Hello allnumbers.
I must chime in here. I agree that perception can very well be reality, and the presentation of a company and its technology can indeed make or break a deal. Don't forget that business is really the interaction between two parties, which in most every case involves humans. Humans have this thing embedded in them called "emotion" and it has a far greater impact in the world of business than most business people want to admit to.
(And yes, a preposition is something you should never end a sentence with.)
*ahem*
So my point is that the emotional side of a human can induce judgments of things like attitude, appearance and quality. We have all heard the phrase, "first impressions count" and though we all say that if the quality is there it will shine through, the statement holds some water. The counterpoint is very true, but the initial judgment creates an extra hurdle whereby the quality must fight to PROVE itself, rather than be presented so that the quality is simply assumed from the start. I don't think any of us go to meetings or interviews dressed in a shoddy way - we like to wear nice clothes and make a quality impression from the start. There is nothing wrong with this effort. Yes, a qualified person could get the job even with a bad first impression, but why make it harder?
I do think that our company needs to step up a bit on the "image front", but I also see their efforts being directed toward the quality and engineering of their multiple technologies. Perhaps it is time to increase the head count by one and have someone actually creating a branding situation for them and cleaning up the presentation materials.
You can be sure that when you walk into the Lockheed Martin offices and view their publicity materials that none of them look at all amateur. That is purely an assumption on my part, but from viewing their web site and seeing other PR materials from them I can make that leap. In fact, this is simply an illustration of my point - I made the assumption that the rest of their stuff is quality because of the handful of materials I have already seen. I would hate to think that the opposite is true for us. Perception is reality. It is a horrible statement, but tends to be true. We must do business with this in mind.
And to prove my stance I have just demanded my company take their corporate video off of YouTube last week. Totally un-professional and amateur place for this kind of thing. Not a place for doing business - it is for kids and for goofiness. It does not present the company in a professional light, even though the company is very professional and the video was professionally produced. I was met with gasps of horror as most of the employees here are under the age of 30. My demand was met and the video is no longer on YouTube. At this point, they are now glad of that since anyone can post comments - including competitors - and they can not be immediately removed. Many factors, but the one we are discussing here is the point I am reinforcing.
I hope the brothers will heed this and find someone to take charge of their marketing. It is indeed a specialized skill set and is rarely focused on or included in growth business planning. It seems to be needed here.
Don't get me wrong - they will still succeed, in my opinion. So far so good for all they have done. This would be simply another feather in their cap to add to the great potential we all have here.
Price is down, but Neb can buy more shares and DCA down a bit in the process - get me up to 4000 shares and down to $4.09. One day my holding will move to five figures and I will be in with the big boys...but I still won't get to hang at Tor Acres...
:)
-Neb
AI
