{"id":1167,"slug":"rule-build-candid-audited-reputation-infrastructure","title":"R6 — Build Candid's own audited-reputation infrastructure (GuildQuality-style for marketing-agency-for-trades); the category lacks one — structural-hole opportunity","kind":"rule","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","candid-team"],"topics":["social-network-theory","signalling-theory"],"reference_body":"**Rule:** Adopt and publicly maintain the analogue of GuildQuality's surveying methodology: **a third-party-administered, all-customer-included client satisfaction survey, with response thresholds, a \"Likely to Recommend\" benchmark, and disqualification rules for omission.**\n\n**Why:** The cost of building this signal is high — that is **precisely why it would be valuable** in a Spence sense ([[spence-1973-job-market-signaling]]). The marketing-agency-for-trades category does not currently have such an audited body. There is a **structural-hole opportunity** in Burt's sense ([[burt-structural-holes-1992-2004-broker-advantage]]) for the first firm to build one.\n\n**How to apply:**\n- Phase 1: Engage a third-party surveying provider (GuildQuality itself, if their methodology covers vendor-services or via parallel offering; or commission one). Survey all current Candid clients with a defined threshold (e.g., ≥85% Likely-to-Recommend over rolling 12 months with ≥X responses).\n- Phase 2: Publish the methodology + the threshold + the current result publicly. The methodology being audit-defensible is the load-bearing element.\n- Phase 3: Pitch the methodology to peers in the marketing-agency-for-trades space as a **category-wide standard**. Becoming the standard-setter is a stronger position than being the first holder of the standard.\n\n**Caveat:** This is a 2-3 year arc, not a 90-day initiative. High upfront cost; the signalling-value payoff compounds. Worth flagging as a strategic investment, not a marketing project.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"research-brief-trust-networks-in-group-reputation-may-2026","title":"Research brief: trust, referral networks, and in-group reputation in Ontario's trades economy (May 2026 — Foundation Brief #3)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"guildmaster-guildquality-audit-verified-survey-signal","title":"Guildmaster Awards (GuildQuality) — audit-verified survey signal; ≥90% LTR vs ~70% industry average; 20 responses min; disqualification for omitting customers","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"spence-1973-job-market-signaling","title":"Spence 1973 (QJE) — job-market signaling; signals work only when costlier for low-quality types to acquire than high-quality types; cost-drop collapses pooling equilibrium","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"burt-structural-holes-1992-2004-broker-advantage","title":"Burt 1992 (Structural Holes) / 2004 (AJS) — brokers spanning holes between groups capture information-arbitrage advantage","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"}],"incoming":[]},"created_at":"2026-05-25T13:34:11.271Z","updated_at":"2026-05-25T13:34:11.271Z"}