There is a lot of bullshit in the domain industry.
From claims of sizable sales under NDA, to ball-busting brokers bragging big bucks, to broken promises about PPC performance.
But don’t worry, there is one domain industry company that cares, and offers no bullshit: Gandi.
The French domain registrar changed its motto recently to “No Bullshit” and they claim to stand by what they promise.
Why “No Bullshit”?
- We are honest about what we do; we will be straightforward in how we deal with you.
- We will not exaggerate or over complicate our claims of value to our customers.
- We will give you what we promise to give you.
- If we make mistakes, we will apologize and make good.
- If we’re ever hypocritical we will admit it, and clean up our act.
- We will listen to you, and be honest in our replies, even if it means you won’t always like what we say.
- We expect you to treat us the same way.
The company sent out an email to all employees, stating that the “No Bullshit” approach is not just a tag line, but a way of life for the company’s culture:
The declaration of “No Bullshit” on our website is a message to everyone, both inside and outside our company about how we aspire to be. It does not say that we are perfect, but it does say that we promise to do everything we can to defend our values, which are honesty and transparency. We are not saying that we never make mistakes!
This constant internal effort is in my eyes a major part of who we are. This is particularly true in a world where many companies (even those that are questionable) self-proclaim to be clean, organic, green… not because these are the values that they believe in, but because they’ve jumped on the bandwagon.
We are not one of those companies. We believe that integrity in these values should be the norm, and we aspire to act in a way that is consistent with them. Being honest with our customers, focusing on the long term for our business, and entering into a relationship of trust with people that we ourselves identify with: this is who we want to be.
It’s important to understand the context for how we arrived at “No Bullshit”: A commitment on our part, and a declaration of our faith in the values that we know to be important. This is also a way for us to stand out from others, a way for our voice to be heard, to be quickly identifiable, in a way that is alternative and not without some degree of provocation, but one that I hope will remain positive.
And we can already see that there are gaps to fill: many of you have identified written and verbal communication that needs to be corrected, processes that need to be re-examined, areas where we still need to do better in order to uphold this commitment.
Keep it up! Don’t lose sight of this mission, because this company is what we make of it.
Stephan Ramoin
President of Gandi
Hat tipe: Dale G.
