Tag: customers

Authentic

Posted on by philipdodson

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Authentic, what does this mean? Well, the dictionary definition is – not being false, being genuine, being real.

It’s weird then, that we need to be told to be authentic really. It has become a real buzz word in this brave new world of the start-ups and entrepreneurship (more buzz words). We often hear ‘experts’/’guru’s’/’advisors’/’mentors’ saying ‘be authentic’.

But why wouldn’t you be authentic? Does this imply that before that people were all liars, cheats, untrustworthy and generally manipulative?

Well in varying degrees yes. Perhaps liars or cheats is harsh, although there have been a few to be honest.

The old school mentality is one of manipulation, either of the employee, the customer, the voter, the pupil and so on. We live in a world full of manipulations.

The real successes stories however, are always about the genuine, real and authentic. They never had to be told to be that way, as that’s how they have always been and always will be.

So be yourself always and don’t succumb to the manipulative world that surrounds us, be different and think different.

Don’t bother selling…..there is no point

Posted on by philipdodson

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If you have to sell your product or service, then you have failed.

Successful businesses create things that people want and they attract the right customers by telling the world why their particular business exists.

If you have got to the need to sell, then your product/service has failed to inspire, it has simply become a commodity and there will be little or no loyalty from the customers that you manipulate to purchase it.

Sales should be renamed manipulation. If you are at the stage of having to engage in strategies (tactics) to get someone to buy, then they haven’t seen the value.

All that will happen is that you will use discounts, add-ons, promo’s etc. Essentially you will be bribing your customer to purchase. Bribery works for a while, but it isn’t sustainable, as sooner or later your competitor will come along with a bigger bribe.

What we should all be doing is marketing our values, our reason for ‘being’ to our potential audience to inspire them to do business with us.

Inspiration effectively communicated, will last a lifetime in some cases, a manipulation, a sales tactic, will motivate for as long as the bribe is better than someone else’s.

Inspiration, combined with marketing, is the route to success in business in a connected world, where people have grown tired of being sold too and are growing ever more tired of manipulations.