What You Can Learn from Yahoo’s Latest Fumbles

Lately, the news we hear about tech giant Yahoo!  is pretty much on the negative. From a CEO who falsifies his resume, to advertising gimmicks that seem to end up irritating users; things do not seem bright for the information technology giant and their ability to make IT sales leads. It sure makes you wonder whether it will have an effect on your business as well, particularly in IT lead generation. But really, what is there to worry about? Yahoo is a different case from your company, and you should feel lucky that you have seen how bad things can be before you actually commit something like that. This actually provides you with a guide on what you should do and avoid. So take note of these points:

 1.Be honest with your past – sure, your past education and experience may seem like a mismatch for the information technology business, but it will be messier if you falsify your records, as what Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson belatedly discovers. It would have been better for him if he had sold to investors his experience in working with other businesses, particularly in PayPal, to show that he is actually capable for the job. It goes the same way for your business as well.2.Keep your record clean – one thing that is causing Yahoo to have PR fits is their latest CEO, Carol Bartz. Way back in 2009, she was already known as the ‘swearing’ lady, which is hard to clean up. This creates more problems for a company who wishes to establish more respectability. If we translate it into your firm, then you would want to promote a company that is respectable and prudent. It means you have to watch your language, as well as the language of your people (especially if you are using telemarketing). Seriously, you cannot believe just what the Internet can do to you once something unsavory comes up with your name (not to mention business.)3.Careful with other countries – while this rule might not apply to your business that serves the local market, it might still be a good idea to look them up. You can never tell when you might someday do business in another country, or get IT leads. Yahoo’s fiasco with it giving information to China (leading to the arrest and imprisonment of a citizen) resulted to the company receiving a tongue lashing from Congress. That sure is ugly.4.Advertise moderately – personally, I do find Yahoo’s services good, but the explosion of advertisement, pop-up banners, as well as promotions on almost all of its related services, can be a real drag. Sometimes, these advertisements can cause a page to slow down when loading, further adding to the irritation. If you have a website, then pay close attention to your advertising to avoid such a mistake. This rule also applies with other advertising mediums like social media and telemarketing. 

There are plenty of other things that you can learn from Yahoo, but these will be up to you to discover. At least now you know what the essential blunders to avoid are.