Synthetic relationships.

• Author: Hall, Robert
• Position: Marketing Solutions - Brief Article

We have become saturated with things synthetic. Instead of the natural or genuine we are surrounded by the artificial and contrived. With the help of science, technology and promotion, plus a dash of ethical abandonment here and there, we can synthetically create just about anything: fat-free potato chips, no-interest car loans, steroid-enhanced home runs, contrived-crisis reality shows, unprincipled financial audit reports, financial analysts' "buy" recommendations du jour, and yes, manufactured revenue and earnings growth.

Synthetic products can have some value: In the field of medicine they can be life saving. But in some areas, substituting synthetic for real is deceiving at best and destructive at worst. The term "stockbroker" is not intended to signify making the customer "broke." The "attest function" for auditors is not meant to attest to their desire for more consulting business.

The downside of synthetic relationships

Nowhere is the synthetic more galling than in the area of consumer "relationships." Letters, phone calls and ringing doorbells used to signal someone you knew. Now, as often as not, they signal someone who pretends to know you. Customers are becoming painfully informed about the economics of trustless relationships:

* Synthetic relationships often offer products, services and solutions that have side effects--costs--that are hidden or hard to discern.

* Deceiving offers and claims result in a marketplace that is more cynical and distrustful--which drives up marketing costs and passes them back to customers.

* Synthetic relationships require a high investment of energy to protect your interests. This situation lowers the satisfaction of shopping and doing business.

* Customers are hungry, in certain parts of their lives, for what is real--fox what can be trusted to deliver substantive value.

Instead of these artifices, what is real? Word of mouth from family and friends--he trusted words of those who know you.

The crux of relationship is not in tricking people into thinking you know them better than you do. it is about knowing, being known and trusting someone to competently make a priority of your interests. What good is information if...