There are so many reasons to read Mark Cuban's blog, I'm not sure I would know where to begin to tell you why, and I don't have that much time. Just bookmark it or subscribe to the feed....trust me.
I found this post on his deal with the NBA and Sirius Radio rather interesting, and I think there's a lesson here regardless of what business you're in.
It's certainly no secret that Cuban is the most outspoken owner in the NBA, and does not suffer fools in the league office (or on the court), a trait which has cost him $1,455,000 in fines in the course of his ownership. What you may not know, and I certainly didn't, is that it seems that Cuban goes out of his way to help the NBA succeed behind closed doors:
Whenever Ive been able to help my NBA partners, I've always tried to. I have gone on sales calls with the NBA to try to close business. In one case where things didnt go so well with the Commissioner, I was brought in as an alternative. I have given talks , speechs and Q&A sessions with more than half the teams in the NBA. Whenever there is a Speakers Series held by a team , it seems like I am asked to speak. Teams refer me to other teams as being one of , if not the biggest draw they have had. In addition, if i get asked to speak by any group in an NBA city, I wont do it unless its before or after a game, and all the participants are required to buy a ticket to the game. Thats what good partners do.
That last sentence really resonated with me. Despite the fact that he's been fined enough money by the NBA for some people to retire on, Cuban still considers himself to be a good partner to their business. You may not care much for the public persona that Mark Cuban portrays, but you can't argue with his business sense. He frequently goes out of his way to help the NBA succeed, because in the end it will ultimately help the Dallas Mavericks succeed.
In my current position, I am clearly on the customer side of almost every business relationship, but I always try to urge my team to think in terms of partnerships with our vendors and suppliers.
I know that I have always been very accessible to our main partners; I've done countless reference calls, press releases, speaking engagements, and case studies for no other reason than to help our partners succeed. I've never asked for anything in return, but I can tell you that it rarely goes unnoticed, and I believe that we ultimately get a great deal of value from this type of relationship. This doesn't mean that I don't have to put my "customer" hat on occasionally. I'm under constant pressure to keep our operational costs at a certain level, and I don't believe that our approach to our vendors diminishes our ability to negotiate the best deal we can. But in the end, we pick and choose who we decide to work with, and for the most part we end up working with companies that value a true partnership.
In Cuban's case, it's clear that something has gone very wrong with his relationship with the NBA, and they don't understand or appreciate the value that he brings to their business, which is mind-boggling to me. The NBA is clearly losing momentum with the public, and to say that they have an image problem to overcome would be putting it mildly.
Think about how this relates to your business. Most likely you are either on the customer or vendor side of a business relationship, and in many cases both, but how many of those relationships do you treat as a true win/win partnership?
