If your very first sentence in an email lacks candor, what am I to think of the rest of your message?

Today I received the following email:

“Hello!

My name is Stein XXX XXXXX, CEO of X XXXXXXX, and I want to personally thank you for being a part of….”

Stein, how can you “personally” thank me when we have never met, even virtually, and you don’t know my name?  I now have to question everything else you offer and promise in your email and your brand itself.

Personally? Really? Your staff sent this email to a thousand or ten thousand former customers you would like to get back.  That’s fair and legitimate, and frankly, smart.

However, stop trying to pretend we live in Mayberry and you’ve known me all my life.  You’re not Floyd the barber nor Goober, and I’m not Barney nor Opie.  You don’t know me personally and that’s OK.  We operate in a global economy.  Today we never meet many of the people we do business with.  Just be authentic about it.  Otherwise, how can I trust you?

-Andrew T. Gardener, CFP®