Oh-oh. Markets Are Getting Smarter
Faster Than Companies.

What's Your Voice? ... Markets are conversations. That's the thrust of The Cluetrain Manifesto by Levine, Lock, Searls and Weinberger. And the Internet has launched powerful global conversations. "As a direct result, markets are getting smarter -- and getting smarter faster than most companies." Markets communicate "in a language that is natural, open, honest, direct, funny, and often shocking. ... the human voice is unmistakably genuine. It can't be faked."

Think about that the next time that you visit a web site and read words like "premier," "unique," or "full service." It's all corporate-speak. It's not real. What you really want to hear is the voice of a person, because people relate to people. People don't relate to "solutions providers." So start with the authentic voice of your CEO.

Can you easily (!) send personal e-mail to your customers? Probably not. I'll bet that not one in a hundred landlords, property managers or brokerage firms could quickly send e-mail to every client that they did business with in 1999. And, yes, it's not a trivial task. E-mail lists require a huge commitment. But start telling your story in a human voice. You'll generate more conversations in your marketplace -- and consequently more business.

PikeNet 2000 ... And speaking about conversation, we'll conclude the conference with a terrific panel discussion led by Michael Bell of the Gartner Group on corporate real estate and the impact of the Internet on the use of property. You'll hear Parkash Ahuja articulate Schwab's need for "just-in-time real estate" and George Bouris describe Sun's corporate facilities as "nodes on its network." ... PikeNet 2000, April 5-7, 2000, San Francisco.

--Peter