I’m a vendors’ vendor.
That is, I’ve worked as a vendor in the information industry for most of my career…and I enjoy working with other vendors as well as end users for their information needs. Many of my clients are actually big companies that have their own research departments but are looking for assistance when they’ve run out of conventional options.
I know the inner workings of most of the companies that I deal with — having been there, done that. I know when to buy, what questions to ask, when to push, and when to back off.
Catenate came into existence because I really wanted to be an “emissary” (one who works on the behalf of others) to this world I felt I knew well. I saw unassuming prospects, unaware of their options, make uneducated choices. My goal was to offer a variety of sources that could be used to solve complicated problems — without the bull that goes along with big company sales goals and bureaucracy.
When I first started the business, I worked with vendors I knew well. I set up deals to earn a commission that generally ranged between 20 (stingy) and 60 (good) points (%) of the market value for the project. That is, depending on the greediness of the source, I could sell a project and make between 20 and 60 cents on the dollar. Most of my projects went above and beyond the initial specifications — after all, what good is data if you don’t know what to do with it? Even though it wasn’t required, my team would try to get the most out of what we saw — and deliver to the client without extra charges. (You buy an answer, you buy our brains, not the time it took for us to solve the problem.) Most of the vendors appreciated the real value that a VAR (Value Added Reseller) brings to the table and were very supportive. Let’s face it, if you don’t deliver, clients simply don’t come back for more.
Over the years, more programs became available for information resellers. I spent a great deal of time reviewing the benefits of the various sources before agreeing to resell their stuff. But a funny thing happened. The more time I spent trying to improve the products for the vendors so that they met clients needs (yes, most of these vendors wouldn’t know a real client if he bit them on the ass), the more difficult it became to work with them as a reseller.
“We’re partner friendly” they’d declare, trying to woo me. “We want to have the best product”. But the larger the organization, the more layers of people trying to keep their ho-hum jobs got in the way. Without naming names, suffice it to say that the biggest players in the data and geodemographic industry do not have their clients needs top of mind. They are always looking to squeeze more profit out of a tired product and rarely entertain new ideas that would bring them far more revenue if they just took the time to think about the problems they are trying to solve.
I’m not bitter, just inspired.
If I told you about all the crap I’ve been dealing with over the past few years trying to get vendors to give me advance information on updates and changes so that I can prepare myself, my website, my clients — my own client information that they gather on my behalf, and BASIC BASIC internet advertising statistics — you’d be shocked at how incredibly unsophisticated and uninspired the big vendors are. They play it safe — they play it stupid and leave millions on the table.
I am working on a plan to change the way people get marketing data. I don’t intend to reinvent the wheel, just put together a car that actually moves forward when you step on the gas!
Wouldn’t it be nice to start by telling your vendor what the end goal was and having them give you a “trip tik” (pre-yahoo maps I know!) that showed you all the options and the places you might want to stop and investigate along the way before getting to your end goal?
Imagine a road trip where you knew where all the gas stations were, when you were likely to need them, the restaurants, the loos….all neatly mapped out in relation to your end destination. And the beauty would be that you could investigate any of the paths along the way in more detail…knowing that you could get back on track at any time.
Too often, we data geeks go searching for answers without keeping the end goal in mind. We provide demographic reports, maps, analyses — but fail to answer the question “now what”". Action oriented marketing is what I believe in, and what I intend to deliver in Catosphere V2.
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Now back to work!
