3 Problems With The Business Authenticity Trend & How To Fix Them

Authenticity has become one of the hot words in the business world. You hear about the importance of being authentic at every conference and see marketing with social media getting more personal and “authentic.” It’s a great trend to see, yet we don’t want it to be a business approach that fades away or something professionals use to put on as a facade.

I resonate with the word “genuine” too as it feels more personal. You may connect more with “being real” or “transparency.” Whatever word or words you resonate with doesn’t matter. What matters is how you build strong business relationships and the overall concept. For the sake of this post, let’s stick with authentic.

Here Are The Top 3 Problems With Business “Authenticity” & The Fixes:

1. Pretending To Be Authentic.

Sadly, there are people who just follow the trends to make as much money as possible, putting on a facade to mimic what their prospects are looking for. As a speaker and consultant on video marketing and on camera presence, I see this quite a bit. Many feel the need to put on a show when they’re on stage so to speak, whether it’s from a podium, through video, or in person at a networking event. Simply being aware of this and identifying it for yourself is great, because it’ll save you time and exhaustion from interacting with people you don’t see a long term future with.

The Fix: Be You (Of Course!)

The key is to be comfortable in your own skin and encourage others to do the same. Think about your favorite business connections. Why do you connect with those people so well? It’s because you are yourselves with each other and deliver value to each other, whether it’s through mutual business goals, similar interests and family life, or even a friendship on top of working together.

Do what feels natural for you and keep in mind with what parts of your personality your ideal clients particularly resonate with. Highlighting your greatest features makes it that much easier to establish strong relationships. For myself, I know event planners enjoy my high energy and enthusiasm while engaging their audiences. So I purposely allow myself to get excited with my audience when getting them to take out their smartphones and have fun with video. It fosters my existing relationship with the event planners and lays down the foundation for possible new relationships with audience members who resonate with my content and speaking style.

The Results: No more fake business friendships.

• More stronger, long-term business relationships
• More qualified referrals because of those relationships
• Overall more joy and less stress with business interactions

 

2. Oversharing Unnecessary Information.

Being authentic isn’t about sharing your whole life story. People do like hearing what you’re up to (especially if you’re the face of a company), but just little bits here and there. Even if you’re a consultant where you are your business, your clients and prospects don’t want to hear all the details of your challenges, triumphs, and personal life. They want to hear what’s relevant and beneficial to them that’s connected to what you’re known for.

The Fix: Less Is More Just Better

Share only what’s important to your ideal clients. By being efficient with giving only the information your clients want and need, you’re saving your prospects and clients time as well as your own time. Everyone appreciates saving time not having to navigate through a flood of information. Providing less information to prospects works the same way as giving fewer options in the buying process. More options means more confusion and can turn away buyers. Therefore, more information means more confusion as well, leaving prospects overwhelmed and not ready to buy. So feel free to get a little personal if your audience resonates with it, but keep it short.

I’m all about being efficient and valuing time. I keep my content focused on delivering what my ideal client is looking for. I particularly love and recommend video to my clients as a way to build relationships with the masses. When you’re succinct and focused on one topic in a video with you in front of the camera, you’re making it easy for others to determine you’re a great fit for each other.

The Results: No more pumping out content for the sake of it.

• Save time in content creation
• Clear, concise messaging focused for your target audience
• More qualified leads coming into your funnel

 

3. Missing The Point Of Being Authentic.

You know what I’m talking about. Some people want to be “authentic” to chase the latest business trend in attempt to bring in more income. The reason why being authentic resonates with so many people is because people are sick of wasting time with fake people who don’t have their best interest at heart. Meeting people and seeing speakers at events be real and genuine is so refreshing because we all have had those experiences of interacting with people being deceptive, putting on a facade, or pretending to care about your success. It’s frustrating to waste time building a relationship with someone (business or personal) and then find out that person isn’t who he or she said he or she is. Missing the point of the business authenticity trend is inconsiderate to fellow professionals and doing a disservice to the person him or herself.

The Fix: Remember The Long Term Benefits

You know what type of people you’re looking to connect with and the business goals you have. Always have what’s most important to you in building those relationships top of mind when you’re first meeting someone, because you’re in it for the long term. Ask a couple questions to get to know the person and discover if this person is a fit for you. Is this person someone who’d like to pursue building a long term relationship with? Or is this person someone you should not put in too much effort in staying connected? The latter may sound a little harsh, but really you’re doing both of you a favor because the strongest business relationships are long lasting because they benefit both parties.

When I begin conversations with someone new, whether it’s at one of my speaking engagements or I’m attending an event as a guest, I always find out what that person is passionate about and looking to accomplish. I then see if I can help that person via my speaking or consulting services or my network to find a solution. Asking questions like ‘What are you most excited about lately?’ or ‘What’s your biggest goal this year?’ opens the discussion for me to get to know the person and see if we’re a great fit for each other right away.

The Results: No more stacks of useless business cards.

• Effective plan with networking and relationship building
• Save time at conferences and networking events
• Being a more effective referral partner and enjoying it

It’s fantastic being authentic is becoming much more valued in business. With this growing trend (that’s hopefully here to stay), it’s important to identify the problems that come with it so we can maximize our time and be efficient with achieving our business goals.

What are your thoughts on this growing authenticity in business trend? Where do you think this stems from and how do you use it in your business?

YOUR NEXT STEP:

If you’re looking for guidance to bring out your authentic self on camera and build relationships with the masses, reach out to me via my Contact Page. I’d love to learn about you and see how I can help you achieve your business goals.