“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side-by-side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.” (Excerpt from the Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Wilson)

So I think you know what I’m going to ask next: Is your company Real? Sure, every company wants to be Real. But Real takes courage. Real isn’t for companies that “break easily, or have sharp edges or have to be carefully kept.”

Most companies aren’t ready to be Real. They like to keep customers at arms length. They can talk the Real talk, but when it comes to walking it… there’s nothing.

Being Real with and to your customers is scary. But it can result in loving you – even when your hair is falling out and your eyes are gone. In other words, they will love you and stick with you through the hard times, through the times that there are new “toys” (to keep with the theme) are introduced into your world. Being Real takes time. It doesn’t happen all at once. It’s a process for you to invest in your customers before they invest in you. But is it worth it?

Without a doubt.

(Inspired by Brains on Fire’s inter-office book, Tequila Shots)

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