Who are you, really?

A few weeks ago, I was in contact with a company which caught my interest. They had developed a model for connecting buyers and sellers worldwide, for a recreational product that involved being outdoors, setting up marketing plans, meeting other enthusiasts and having to opportunity to ride my motorcycle in the daily work. I was very interested.

We each did some due diligence on the other and they agreed to work with me and I with them once I had reviewed their paperwork and had several more of my questions answered. 

I waited a week, then two, and finally got an email describing how their main focus was first class customer service and that for some reason they had not been able to get my questions answered and forward me any formal agreement for me to review.

In business, our reputations, for knowing what we know, using that knowledge to serve our clients, to prevent them from making mistakes, to act as their advocates, protecting their interests...those reputations are ALL we have. Every day, we are either proactively building our reputations or resting on our laurels, hoping that what we've done in the past will be enough to gain the confidence of those we want to interact with today.

My work in organizational development began with discovering some of the organizations I worked with were not who they claimed to be. The promises they made in advertising, or through conversations with prospects were not the promises they could keep.  Really good marketing can only convince prospects to try your product or service one time.  From then on, you better be who you say you are, or the customers will quickly discover the authenticity gap.

The company in which I showed considerable interest, was not who they said they were. Any level of communication and service they claimed to offer was completely overshadowed by the facts of their poor interaction with me.  I chose not to move forward based on our interactions in the past.

Authenticity is the only thing that works today.