Since January, we have been encouraging the indoor play industry from soft play suppliers to play centre operators to collectively explore and discuss the future of play; only through intelligent and creative exploration can we grow the industry and share the positive impact of "activity without purpose".
As developers and enthusiastic users of web technology, we believe in the potential of online communities to discuss important topics and collaborate in developing insightful solutions, our aim is to facilitate these discussions as broadly as possible.
To some, the socialisation of information is uncomfortable but we are beginning to see the embracing of this change with people using and contributing information more freely. In the last few days, I read this blog by Seth Godin discussing how to lose an argument online and how to make the social web work for you.
As one of the most popular bloggers on the web, this guy knows what works and this is what he says:
"Earn a reputation. Have a conversation. Ask questions. Describe possible outcomes of a point of view. Make connections. Give the other person the benefit of the doubt. Align objectives then describe a better outcome. Show up. Smile."
Simple, but effective.
ShareAndComparePlay.com is the Indoor Play Supplier Comparison Website that Saves Play Operators £10,000s. The only source of independent reviews on every Supplier to the Play Industry, ShareAndComparePlay.com works to revolutionise the Play Experience for Children and to enable Businesses to profitably understand and meet the future needs of Families.
Follow us at Twitter.com/shareandcompare or (Un)subscribe to our Blog by e-mailing us
Wednesday 25 November 2009
Sunday 1 November 2009
Soft play suppliers, your reviews count!
When we started ShareAndComparePlay.com, it was an experiment to test if we could revolutionise an industry we care deeply about, by introducing the following philosophies:
1. Provide valuable and corroborated information, for Free
2. Introduce Transparency, improving standards and reducing costs
3. Facilitate collaboration to enable innovation in play (involving children, parents, play operators, soft play suppliers, designers and schools)
Since our launch in February, this “experiment” has evolved into a commercial organisation enabling growth in the play market and with the potential to support change in subsequent markets, such as weddings.
To introduce each of the above, we developed and rapidly tested several strategies, inviting all stakeholders to share what we have learned so that they may invest in the future and prosper.
In the last few days, Spi Play (where I was previously a shareholder and Director), one of the “traditional” soft play equipment suppliers took up our offer. What was scheduled to be a two hour meeting took four hours; we discussed the changes that our presence has caused and how the market may evolve, both a threat and opportunity for an organisation such as Spi.
As previously discussed, “radical transparency” is likely the most controversial and difficult of trends that are resulting from our launch. The value-added by each organisation is laid bare (add no value and you will be eliminated) and all strengths, weaknesses and actions will be exposed to the market.
The essence of transparency for me is that each business must imagine that each and every communication, installation and quotation were being exposed to a capacity-filled Wembley stadium; future customers being able to judge each action and make informed decisions.
In reality, no organisation is ever going to achieve 100% satisfaction all of the time, at least in part because a positive or negative experience is in the eye of the beholder. However, what is important is that organisations engage with reviewers, encourage customers and employees to participate in the play community, allowing all to learn and share their experience.
In the case of Spi Play, I was pleased that they have responded to a recent negative review by calling the customer (who re-visited our site to say he was much happier), accepting that they dropped the ball in that particular case and then committing their organisation to valuing each star rating.
It is in the latter point that the role of the reviewer has commercial impact. Our algorithm means that each star awarded has real value in terms of pounds. This is because that more people each week are visiting our site (thanks again) as they start an indoor play centre and the worse an organisations overall rating, the lower they appear in our listings and the less likely future play operators are to make contact.
In an “eco-system” such as ours, each participant has an important role to play; ours is to provide an independent platform for information exchange; the suppliers is to listen, engage and contribute; the (prospective) play operators is to share their experience and use the information in making decisions.
In terms of advice for play suppliers and others (the offer for a meeting is always open if you would like to personalise the information and share our experience), this is a (very brief) summary:
- Participate with the play community. Share experience and expertise using our play forum (please don’t just make it an advertisement for your business) and by commenting on blogs; if you have insightful views, please tell us and we will publish them or interview you for softplay.tv
- Encourage your customers and prospects to review your organisation. If you have no ratings, not only are you at the bottom of the charts, play entrepreneurs are assuming you have something to hide
- Look to innovate by forming partnerships so that you can share the costs of R&D (more about this in a future blog); no one organisation is profitable enough to invest in developing the play areas that children dream about and play operators will want to buy. Participating in our play design competition is an alternative and low-cost method of innovating, contact us to learn more
- Consider exposing your value chain to the free market for comparison. For example, if you manufacture play equipment, consider listing as a components supplier so that people starting a play area can choose which elements of your proposition they want to buy. Transparency enables working with "best of breed" in each supplier category (e.g. maintenance, design etc) , invest and compete in each category to provide customers with genuine choice and value
This is an exciting and potentially prosperous time for the play industry; we hope more organisations continue to embrace the potential of the three philosophies that started it all.
ShareAndComparePlay.com is the Indoor Play Supplier Comparison Website that Saves Play Operators £10,000s. The only source of independent reviews on every Supplier to the Play Industry, ShareAndComparePlay.com works to revolutionise the Play Experience for Children and to enable Businesses to profitably understand and meet the future needs of Families.
Follow us at Twitter.com/shareandcompare or (Un)subscribe to our Blog by e-mailing us
1. Provide valuable and corroborated information, for Free
2. Introduce Transparency, improving standards and reducing costs
3. Facilitate collaboration to enable innovation in play (involving children, parents, play operators, soft play suppliers, designers and schools)
Since our launch in February, this “experiment” has evolved into a commercial organisation enabling growth in the play market and with the potential to support change in subsequent markets, such as weddings.
To introduce each of the above, we developed and rapidly tested several strategies, inviting all stakeholders to share what we have learned so that they may invest in the future and prosper.
In the last few days, Spi Play (where I was previously a shareholder and Director), one of the “traditional” soft play equipment suppliers took up our offer. What was scheduled to be a two hour meeting took four hours; we discussed the changes that our presence has caused and how the market may evolve, both a threat and opportunity for an organisation such as Spi.
As previously discussed, “radical transparency” is likely the most controversial and difficult of trends that are resulting from our launch. The value-added by each organisation is laid bare (add no value and you will be eliminated) and all strengths, weaknesses and actions will be exposed to the market.
The essence of transparency for me is that each business must imagine that each and every communication, installation and quotation were being exposed to a capacity-filled Wembley stadium; future customers being able to judge each action and make informed decisions.
In reality, no organisation is ever going to achieve 100% satisfaction all of the time, at least in part because a positive or negative experience is in the eye of the beholder. However, what is important is that organisations engage with reviewers, encourage customers and employees to participate in the play community, allowing all to learn and share their experience.
In the case of Spi Play, I was pleased that they have responded to a recent negative review by calling the customer (who re-visited our site to say he was much happier), accepting that they dropped the ball in that particular case and then committing their organisation to valuing each star rating.
It is in the latter point that the role of the reviewer has commercial impact. Our algorithm means that each star awarded has real value in terms of pounds. This is because that more people each week are visiting our site (thanks again) as they start an indoor play centre and the worse an organisations overall rating, the lower they appear in our listings and the less likely future play operators are to make contact.
In an “eco-system” such as ours, each participant has an important role to play; ours is to provide an independent platform for information exchange; the suppliers is to listen, engage and contribute; the (prospective) play operators is to share their experience and use the information in making decisions.
In terms of advice for play suppliers and others (the offer for a meeting is always open if you would like to personalise the information and share our experience), this is a (very brief) summary:
- Participate with the play community. Share experience and expertise using our play forum (please don’t just make it an advertisement for your business) and by commenting on blogs; if you have insightful views, please tell us and we will publish them or interview you for softplay.tv
- Encourage your customers and prospects to review your organisation. If you have no ratings, not only are you at the bottom of the charts, play entrepreneurs are assuming you have something to hide
- Look to innovate by forming partnerships so that you can share the costs of R&D (more about this in a future blog); no one organisation is profitable enough to invest in developing the play areas that children dream about and play operators will want to buy. Participating in our play design competition is an alternative and low-cost method of innovating, contact us to learn more
- Consider exposing your value chain to the free market for comparison. For example, if you manufacture play equipment, consider listing as a components supplier so that people starting a play area can choose which elements of your proposition they want to buy. Transparency enables working with "best of breed" in each supplier category (e.g. maintenance, design etc) , invest and compete in each category to provide customers with genuine choice and value
This is an exciting and potentially prosperous time for the play industry; we hope more organisations continue to embrace the potential of the three philosophies that started it all.
ShareAndComparePlay.com is the Indoor Play Supplier Comparison Website that Saves Play Operators £10,000s. The only source of independent reviews on every Supplier to the Play Industry, ShareAndComparePlay.com works to revolutionise the Play Experience for Children and to enable Businesses to profitably understand and meet the future needs of Families.
Follow us at Twitter.com/shareandcompare or (Un)subscribe to our Blog by e-mailing us
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