​My Management Style​
By Mark Greer, Published March 5, 2012

1. The most important thing you can do to insure your business's leadership is to genuinely prioritize the customer's needs over profit. Cramming the page with ads might be good for the bottom line, but it alienates users in the long run. The secret of success is to honestly do your best for the customer.
2. ​I specialize, get more introspective and truly develop my specialty, whereas most managers diversify and mistakenly dilute themselves. Broadening your scope is fine, but not at the expense of developing your specialty. Between 2004 and 2009, I dedicated 100% of my efforts to serving the bus charter customer. In the same time, competitors spread themselves across several online ventures, never developing meaningful success in any of them.
3. Marketing messages, PR, newsletters and other communication with the customer is only made when there is something truly important to say. My product has a cause (such as consumer advocacy), it isn't just another product. My communications are revolutionarily personal, concise and high-impact, not canned, long-winded and graphic-laden. I provide concise quality information as opposed to the mindless fluff-filled quantity most managers send as a way of differentiating my brand and showing the customer you respect their time. Saying nothing is a better marketing message than sending them a low-value email or social media message. Messages truly benefit the reader, and are void of self-congratulatory marketing messages.
4. I target the intellectual, and if the customer is not an intellectual, I flatter the customer by assuming they are, or help the customer become more intellectual. Many managers mistakenly dumb down marketing messages to a point where they feel annoying. I strive for simple and concise, not broad, assumptive and .
5. The only way I approach a project is with the intention of finding the most substantive customer experience breakthrough I can within a practical amount of time, then never stop evolving your project. I refuse to do "good enough", or launch anything incomplete. I believe it is worth it to dedicate ten times the effort to deliver a product that is only twice as good. I thoroughly analyze every aspect, brainstorm and visualize the customer experience with every intention of setting the bar. Where other managers aspire to be like a leading company they have seen, I aspire to revolutionize and make the leading competitors obsolete. The goal is to shock and wow the customer. Think big like a leader, not small like a follower.
6. ​The customer experience is the most important aspect of the business. Innovation starts with the customer experience. Website ease-of-use, communications, product offerings, responsive customer service are all part of the customer experience. I only implement that which I visualized and confirmed that the customer mind will love. The customer experience, site features and design evolve infinitely. There is always a breakthrough realization around the corner. There is a solution to every problem.. I put the customer first, suppliers second, and employees third. The failed manager puts employees first, suppliers second and the customer last. Decisions about product or service are decided upon based on the customer's cognitive process. For example, if I were to add a directory of hotels to the charter bus directory site, BusRates.com, I wouldn't simply add a list of all hotels as the new managers attempted (3 years after the project was launched, the directory is still largely incomplete and indistinguishable from any online yellow page directory). I would consider what it would take to get booking customers and tour pros to stop using their current method and switch to BusRates. I would likely differentiate our hotel directory by only listing hotels that are bus industry favorites or bus association members had I decided to take on the project (which I wouldn't have, as it is better to specialize, not dilute as long as there is plenty of room to develop the specialty which there is).
7. While I understand the intention of most managers to accept and use the projects of others without questioning its quality in an effort to boost the morale its designer, my tendency is to facilitate the unrestricted flow of honest, direct, communication enabling critique without worry of offending one another. I refuse to settle for design that is "good enough", go for exceptional. Design is more important to a brand than most managers designate attention to. Having an exceptional logo and name versus a mediocre one has a more substantial positive effect on the business than most people allocate time to.
8. One of my greatest talents is visualization which allows foresight (knowing when to hold 'em), assessing consequences of a decision, predicting outcome, and accurately estimating a project cost and time frame. Hundreds of competitors had tried building and monetizing a bus directory before and after, perhaps as many businessmen advised me against the directory model even if it was not explicit, but I still confidently proceeded knowing I had a vision that would not only succeed, but lead. I am so naturally good at preventing accidents that I turn down insurance wherever possible in my personal life. Example, a new manager who was a corporate website developer in a prior position, promised project completion within 6 months. Despite my adamant warnings that his goals were impossibly incorrect and would not achieve the desired result, they proceeded anyway. 3 years later, the project is still vastly incomplete, not monetizing, and even worse, live on the site not functioning. His continued employment in an environment of low expectations will ensure a future of mediocrity for the brand.​
9. I personally maintain a high level of control over the quality of the customer experience. Where most managers delegate various web page forms to developers and do not thoroughly check their work, I tightly oversee even the smallest details. I don't ever close the book on a front-end project (back end, is low priority). Revisions are ongoing indefinitely to stay on the cutting edge of the ever-evolving customer experience.
10. "Baptism by fire" should be burned at the stake. I manage a business so that customers do not suffer for the company's failure to provide their employees complete training. "Fake it 'til you make it" works against the ideal corporate culture of complete honesty and integrity.
11. After writing up a conservative start up budget, I ruthlessly find ways to accomplish the same amount of work for 75% less capital. One of the greatest ways to ensure success is to extend your ramp-up time by reducing start up costs. My recall one colleague paying a contracted salesman a monthly base rather than on 100% commission. As I warned, he produced little results and we had to eat the cost of his experiment. He also proposed to have an app built for our site because that's what others were doing. I successfully blocked this idea however as the app filled no substantive need.
12. I am not overzealous in attracting new partners. They will come to us. Rather than go and introduce myself to desirable partners, I let the actions of my business speak louder than my words. By achieving something great for the industry, partners will take notice and have a reason to respect you before the communication lines are opened.
13. I am creative in finding ways to motivate employees on a fundamental level. Some of these methods include: Turning aspects of work into a game; Telling the story of our scenario in a way that makes people better appreciate our desired outcome; Setting targets that, when achieved, can be seen in the market; Staying loyal to employees that genuinely are trying to learn. I know how important it is for the office personnel to get past that uncomfortable professional stiffness and be able to communicate freely and directly. This can be a challenge for me as I am more of an introvert, but with help from other office social leaders, I will do everything I can to facilitate it.