Mine Is The Best!!!...Or Is It?

“My company makes the best candles!” This was a claim I heard from a few distributors from another candle company, which shall remain nameless. For about three months, scarcely a week went by without my opening my in box to emails from eager distributors who wanted to prove to me that their candle was the BEST on the planet!

Finally, out of curiosity I asked one person to please send me one of her candles so I could try it for myself. I eagerly awaited my package, because as the saying goes; “Ten thousand Frenchmen can’t be wrong”. I was beginning to think that we were in serious trouble here if all these eager distributors were right!

My package arrived on time and as I unpacked it I noticed the first of many major differences…I could not smell anything emanating from the box. Strike One. "When I received my first order from ……., I got really excited because I could smell the candles even before I opened the box. I sat my candle on the table for a few days and thoroughly enjoyed the scent even before I burned the candle.”

I lit up the 20-ounce jar candle (Grandma’s Cookies) and prepared to enjoy the scent and the ambience. I was in for a disappointment because after burning the candle for the recommended four hours, there was no scent…only a flame! Strike Four. "I lit my first ……. candle, placed it on my fireplace and turned some music on and was running around the house doing some housework. Twenty minutes later, the entire house was filled with an aroma!”

The biggest letdown came when I blew the candle out. There was an overwhelming smell of soot, which took about ten minutes to dissipate! Strike Three. “The 1st thing that sold me was the jar sitting there with black soot all over it and it hadn't burned evenly. The …… jar was next to it, no soot and had burned evenly! How disgusting that other candle jar was and imagine what my walls, TV, picture frames, curtains and other items in my house would look like. I was hooked.”

For the record, the captions in bold are testimonials from customers who currently burn my candles.

I did burn the candle in its entirety in order to give a thorough opinion to the person who sent it to me.

Let your product speak for itself. Third party opinions are very valuable when promoting a product or service. Do not fall into the ‘mine is better than yours’ trap. This premise can also be applied to all areas of your life. When you live your life with authenticity, others will heap praise on you without solicitation. Remember… “Self praise is no recommendation”.