Three simple questions define every business, especially your background screening company: “What?” “How?” “Why?”
Most businesses (including, until recently, InformData) focus on the first two questions. They expect to tell you what they make and how it’s unique, and with that information, impress you into buying.
For example, “We make luxury cars featuring leather seats and ergonomic dashboards. Want to buy one?”
But that approach leaves out the real reason people buy from one company or another, the answer to the question, “Why?” Why does a company do what it does? What is its purpose?
The ‘Why’ of InformData
Leadership expert and author Simon Sinek says, “People don’t buy what you do. People buy why you do it.” He’s got good evidence this is true. Look for example at why people stood in line for 2 days to buy the first iPhone, or why people choose to spend over $1000 on a new iPhone year after year. Apple’s a computer company, not a phone company. Why would someone buy a phone, a very expensive phone, from a computer company? People buy Apple’s mission to think differently about everything it does. The people who buy iPhones want to be seen embracing that idea and a very expensive iPhone is simply a very visible example of that philosophy.
The most rewarding and productive relationships between background screening data providers and CRAs are forged when the CRA understands and agrees with why the data provider does what it does.
At InformData, our goal is not to do business with every CRA. (We understand that we aren’t going to be right for everyone.) Our goal is to do business with CRAs that share our belief in what makes the best people-data.
This is InformData’s “why”: Make direct-source people-data equitably accessible to all.
This is what we believe as a company and it’s why we do everything that we do for our CRA customers. It’s why we add product features and why we hire and train service staff. This “why” drives and explains our “how” and “what.”
The ‘How’ and ‘What’ of InformData
A simple diagram explains the “how” and “what” of our business. This is how we create products like criminal records and court data, court access monitoring, and international background data, as well as services like employment verifications that provide the value that our “why” promises to our customers.
The diagram looks like a stool.
Why a stool? It’s simple to visualize and demonstrates that our people, processes, and technology (our “how”) support all our products and services (our “what”). Undergirding it all are the business philosophies that guide decisions in product development:
- API first to make access to data easier and encourage transparency.
- Data supply chain to formalize the way data is delivered so that performance and reliability can be measured, reported, and improved.
- CRA-friendly business models so that CRAs can purchase the people-data we provide at the most competitive cost.
The seat of the stool is the foundation on which all our products and services are built. These are the unique people, processes, and technology that enable InformData’s products and services to consistently deliver the value our customers expect by ensuring that we’re making direct-source people-data equitably accessible to all.
The stool situates InformData’s “why,” “how,” and “what” within a tidy little diagram that’s easy to remember.
Do you share our “why?” If you do, we want to engage with your CRA. Ask a people-data specialist what Direct-Source Data® can do for your CRA by clicking here.
