When Gary Vaynerchuck first started his Wine Library TV show...
He initially thought it’s going to be like QVC for wine. He thought he was going to come on camera… he’d be tasting wines from their retail store... and then selling people into buying what he was demonstrating.
But then he realized… These videos were going to stay on the internet forever. He can’t lie about wines or fake it for the sake of increased sales...
He can’t say how great a particular wine is and running the risk of somebody buying it and having a bad experience with it. That would ruin his reputation.
And so, Gary made a decision: He was only ever going to say exactly what he felt, no matter what.
Which meant, he’d have to give bad reviews to the wines they were selling in their retail store if he thought they were low quality... And the vineyards they worked with might not be happy about it.
But because Gary was impartial and honest with his opinion… ultimately, the vineyards understood he was just saying, “Make better wine."
See, when you have a business that’s a middleman between a product or service and the end buyer… like Gary selling wines to consumers… or, perhaps, you’re helping people buy pre-construction condos… or whatever...
When you have a business like that and you want to start communicating with your prospects, educating and motivating them...
You have to decide whether you’re going to be an opinion leader or a fact purveyor…
You have to decide whether you’re going to be an opinion leader or a fact purveyor…
In other words, you have to make an editorial decision whether you’re going to send out reports with just facts and new market data… or you’re also going to give ratings and your opinion on stuff.
Because the thing is, whichever way you decide to go... there’s going to be ramifications.
If your top priority is to maintain your relationship with, say, vineyards... then you're only going to focus on things that make vineyards look good. Talk only about all the glowing stuff…
On the other hand, if you decide your commitment and sense of responsibility falls over to the end buyers, to your clients… then you may say things that are opinion based. And your suppliers might not like very much...
But at the end of the day, you have to decide who you want to be a hero to. Because when you do that, and you’re honest about it...both sides will respect you for it.