Trust is Earned
Photo: Alvaro Serrano
This Friday, a friend of mine had regretfully told me that Mr. Luo’s column ha ceased to update after nearly four months since its stunning hit of prelude.
As explicitly expressed in my previous articles, I hold great esteem for Mr. Luo when he strived to revive the smartphone industry and rejuvenate innovation and competitiveness. Five years of painstaking efforts is no humble achievement. His bigoted personality and sheer perfectionism constitute the faze and craftsmanship when One Step and Big Bang made their spectacular debut several years ago.
Nonetheless, an enterprise could and would never be thriving without sufficient capital investments.Along the road, he has gone great lengths to sustain his ambition and a group of like-minded souls. This time, becoming a columnist is a timely remedy.
Before its brand new Smartisan product release in May, he decided to cooperate with another contrarian Mr. Luo. Their agreement rocked the industry thanks to the one-year column dubbed asEntrepreneurial Journals. This strategic move had come a long way towards the lustrous presentation and continuous delivery of Jianguo Pro.
At that time, I was mesmerized by their long but honest conversation and then decided to root for him as well as to digest his original and genuine experience. Besides, it was my golden opportunity to tap into the excellent industrial design and user interaction paradigms which continue to amaze the world.
However, there are some concerns on the quality and delivery of his syllabus. Judging from his attitude towards everything and his working habits, it would be a miracle that he successively writes everything that is promised in one year.
The incident was somehow nothing extraordinary, however it would unquestionably disgruntle some subscribers. A wave of criticism and doubts have long bombarded him when he incessantly fails to honor his daily column.
In his farewell letter to all the subscribers, he sincerely apologized for his unexpected time investment in delivering the best he could. At the same time, the promising businesses and subsequent priorities that had put his company in the right track forced him to abandon other trivialities. It is implicitly clear that the new release of Jianguo Pro has gone through the roof.
To my gratitude, at the end of his public apology, he shows tremendous respect and admiration to all the writers that deliver valuable content on daily basis from his true experience with iGet teams.
To my regret, Mr. Luo drops his pen as a transformational precursor and charges to the battlefield again without respites.
At the thought of this news, I hurriedly gather some reactions from the official forum, only to find that a multitude of subscribers vary on this discontinuation.
For the record, I am always the listener in the comment section, but it delights me when I thumb pages to discover the whole story and their sentimental reactions. As far as I am concerned, it is a crucial step to walking into the road of Reason.
A majority of subscribers lament and encourage Mr. Luo to continue his column, even if it becomes a weekly journal. In their eyes, it is with reason that he has other lucrative business priorities, such as contacting with the new investors in Chengdu or maneuvering the next breathtaking smartphone. Some of them even claim that all the articles and methods have deserved more than the single investment of 199 yuan.
Some of the comments are suspicious of the mutual trust between subscribers and writers as well as the desperate measures that iGet teams take in desperate circumstances. There have been about four weeks since Mr. Luo’s last update, but they are clueless as to the reasons of this abnormal cessation. After days of protests in the forum, neither an official announcement nor Mr. Luo himself had been so kind to explain the episode. Their faith and credit were gradually undermined.
Some of them are extremely rational to offer a series of pragmatic solutions to tackle the conflict. Since it is the first time that a column is supposedly to break everyone’s expectation, there has to be a way that could satisfy all parties in the end.
Admittedly, their perspectives are divided but valuable. However, in my opinion,the discontinuation of a product is detrimental the brand and contract spirit of all parties.
At face value, this drama definitely kills two birds with one stone:
Mr.Luo breaks down his capital shackles when he signed the contract and then refocuses on the smartphone again.
iGet team attracts tremendous attention and users in this marketing strategy.
Paid subscribers, on the other hand, not only have the luxury of learning all the published articles but also get reimbursements and coupons.
However, for a column product, discontinuation is the most destructive practice, which are bound to unleash potential harm to the contract among products, companies and users.
I am convinced that most users are dedicated to systematically learning knowledge in one field when they decide to pay for a column product. Every time the contract is broken, the trust will diminish at the same time.When he is encouraged to pay again, would he be more cautious and demanding in the delivery of the products?
Therefore,the overriding trust between products and users are reciprocal.It is hard to earn trust in one scenario, and it is ten times harder to sustain trust in the long run.
Despite the fact that economic loss is not so severe when it comes the contract, but its serious impact is going to be gradual and incremental.
The predominant characteristic of a column rests on the thriving and teeming vigor that has been deeply invested in daily articles. If readers cease to be interested in your work, there will be no value in both business and product.
This is the lesson that I learn from the discontiuation of Mr. Luo’s column:
When you are destined to do something, please keep your pace and deliver your work constantly because trust is earned through your action.
Hope you are all inspired.
