Is your business with or without wax?

Is your business with or without wax?

… and just as important, what do your customers think?

I did a talk this week for a group of successful businessowners on internet marketing. I revealed why most internet marketing fails to deliver the results that most were led to believe. In a meeting I had afterwards, a business client was telling me about how he was promised the moon and delivered garbage instead. This is an all to common problem many unsuspecting businessowners are falling prey to. (side note, never confuse rankings with results)

In a relatively short period of time I explained what caused the bad results. You could see his whole energy shift from confusion to contentment as he got it. I won't get into the details of what happened or what he was missing, I will tell you this, ONE of the missing components was congruency.

I learned something interesting at church last week. The Pastor was talking about sincerity. Like many, I've been taught to be sincere since I was a young boy. But what I didn't know, what was completely new to me was the origin of the word.

"Sincere" is derived from the Latin words: "sine" and "cera". Sine means "without" and cera means "wax". So "sincere" means "without wax".

In ancient Greece or Rome, dishonest sculptors and merchants would cover flaws in their work with wax to deceive the consumer. They would use wax to cover up cracks in their work and would be able to make their pottery or sculptures appear better than they really were and thus would charge a higher price. The customer would get screwed. Therefore, anything that was honest and pure would be tagged "sine cera", or "without wax".

Have you ever seen a business that looks good from the outside but when you get into it, you find they used wax? A client of mine was researching a vendor he was considering using. From the outside the vendor looked beautiful. Bright. Shiny. Clean. Said all the right things and made him feel good. Fortunately my client is a wise businessowner and through his due diligence found a whole bunch of wax. Saved himself a whole bunch of money and headaches.

So how does this apply to you?

2 things,

First, check yourself. Make sure you are without wax. Meaning you don't try to come off as something you're not. I worked with a number of big name speakers, several you would know. Sadly many of them were not the same off stage as they appeared to be onstage. The Canadian Rock Trio, Rush, said "all the world's a stage and we are merely players" (Shakespeare said that too). Just be sincere in who you are. Don't be the overhumble guy that downplays himself to his own advantage. Also don't make yourself appear to be bigger or something your not just to win a piece of business. Don't worry about others that do this. Sure they may get a piece of business for now, but they will get what's coming in due time.

Secondly, check your business. You may be "without wax" but is the rest of your company? For example, sometimes sales people can over-promise and under-deliver to win a deal. I've witnessed this many times in sales. I recommend calling in to your business and see how you are being treated. Are the things that are being said true? Do they match the values of your business? Call some of your customers yourself and survey them. Find out from their perspective.

One way of avoiding having your customer wonder if you are with or without wax is to be very clear and upfront about who you are, who you're for, and you aren't for. (Simple tactic: don't do this in a pure sales-y, all-inclusive way, but in a legitimate, defining way)

How can you tell if someone is with or without wax? One way is to look for consistency over time.

Hope you enjoyed this.

Blessings