Together We Arrive at a Better Decision

Constance Korol

Constance is the Senior Marketing Manager for the Institute of Business Forecasting and Planning and has been with the company for almost 9 years. In that time period, she has watched the community evolve from an audience at on site conferences, to a community who interact frequently. Constance has a B.S. from Hofstra University can be found on Linkedin and Twitter: http://twitter.com/constancek

Constance Korol

Last night I had the pleasure of previewing the International Auto Show at the Jacob Javitz Center courtesy of Ford and the Social Media Club of New York City/ SMCNYC.

Scott Monty at the International Auto Show in New York City

We were certainly warmly welcomed as we were treated to a cocktail reception and a great networking opportunity with not only social media mavens but Ford executives such as Scott Monty, Head of Social Media at Ford, as well. I have seen Scott speak before at last year’s BlogWorld show but the event was overwhelmingly huge making  it quite difficult to approach him with so many people vying for his attention. This time it was much easier to get a moment to speak with him

We discussed Ford’s success over the past couple of years due in no small part to the company’s focus on profitability and staying true to the brand  but more importantly, their focus on relationships. He seemed extremely proud to be able to say “We didn’t take a dime from the government”. Ford leveraged social media by aggregating consumer ideas, collaborating with others with one goal, to make the best vehicle….”Together we arrive at a better decision”.  While social media played a role in developing and improving Ford’s relationships with consumers, Scott also mentioned in his short talk that the company also made it a priority to maintain a healthy relationship with its employees. This meant that even during the suffering economy, Ford employee morale remained stable.  I asked Scott if Ford has been struggling with supply chain issues and/or facing out of stock situations as a result of the crises in Japan. He replied on a similar theme, crediting great relationships with their suppliers for the fact that  they are doing OK.

Scott summed up his talk with the words that any good company would want to hear from their consumers, employees, suppliers or simply those that like them on Facebook…… “They built a relationship with me, I trust Ford”

How are relationships benefiting your business/company?  Take our poll on Linkedin and let us know your feedback in the comments.