This article was written by Jens Chrzanowski, Regional German Director at FCA regulated broker Admiral Markets UK.
Hello.
Jens Chrzanowski, Admiral Markets
Firstly, I’d like to say: “Welcome”! You’ll be hearing from me a lot more from now onwards, if you’d like to. On behalf of Admiral Markets, I’ll be writing a weekly guest article on the “talk of the town”, the rumours and the gossip, interesting issues and all kinds of things that I find interesting and hope that you will too. My entries will be written from my point of view and will and with the words of me. What you see is what you get!
My name is Jens. I’ve been working within the trading industry for over 15 years. Being based in Berlin, I believe I’m quite a ‘typical’ German! I don’t want to talk too much about me here, but I hope we’ll get to know each other a little better week by week.
So, let’s begin…
Fake News. Is there hotter topic at the moment than this stuff?
It may be stealing all of the political headlines currently, but it’s definitely not limited to that sphere. In fact, it’s clear that every industry and business should know how to deal with these ‘alternative facts’.
Our businesses are online these days. It’s not as if the Internet, forums, emails etc. were only just invented, yet over the last one or two years everything seems to have changed. Now, we’re seeing a lot of fake news, fake valuations, feedback and postings, which often feature nasty expletives. Anyone who dares to have a different opinion to you is automatically branded a liar, or even worse. What happened?!
On the one hand, I believe some companies and politicians play the game of idealisation too much, and too much of something can bring the exact opposite effect. Search on any broker webpage, everyone uses terms like “tightest spreads”, “best service” and “best information”. If everybody does so, where’s the difference? More clarity is needed and the real benefits have to be made clear—nobody’s interested in a hundred brokers all offering the “tightest spreads”.
On the other hand, far too often the fake news publisher sees that nothing happens, that there’s no reaction to their efforts. Is this the best reaction? Or, let’s ask a question together: what’s the best way to handle the delivery of news when there’s so much fakery around you?
Our service team in Berlin has discovered that it doesn’t matter how good your service is, you simply cannot satisfy everyone. It’s impossible. But the two or three hundred who don’t like what you’re doing can make a lot of noise. This noise, given enough attention, may seriously damage your reputation.
So, how should you act? Should you delete content/postings where possible, e.g. YouTube/Facebook comments? Or just play dead and not react?
…Maybe you should try offering your own feedback?
We always answer to the feedback we receive, if it makes sense. To any real complaints or real dissatisfaction, as a minimum we’ll always reply with a “sorry” and try to give some tips, or tell the commenter that they’re right and we’ll try to do better in the future. If the comment we receive is too impolite, we engage in a totally opposite manner, i.e. the more ‘ugly’ and angry the comment, the more lovely, gentle and helpful our response. We answer with full transparency, with our full name and an option to reach us directly, by email or physical address.
Our default stance is to act gently, even if the other person isn’t treating us that way.
Complaints and ugly feedback can be taken seriously, but if you “show your face”, show that you’re not a robot or an anonymous “anybody working for anybody”, that will help a lot.
I don’t believe that a company can perfect the “Eierlegende Wollmilchsau”, as we say in Germany—an all-in-one device/person suitable for every purpose. No client or complainer can believe the same thing. You don’t gain more clients or more business by telling people something about yourself that isn’t true. Honesty is the best policy. In the long run only the real will rule!
Our world is more complex and complicated than ever before, which is why people continue to put their faith in others, like they’ve always done. If you believe in a person and how they act, you believe and hope that this person will manage things in good order, even the most complex issues. That’s why election posters usually feature the face of a politician, rather than a whole list of the complex policies that they’re standing for.
Show your face, show your name, act gently and in manner that you’d like to be treated. By doing this, the fake news will decrease and become may only a short-term phenomenon.
Take a look at your sales guy or brand ambassador and ask yourself, “would I buy a used car from this person?!”. If you can say “YES!”, you’re already halfway there! And if not: are you really surprised about our topic here?
Every business, regardless of industry, is out to make a profit. Even our used car salesman wants to get the best deal. But that deal will only be done if both parties have trust in one another.
It’s so simple. So easy. A truth that’s existed in the sales and trading world for a thousand years. But maybe the online world has forgotten that simple lesson a little bit. So, let’s show we are real, we have a face, a voice and a name—through our webpages.
From now on, I’ll be showing my face, voice and name regularly for LeapRate. So, see you next week!
Do you have feedback, concerns, requests, likes? I’d love to hear! Contact me via: [email protected]
* Trading on leverage carries risk.