HBR: How Luxury Brands Can Beat Counterfeiters — Important lessons
What are we doing to prevent the risk of counterfeiting in our industry?
I reflect on counterfeiting from the point of view of a service provider. We ourselves being one*. Provider of services, not something transactional, but transformational, life-changing.
For the luxury industry, it has been a constant battle against counterfeiters: There are doctors and quacks. There are good doctors and bad doctors. That is pretty much about all the professionals. But when it is about health, wealth, career or life (as in coaching, therapy), it is a different story altogether.
Can we afford the ‘luxury’ of counterfeiting in our space as professionals, Light Workers resulting in the client being less resourceful? The client may be deprived of the opportunity to move forward too.
It has invested heavily…: In search of “cheaper” options, luxury brands have lowered their guards. In professions where the entry barrier itself is almost non-existent, what are the safeguards for the hapless customer? What can we do about it, what should we do about it?
It lobbies governments to extend enforcement bodies’ powers to seize and destroy fake goods, to prosecute buyers and dealers, and to block access to websites that sell counterfeit goods
- Coaching and other related areas are not controlled by the Government. “To be or not to be?” My yoga teacher is a Bihar School of Yoga alum. One of the purest forms of yoga. But he has got the instructor certificate also, after going through a rigorous evaluation.
- A rigorous evaluation may not guarantee a good professional. But it could be a minimum qualification, just like MBBS is for a doctor? A CA doing a private practice may do well for himself and his client, but not in the best interests of the society.
- Should some ethics not govern all such professions? Can we at least have some strict mechanisms by the respective nodal bodies, as International Coaching Federation (ICF) has? Does it still guarantee the quality? All in the interests of the client and being legal, and also ethical.
- Is Government control the right thing to do? Over 20 deaths were reported today at a ‘coaching’ center at Surat, Gujarat, India :( These coaching centers are not regulated too. These are private educational institutes helping students to face the competitive entrance exams to engineering, law, medical, management colleges. Nothing “coaching’ about it, only downloads.
And then there are the lawyers :) )
What do we do? Luxury products, or services?
To begin with, luxury companies need to reconnect with their roots.
Let us be mindful of changing tastes, and return to the ethics (#I2We2He): There is a shift in emphasis on experience, sustainability, and sharing from products, consumption, and exclusivity.
Connect with the original purpose. Why we are in that space. To serve, nothing else.
What do we do? How do we turn up as a leader, as a professional?
*Regal Unlimited GA LLP is a boutique firm into Leadership/Business/ Executive Coaching, Coach Mentoring/Training, Leadership Workshops, and Healing. www.regalunlimited.com . ROI of Enchantment
