Let me start by saying I know absolutely nothing about running a business, or being an entrepreneur.
I know that Faithlife does far more than simply develop Logos, and there are many other facets to the business that Bob has to run on a daily basis.
I am sympathetic about how difficult it is to do one thing well. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to start new endeavors (such as the Mobile Ed offering for churches), and try to keep everything else running smoothly.
But I wonder if all the unresolved issues are tiny cracks that will eventually lead to some failure in the business, because no one has the time to address these (lower-priority) outstanding problems, due to the ongoing number of currently active issues that people currently have to address.
For example, here are a few specific concerns that I see taking place, with no resolution in sight.
- Older books pulled from the store, when no newer edition is live yet. E.g., The Moody Handbook of Theology. (The old product is no longer sold sold yet is still in use, even by new Mobile Ed courses that shipped last month. The newer edition is still in pre-pub.)
- Mobile Ed subscription offerings don't regularly change. There was no new course for October, and apparently only one new course for November. Why subscribe if the majority of the content rarely changes.
- Publisher contracts not favorably (re)negotiated. For example, Zondervan collections can't be discounted, can't be included in bundles, or can't have dynamic pricing? The time for a customer to discover that a collection (such as WBC) isn't dynamically priced, should be before they purchase a volume from the collection.
- Mobile Ed courses need to be updated. We're either told it won't happen -- we are stuck with the course as it is -- or that it eventually will get done. Saying that Mobile Ed "recommends Platinum" is inadequate, since many requirements which did come with L6 aren't in L7.
- Mobile Ed courses ship, but some of its resources aren't available. This should be caught by FL before the product ships.
- No favorable pricing yet for Mobile Ed resources. While it's something you've acknowledged, why are resource bundles offered for "certificates," yet not for individual courses? (You already offer discounts when people buy additional items along with a base package. Why not a discount for course resources along with its mobile ed course?)
- Discounts for academics, and referral program coupon codes, yet no (volume) discounts for people who eventually spend tens of thousands, yet aren't in school. Having to jump through hoops with inbound sales on a call-by-call basis is bothersome.
Ideally, if there could be some sort of check in place that warns when if a product being pulled from the store (or from a base package) if Mobile Ed requires it, that would head off 1/2 the problems on the list.
Resolving some of these issues would not only improve the quality of your products, it would also benefit the satisfaction of your customers (and lead to more word-of-mouth recommendations).
I am thankful for FL/Logos, for many reasons, including supplying us a forum where we can report issues. Perhaps all I really need is to know that someone has seen and logged an issue for another department to follow up, instead of left wondering if it ever will be addressed.
