USA Today asks about fake products hurting your reputation

The Tuscany region is facing a different type of reputation attack. Millions of bottle of low-quality fake wine are flooding the market–potentially damaging the great name of Tuscan wines.

Reputation Refinery spoke to the USA Today about the issue:

Andy Beal, a U.S.-based reputation management consultant, said regional officials appear to be doing everything they can to reduce any backlash from the recent scandals, including the safeguards Bindocci described. But risks still remain.

“When a reputation is damaged, it happens quickly,” Beal said. “The time to take action is before — to strengthen the reputation of the region and the products. All signs are that they are doing what they can, but if the bad things keep happening, there will be a tipping point. And once that happens, it becomes much more difficult to confront.”

When you discover someone passing off poor copies of your product, you can’t afford to ignore it. The customer may not know that the product is fake, so instead will just assume you’ve let your standards drop.