. Google, Ecademy and LinkedIn are to us, what the wire telegraph was to our great-grandparents. Also, if you should have bad experience, these networks can be better than a Colt-45.
A note on Ferraris: This article refers to a Ferrari-driving snake-oil sales man but it should be pointed out that quite aside from any environmental reasons for not having a Ferrari, they are outstanding cars and, for most owners, an indication of the value they have created for people.
Eric Edmeadesis a professional speaker and author. He writes and speaks on a variety of business and personal development topics and leads exciting Adventure Seminars(TM) in some of the most exotic locations on the planet.
(c) 2007 -- You may redistribute this article, for free, provided that you credit the author and publish it in its original form.
Examples of Online Networks:
MySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook
Source: www.a1articles.com
