In a world of increasingly commercialized activity-intentionally staged and technologically mediated-our Christian and seeker marketplace wants to experience what is truly genuine. This challenge can be best defined as the "management of the customer perception of authenticity." To be blunt: You must get real and not just claim you're real.

James Gilmore, co-author of The Experience Economy, contends in his latest book, Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want (Harvard Business School Press), that you and I must learn to manage authenticity as a distinct business discipline.

What people desire today are neither goods nor services, but experiences that engage them in a personal and memorable way. I'm not referring to the experience that might come about through a coffee shop in your store or a company having pep rallies in its factory celebrating hitting its objectives, but something deeper. What about celebrating that someone has come to Christ in your store, or holding a Jesus prom, a full-blown party inviting the "disadvantaged" of your community?

How can each of us contribute toward the authenticity of our store or company? Perhaps we can learn from inside our industry by looking at C28 stores-where seekers come and now more than 14,000 people have been brought to Christ-or outside at Williams-Sonoma, which always engages customers interactively with cooking classes and new kitchen tools.

Web sites are also a part of your company's or store's image. View your Web site as an integral part of your Gilmore's "Placemaking Portfolio," the set of real and virtual places where customers can experience exactly what your store or company is, experiencing the authentic.

The "emerging church," defined by an interest in the authenticity of the New Testament church, also has lessons to teach us. The church I attend, Flatirons Community Church in Lafayette, Colo.-known as the "me, too" church, meaning we are all imperfect people seeking Christ-is restoring real faith and making an authentic difference as it welcomes the broken and aims to help the community at large.

As you look to the success of our industry and your part in it, ponder the value of authenticity, considering it a cornerstone to your business.

Rick Tocquigny
CEO
Artbeat of America/Gracefully Yours Cards

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