Personnel changes at Faithlife

Paul C said:

MJ. Smith said:

I log onto the forums to get my daily dose of pessimism, paranoia, fear and speculation.

You forgot sarcasm. 

                                                                            WHY? 

Bill Cook said:

This is a signal to me to somehow begin the arduous task of moving my notes out of Logos or at least build some redundancy for them.

This is one reason that I prefer notes that are based on a format that can easily be read outside of the software. Other programs use RTF or in a case or two simple TXT (although that's not ideal with no formatting or links to verses).

I wish Logos would do this.

I would love for the company to prosper, because I have a large library and Logos is important to many Christian academics/ pastors. But as the owner of a large Logos library: If Faithlife were to close, would we be able to access our books? Would I have to keep one computer operating an old operating system just dedicated to Logos? Is there a backup plan in case of catastrophic failure?

I firmly believe that if the company works to serve the Kingdom, the company will be blessed. If the company works to serve Mammon, it will need to face the consequence of its choice.

So please:

(a) Please show us that you care for your employees' well being. You depend on a motivated team to produce the best products. A demoralized team would cascade your ongoing problems.

(b) Stop pushing your employees with sales quota: when they call me, they all desperately wanted me to buy more.  I get really turned off by their sales push. Instead, tell them to help your customers to make wise economic decision based on their particular life circumstance. 

(c) Make your resource competitive price wise. Your sales pitch of search-ability and link-ability do not justify the huge price premium of your products over your competitors. 

(d) Focus on long term profitability rather than rapid expansion: don't be greedy at a time when the rest of the world is heading into a bad recession.

(e) Show that you care about your customers as people rather than as revenue streams only. I appreciate the Christmas deals you gave us recently and the New Year Bible Study Challenge.

(f) Remember where you came from and how you got started. Do not lose your core customer base to your competitors. Continue you generosity to seminary students.

(g) Provide a low cost solution to young evangelicals (apology to users of different traditions): perhaps have a ESV Study Bible or NIV Zondervan Study bible bundled with Lexham free resource at an attractive low price to compete with the leading Bible apps which have extremely high market share. This is the market that you cannot afford to lose. 

Whyndell Grizzard said:

My opinion- if you don't like it ignore it- your comments are an over reach.

If my "comments are an overreach", perhaps, many more people have much to be concern about.

Ronald Quick said:

It was my purchase about 20 years ago of the Nelson Electronic Bible Reference Library ($20) that introduced me to Logos.  As a result, I have continued to upgrade with different base packages and individual resources and collections ...

That was my first contact with Logos as well.

Whyndell Grizzard said:

Whyndell Grizzard said:

t is not only the article that has me concerned, but the Glassdoor remarks- the overall problem that raised its head time after time- poor management techniques - even though this is family owned- I get the impression the lack of a qualified management team may be the issue. Maybe its time to let someone else run the ship, I get this not only from articles but from watching FL now for 2 yrs. to be honest I have some major concerns.

Let me be clear, I am not a spokesperson for Bob or the Faithlife Corp. Nor am I compelled to defend Bob's actions blindly. I believe one can be trusted and yet, verification can be expected and in some cases, demanded. This reality remains in light of all that I have said.

Let's keep it real:

1. Bob is in the chair (CE0).
2. Can we, the customers, remove him? I don't think so.
3. He is a part of the family. Let's trust him to do what is best. 
4. Many have invested (by purchase) great sums into the Logos products. This means something to the customers as well as Bob.
5. Sometimes, you have to give a little to get a little or survivability. This is all that Bob is doing.
6. In a private Family owned business, you are only going to get but so much information of the inner workings and finances of the company.
7. It was trust in the leadership (and products) many brought into Logos. Where is the trust now? Stand with the leadership. Be willing and ready to offer sound advise and counsel (providing it would be accepted) to Bob and the Faithlife Corp. Of course, not one person knows everything.
8. I believe (want to) that Bob and the Faithlife Corp know where to go or what to do if management gets too much for them to handle. Purchasers (long time/ large library holders) must believe that Bob loves this company, as much as, they love and enjoys the Logos Bible Software Products.

Bob,

Change is seldom welcomed. I did not like the changes to the payment plans. Even worse is the loss of my Sales rep, Dave Kaplan. 

I hope there are no more drastic changes in 2016.

Bob Pritchett said:

Our size, our intellectual property, and the very fact that you're active enough users to care if we stick around guarantees that you will be supported. Because you're a huge and substantial business, and even if we make some terrible mistakes and cause 5, 10, 20% of you to run away (please don't!), the remaining 80-95% are still a huge business that someone would find significant enough to take over and run.

If we go completely nuts and destroy more than half the customer base and someones slips on ice and falls and sues us and the business is bankrupted and I have my house forceclosed... the remaining brand / assets / customer base will still be a business in the tens of millions of dollars and a steal for whoever buys it out of the bankruptcy auction.

Hopefully it doesn't come to that but that has been my thoughts have always been the same... worse case it would end up in others hands.... under a new name... Hopefully this whirlwind of speculation will settle down.

-Dan

[Y] I'm not at all worried about Logos' future.

Bob Pritchett said:

I appreciate everyone's concern, and I know that what's being expressed here is normal concern both for your own investment in our tools as well as for the people who were laid off.

I would love to explain to you in detail why you don't need to worry about the company. But it would just be going down a bottomless rabbit hole; there are simply too many moving parts, and too many opportunities for people to misunderstand / get upset / still be missing data.

For example, it would probably reassure many of you that your investment in our tools was secure if I told you that we made $100 million in profit last year. (We didn't!) But then someone would probably think it was unkind to lay people off just to make even more profit. (That would be.) And someone else would think that in that case, we should lower our prices. Etc. etc. etc. One person's reasonable business explanation will be another person's heartless inconsideration. To really judge our actions you'd need to know more than I can ever explain...

We're a significant business, and well established. We (still!) have more than 300 employees and millions of users. It's possible, even in an established business, to have things happen faster than you anticipate, but it's also possible to address things quickly, as we did when we realized we needed to. It's highly unlikely, though, that a company as established as ours -- and with such an active and still purchasing customer base as all of you (thank you!) -- will suddenly 'go out of business.' BlackBerry is still in business. And they've felt 'dead' for years. :-) 

Our size, our intellectual property, and the very fact that you're active enough users to care if we stick around guarantees that you will be supported. Because you're a huge and substantial business, and even if we make some terrible mistakes and cause 5, 10, 20% of you to run away (please don't!), the remaining 80-95% are still a huge business that someone would find significant enough to take over and run.

If we go completely nuts and destroy more than half the customer base and someones slips on ice and falls and sues us and the business is bankrupted and I have my house forceclosed... the remaining brand / assets / customer base will still be a business in the tens of millions of dollars and a steal for whoever buys it out of the bankruptcy auction.

You're going to be fine, and we're going to be here to support you. 

I appreciate the concern as well for the people who were laid off. Rest assured that those of us still at Faithlife share your concern, and more: these people are our friends, our neighbors in a small town, and people we go to church with.

The good news is, they're great people who once made it through our hiring and screening process, and they shouldn't have much difficulty finding new situations. Other local employers have already reached out to me to get connected to these people, and our team is offering what support we can in recommendations, introductions, etc.

This has been a sad and (for me) embarrassing week. There's a lot of speculation / rumor / untruth circulating that I can't fix. There are unhappy former employees (from long ago) who are gloating and goading. I just have to live with that, because it would be futile or simply unkind to respond in detail. There's too much detail and too many people involved.

I made some mistakes (could have caught things sooner, could have addressed payroll issues slowly over the past year instead of needing to do it all at once, etc.) but I also acknowledged the mistakes and dealt with them. Now we're moving forward.

I feel a little compelled to respond here in the forums because, though you're kinder than some local critics, your opinion matters a lot more. I don't want you to stop purchasing out of mistaken fears about our viability; I don't want to 'start a bank run on a healthy bank.' :-)

And I hate even saying that, because it implies that's a risk: it's not. Our customer base is large enough that even if all the forum users stopped purchasing, we'd survive. But I don't want you to stop -- because there's no reason! We're here, we're healthy, and even this painful change is evidence that we'll do what it takes to continue to be here for you, even if means admitting embarrassing mistakes on the front page of the local newspaper.

I don't know how to give you any stronger assurance of our dedication to being here for you than that.

I am delighted by Bob's response. I really enjoy the product and I want the company to thrive. Hence, despite the risk of being flamed on this forum, I decided to speak up. 

I know this thread is being read by lots of Faithlife current and previous employees and I just want to say Thank You to all of you. i do appreciate your hard work and I will keep supporting your work.

I do hope the management team rethink their sales strategy and address the concerns raised in glassdoor regarding lack of communication within the company. I support your company because you have great people working there. And please get rid of the quota or commission system for your sales department: this setup prompted your sales to push us products that we may not need. And it was a big turnoff. I felt so sad when I turned down the desperate plea of one of your sales: I kind of knew that his job was on the line but I really did not need the stuff he was trying to push. Please do not put your people in such sad predicaments. 

I am looking forward to more freebies next Christmas.

Bruce Dunning said:

Bob Pritchett said:

Our customer base is large enough that even if all the forum users stopped purchasing, we'd survive.

That's an interesting thought. It makes me wonder what percentage of Logos uses are forum users.

the blackberry analogy is true.

of all the people I know of, or whose phone number I would have, only one of them has a blackberry, and its provided to him by his job.

But then, of all those same people I only know one guy (that I didn't meet here on the forums, or who isn't or wasn't employed by faithlife) that has Logos. Even among my seminary friends.

Bob Pritchett said:

I feel a little compelled to respond here in the forums because, though you're kinder than some local critics, your opinion matters a lot more.

Bob, here are the four principal tangible results of my opinion:

I'm going to keep my buying strategy exactly the same as before: buy what's worth it to me when it's worth it to me. Your programs and apps do enough well enough and your resource offerings are good enough that I'm happy with my purchases so far and I foresee myself continuing to incrementally expand my presently four-figure investment. The personnel changes thus far don't affect any of this at all, as long as there keeps being competent and kind people when I have cause to send an email. And I'm sure there will be.

I'm also going to keep recommending Verbum, Logos, and Noet to people I think it would benefit. I've already been personally and directly responsible for $1000's in sales that way and I hope to be responsible for plenty more over the years, especially to Catholic Verbum customers.

I'm also going to keep making and supporting resource suggestions and program improvement suggestions.

And I'm going to keep snapping up freebies, as long as you keep offering them.

[:)]

Sine Nomine and Lew pretty well express my views and confidence as well.

Robert Peters said:

As Logos users we really should have saw this coming. Why you might ask? Well because additions to the last couple of months, that almost guaranteed this would happen.  Its things we as Logos users all wanted. We wanted to know what resources we might own or not on on various bundles besides the regular dynamic pricing. We got that. I am almost positive that demonstrated less of a need for more salespeople.  I like dealing with one salesperson, but with the independent users we have, it makes it almost unnecessary to have so many salespeople on staff. I know we do not like it, but when users change their must be a change the business model as well. Logos cannot continue to  go in the direction it is going if it does not make changes to its business model. 

I think you are spot on. I looked back into my order history and, with the exception of the selection and purchase of the initial Verbum package, I generally did not use Verbum sales for any of the upgrades or add-on purchases. In the engagements I had with Sales after the initial purchase, I did not get any solid advice on product or any discount beyond the online price - pretty much just marketing offers.

I suspect you are correct that Faithlife is streamlining its cost of sales by reducing the Sales organization. However, they will need to enhance their digital marketing and online sales, particularly if the number on this thread that 95% of the initial customers never buy an added resource is true. Given its narrow target market, Faithlife needs a recurring revenue stream from its loyal customers through cross-sales like Proclaim, add-on purchases by its perpetual license customers, and/or recurring revenue through a subscription model with Logos Now.

I will continue to buy resources as needed...and obviously take advantage of the free offers!  

Robert Peters said:

As Logos users we really should have saw this coming. Why you might ask? Well because additions to the last couple of months, that almost guaranteed this would happen.  Its things we as Logos users all wanted. We wanted to know what resources we might own or not on on various bundles besides the regular dynamic pricing. We got that. I am almost positive that demonstrated less of a need for more salespeople.  I like dealing with one salesperson, but with the independent users we have, it makes it almost unnecessary to have so many salespeople on staff. I know we do not like it, but when users change their must be a change the business model as well. Logos cannot continue to  go in the direction it is going if it does not make changes to its business model. 

I agree with this. I'm sad for people who have been let go, and who served me well, but it always seemed crazy to me that in 2015 it was cheaper to buy a product through a sales person than to buy it online.

If Faithlife is changing its discount policy so that the price shown online is the best price you can get (which I suspect we all think should be the case), then the need for a large sales staff is much reduced.

Mark Barnes said:

I agree with this. I'm sad for people who have been let go, and who served me well, but it always seemed crazy to me that in 2015 it was cheaper to buy a product through a sales person than to buy it online.

Me too. I rarely used a Sales Rep, and am somewhat offended by the idea that you could get better prices by calling one than I could online. For those of us living multiple time zones away, it was always difficult to get through anyway, even with a UK phone number to call. I didn't initially buy Logos through a Sales Rep and only ever used them when it was a "ring us for a price/offer" promotion. They also presumably accounted for a fair proportion of the Gross Profit in commission and employment costs for those customers who used them, so I can see why it didn't make sense to keep such a large Sales Department. 

There is a linked issue that I think FL needs to consider though: I got into Logos in the first place because I bought a book that had a Libronix CD in the back with a version of the book and the software on it. I also notice from the Forums that quite a lot of others also got the product in the first place via CDs in bookshops, whether as Base Packages or as books in the Libronix format. As this channel is now closed, I wonder how newer users are coming to Logos, and how many potential users are being lost due to the non-availability of CD or USB-based products in the bookshops, at conferences, etc. 

Thank you, Bob, for once again communicating clearly with all of us.  Please allow me to add my name to the chorus of those who agree that having the best prices on the internet is long overdue in today's world. The sales team for FaithLife should be available to answer questions, give advice regarding purchase/value decisions, and otherwise help facilitate purchases. There should never be "secret" prices available only to those who talk to a sales rep. Now that the website displays what is "new to me" with any upgrade or purchase of a bundle, I very much prefer to examine the information myself online and make my own decisions about value to me. Once I have made the decision to purchase something, it is really an inconvenience to have to contact sales "just in case" I could get a further discount by asking.

David Roberts said:

I found this:

https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Faithlife-RVW5973227.htm

It broke my heart

...

I do hope you read Bob's response to that.

Mark Barnes said:

I do hope you read Bob's response to that.

Yes, and I appreciate that, it's just sometimes the truth lies in the middle of two positions, and until today I had a good impression of the Logos team, but all this calls into question some things. Regardless, even if there were/are some bad eggs, I know there are many really awesome people working at Logos. It's just a bit like when people find out their favourite celebrity isn't exactly like you dreamed, you see I deeply truly believe in the mission of Logos and how it can nurture the body of Christ. And when you believe in it's potential and mission as much as I do, you can become nostalgic and view the team as angels. Yes, it's true, I'm infatuated with team Logos. But all this has brought me back to the ground, a place we call reality.

Every story has two sides.... and every person also has a right to a private life... Now the accusation if completely true would be damning and show lack of integrity. But as Bob explained it, it seemed harmless venting in poor taste. Some people like fart jokes some of us find them vulgar and in poor taste. But if an employee in his own sphere wishes to tell them, he shouldn't be penalized for bad taste. In common business policy the customer is always right, but what the customer expects can often be unreasonable. I want better offline capability for the mobile apps. I have been vocal about it, I know one developer who is frustrated at my repeated mentioning of it. Would it bother me if I heard he tweeted something nasty about me in venting to friends. Not really, even if he went off on what personally would feel a not ok attack on my sexuality, again his personal time and private account. 

-Dan

PS: I am in no way trying to accuse said person of any involvement in this alleged matter, just using him and myself. Knowing I could well be an example of someone who might frustrate someone enough to need to vent.