What are clients really buying?

Suzanne Mercier - Sunday, July 19, 2009

     With the benefit of hindsight, I realise I’ve been shortchanging myself in my career for the past 30 years.  Every time I got close to being successful, I would switch directions.  The most common reason for this was that other people were starting to work in the same area and I thought I had to be unique in my Intellectual Property for someone to want to work with me.  So, I moved from branding and positioning to marketing strategy to business strategy to personal development to employee engagement and to my current focus which is personal authenticity, Authentic Leadership and what gets in the way. 

     What motivated me was the belief that I needed to be unique for all the right reasons.  That hasn’t changed.  What has changed, though, is my realisation that very rarely do we have completely original thoughts.  They are usually extended from the great thinking of the giants who came before us.  And others will base their thinking on ours, if it’s good enough.  So, I can’t stop others from communicating on the same subject.  Indeed, why would I want to if I am truly dedicated to making a difference in the world. 

     The only way I can truly meet my need to be unique is to be me.  Others don’t do me as well as I do (assuming they would even want to) and vice versa.  

     So, what are our clients buying?  When there are 10 or 100 or more of us communicating on the same topic, how are they going to choose the right person to work with them?  The answer is that once the objective criteria is met, the decision will be based on who we are and how we make them feel.  The power of personal authenticity is that they get a true read on who we really are.

     What do you think of personal authenticity and what clients are buying?  I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks.
Suzanne