It’s all about trust.
Imagine Superman teaming up with Matilda’s Dad.
Think Danny DeVito from the 1996 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Matilda. Then add Clark Kent and have both selling to you as a genuine sales team.
As bizarre as this sounds, it’s exactly what I experienced the other night.
Oh boy, did it teach me a thing or two about why maintaining trust is vital.
I had been following Superman, (not the Superman) but I’m calling him this because I think, (thought?) he’s pretty amazing.
He has groundbreaking knowledge and wisdom in his area of expertise. I’ve watched him grow from a man sitting on a sofa in a t-shirt, talking to us through YouTube, to delivering what is essentially a life changing course.
This man has walked his talked and delivered.
I don’t think I’m bigging him up too much; he has created something phenomenal. It is changing my life, as in seriously changing it, and he’s given so much away for free, that I didn’t mind spending the money on his products.
That was until last night.
Until he did a webinar to sell his latest course and used the services of Matilda’s Dad.
In the story, Matilda’s father is a used car salesman. He puts saw dust in the gear boxes and winds back the clocks with a screw driver, before selling clapped out cars to unsuspecting customers. He is vile, brash and oozes all the worst traits of salespeople that think they are great, but are in fact terrible.
Last night the webinar version was all that. He used every marketing trick in the book to highlight scarcity, to highlight fear, and the fear of missing out.
What transpired over 45 minutes, (I couldn’t watch the entire webinar, it was too painful) was a display of incongruence to the highest degree. There was a man that I felt was authentic ( Superman), overshadowed by slime.
It was actually quite obscene.
What then felt more obscene was the fact that it then robbed me of two hours of sleep.
I lay awake trying to figure out why this had bothered me so much. Why was I now questioning Superman.
I was so uncomfortable watching something that I was wholly unprepared for, I logged out early.
I was ready for a Q&A as advertised, not a hard sell. I was ready for watching a guy I admire talk about his area of expertise.
During those two hours of robbed sleep, I worked out what was going on.
Firstly, he didn’t deliver what he had promised us. He mislead us.
Secondly, he seemed OK with Matilda’s Dad doing his hustle.
Superman smashed up his brand of authenticity in front of me and instead of allowing the product to sell itself becasue of the benefits we would gain, he allowed a man to come in and openly manipulate.
It was also evident that while he was spinning his speil, Matilda’s Father was mentally counting the dollars and morphing into Gollum as he did so.
I had a front row seat to this.
I know we are all human, and I know that to join forces with a salesman, if sales are not your area can be a good idea.
But to blow up the trust? To have people come away feeling physically worse from a webinar?
No.
Superman is selling psychological help. He is selling authenticity. Yet I am now questioning this, because if he can choose to work with Matilda’s Father, how authentic is he?
Do I give him the benefit of the doubt, and state, well, it’s business, we all fuck up, and this is one fuck up I hope he learns from? I hope he reads the comments that were left in the chat, and I hope he decides that having Matilda’s Father on view is not congruent with his brand.
Had I put him on too higher pedestal?
This could be a possibility. After all, calling him Superman is probably telling in itself. Perhaps I had invested too much in him and so when he showed his clay feet, it was really tough to see.
Am I judging him on one performance and this is cancelling out all the good? Another possibility.
Whatever the reasons, I felt sad coming away from the webinar because I have lost trust in a person I thought was trustworthy. I have lost trust in a brand I thought was authentic.
I have no problem with him making money, in fact I hope Superman makes a lot, because he deserves it for the work that he has already done.
But I don’t know if I want to continue on the journey with him.
I’m doing my best to learn from his mistakes. I thank him for the lesson in trust and how important maintaining trust is. I can apply this to my endeavours and be on the watch out for any incongruence in my own brand.
So, lessons learnt:
Build the trust, be authentic, and don’t blow it by bringing in Matilda’s Dad to hustle for you.
