I am into researching how successful companies use the Subscription Model to build their businesses. This includes reading Tien Tzuo’s Subscribed, Why the Subscription Model Will Be Your Company’s Future — and What to Do About It. Not only did I read how certain actions could help my business, but how three specific actions in the Subscription Model help the modern job seeker. But first, the Primo Take-away.
The Primo-Takeaway
It is worth buying Tzuo’s book just to read over his strategy in the section on The Four P’s. He talks about engaging your target as if you are walking them through an art gallery. Every room has a different purpose. I might love this because I used to design educational programs and train docents at an art gallery.
The three rooms is a process of first talking about the world of your business (the wider industry), then articulating your value through accomplishments and examples. The last room is where you share the features and mechanics of the offer.
Most people start and stop in the third room (eg. the resume).
In order to drive attention and interest, you have to open the two other phases first. For a job seeker that means the first entry into a company is not your resume. Share your value and story in a way that has people asking to see room three, instead of selling room three as something everyone gets to see.
There are three other ideas from his book that are relevant to job seekers.
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Understand and Speak with your Audience. It’s a dialogue over time.
To thrive in the subscription economy businesses need to understand their audience to offer services and upsells that matter. They use continual dialogue with their consumers to understand how their products and services are being used.
As a job seeker, you need to know about the company, including:
- what they need
- where they are headed
- how they make hiring decisions
That means that coyly applying to your dream company with just a resume isn’t enough. Especially for those senior roles. You want to understand and interact with their product, service, research to understand it. You want to listen to what people say about their product and service. You want to talk with people who work in that company to find out more information.
2. You don’t need to be everything to everyone. You just need to know your reader.
Tzuo talks about how digital newspapers aren’t trying to scale at any cost, but they are being paid for engaging with their audience. Their audience is specific. It is about people who care about journalism and care enough to pay for it.
You don’t need your resume, LinkedIn profile, or networking efforts to be right for everyone. Not everyone needs to interview or offer you a role.
For your efforts to work you need to know what your ideal wants and what you can do for them. Commit to high standards and integrity as you move through your search.
Quality service and expertise will always have support from a committed group of people who care about that. Model it.
3. Beta forever!
Always be listening, always be iterating is spreading out into every industry on the planet – (Tzuo, pg. 136)
Continuous innovation means your project/program is never complete. You are maintaining a constant pace of innovation indefinitely. This is incredible career advice.
You never have one final resume. Or the perfect answer. Or the job that is it forever. You are an incredible and complex person whose needs, interests, talents, and value change. And where you choose to spend your energy can change too. So it is not about taking the wrong job. It is more about “oh, I made a decision that didn’t turn out how I thought, why did that happen and how can I improve for next time.”
The Subscription Model and you
The exciting thing about the subscription model is that is about long-term interest and relationships with ideal people. Yes, there is growth too, but through investing and measuring engagement. Treat your career and job search like a long-term service with a low churn rate.
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