Trust. That mysterious ingredient in business that can help slingshot your revenue into outer space. Be careful, it tends to create loyalty, lifetime customers, and mountains of revenue. Only engage in trust if you are looking to be wildly successful.
Distrust. The "not so mysterious" ingredient that keeps you looking over your shoulder, crushes your empire, sucks the life out of your organization, and reduces your reputation, your business, and your bank account to a pile of rubble.
While these may not be 100% factual definitions, it's easy to look around today's business climate and see that both definitions are fairly accurate.
Okay, now it's time for a test...which do you choose? Trust or Distrust? Seems like a no-
brainer, right? If that's the case, why is the landscape littered with massive business failures where distrust ran rampant among both the employees and their customers? It's because building trust is not easy. It does not come natural for most. And finally, you must be intentional in building trust.
Just as distrust has wreaked havoc on many companies, trust has propelled many other companies into the spot light. If you take a look at the companies consistently named as "The Best Places To Work" they are almost all built on genuine cultures steeped deep with trust.
So, how do you build trust into your company?
1) Create a culture of Trust from the top-down. Assuming your name is in the box at the top of the org chart, then that culture starts with you. Your employees, customers, and vendors are all watching you. They are taking notice of your trustworthiness at every encounter. To a large degree, the trust or distrust you personally establish will be mirrored throughout your company or organization. It's not enough to just give lip service to trust - you must personally demonstrate it day in and day out.
2) Be intentional in creating Trust. Without clarity and a plan to create trust, it will rarely happen on its own. By nature, people are self-interested and without a system to develop and reward trust, employees will often seek a win-lose solution to the detriment of your customer.
3) Be willing to put in the hard work and pay the price to build Trust. Taking the path of least resistance often means building on a foundation of distrust. Integrity, establishing trust, and doing the right thing always come with a price tag. You can invest in trust now or you can pay the penalties of distrust later. And "trust" me (pun intended), the penalty is a higher price than you can afford to pay.
4) Deliver on your promises. This one is a biggee! It only takes one time of over-promising and under-delivering to violate your customers trust. Once you fail to deliver on a promise it is very difficult to rebuild that trust. It's not impossible - but very difficult at best. On the flip side, every time you meet or exceed your promise you build another layer of trust.
5) Be patient - Trust takes time. Building trust throughout your company is very much like a dating relationship - it doesn't happen overnight. You would never go on a blind date and get married later that night. Likewise, you should not expect your customer to consummate a large business deal on the first meeting. Even if you are able to close the deal on the first meeting, chances are some form of manipulation was used which will do long term damage in earning trust.
6) Trust must be earned. Respect and Honor your Clients, Employees, and Vendors. Trust can never be demanded, but must always be earned. The quickest way to earn trust is by honoring and respecting your customer at every interaction. This includes both "live" interactions such as speaking with them on the phone or in person as well as "passive" interactions such as your email, marketing messages, and website info. Another essential method of earning trust is by listening. Listen to your customers, employees, and vendors.
7) Follow the Secret Formula for building Trust! What? You didn't know there is a Secret Formula for building trust? My friend Eric Beck, the founder of Total Integration, developed the following Secret Formula:
Honor ---> Security ----> Your Risk, Their Risk -----> Consummation
Each of these steps builds on the next. You must honor your customer before asking them to take a risk. As you are honoring them, this in turn builds security. Once they are secure, they are more willing to take a risk - especially if they see you taking a risk first. This then leads to deep levels of trust. It's a pretty cool way to do business...and it works!
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Mike is the President and Founder of Born To Win, LLC. Mike's core belief is that "We are all Born To Win" - but sometimes we need a little help.
