Change Implementation Techniques for Forming Transitional Team, Creating Alignment, Maximizing Connectedness and Creativity

Technique 8.7 Seven Drivers of Authenticity

Customers want authenticity and there are 7 drivers of authenticity. Answer the following questions by circling "yes", "maybe" or "no" to determine the degree of authenticity of your product and/or service:

1. Does your product and/or service have heritage

e (product and/or service's history and longevity)?

2. Are people familiar with your product and/or service (the number of people who know of the product and/or service)?

3. Is your product and/or service very useful, ie personal utility (the usefulness of the product and/or service)?

4. Is your product and/or service original (has the product and/or service brought something new and different to the market?)

5. Has your product/service become quickly known, ie momentum (how quickly is the product and/or service becoming known and popular)?

6. Do you have a good relationship with your customers, ie sincerity (how good is the relationship with the customer)?

7. Are people very familiar with what your product and/or service does, ie declared benefits (are people familiar with what the product and/or service does?)

The more "yes" answers, the higher the perceived level of authenticity attached to your product and/or service; "maybe" and/or "no" answers demonstrate areas for improvement.

The importance of the individual drivers of authenticity depends upon what the customer is looking for.

Some observations about authenticity

- you don't have to be old to be authentic

- originality is a key to authenticity but the wrong kind of originality, eg novelty for novelty's sake, can be damaging

- need to engage both the head and the heart

- products and/or services need personalities and beliefs that people can relate to

- practise what you preach

Six current trends are related to authenticity

i) reality (products and/or services need to be related to reality)

ii) holistic (mind, spirit and body approach to living that seeks total well-being through balance within self, community and world)

iii) artisan (a return to handcrafted, one-of-a-kind objects, services and activities that express personal style)

iv) Gaia (beliefs and behaviour that reflect the idea of earth being a living, breathing and feeling organism)

v) health monitor (using science and medicine as the answer to health issues, from life-threatening to life-enhancing)

vi) memory marketing (using history as an active resource; recycling from our collective past)

It has being claimed that as customers go towards a highly processed, faster, more technological lifestyle, the more they want "grounding", ie the more human end of the spectrum. Rather than being balanced, there is a more of a swing from one pole to another, ie from more technology to more wholesome and clean, etc.