This week we started a new test on BlueShirt Nation. After a lot of conversations among and with the employees on the site, we decided to create an area where some of our key vendors/partners can join employee conversations.
This was a tricky one- it was made clear from the beginning that the community didn’t want vendor partners involved in the main conversation. Essentially, its our place, not something for outsiders:)
But on the flip side, this is a place where some of our most engaged employees go to talk. They can learn a ton from vendors and even more importantly, our vendors can learn from them. In theory, in the end, our customers are the ones that benefit.
So we built rooms called the BSN Bazaar. It lets our employees go into those rooms to talk to our vendor partners, but doesn’t allow the vendor partner to access the main conversation on the site. Employees enter if they want to but you don’t have to.
This week, we had our final call with our final test partner. We have 3 partners that we’ll test with over the next few months- a large gaming vendor, appliance vendor, and mainstream electronics vendor (HDTVs, Computers, Audio equip, cameras etc…)
Its going to be interesting as both employees and vendors have to decide, what kind of relationship am I ready to have?
Will employees really want to talk to our vendors like they said they did?
And if so, how will our vendors act? Will they act like its another place to push content and training at our employees? Or will they be ready to engage in real conversations? To be brutally honest. To admit when they’re wrong. Or take the feedback they’ll get and use it as the gift that it is.
More to come….
