Are you working to build trust…every day?

Trust may be the most important thing you can develop when it comes to your business success.

If people like you they’ll listen to you, but if they trust you they’ll do business with you. – Zig Ziglar

There are lots of ingredients when it comes to success, but trust is one that permeates everything you do. If you don’t have trust, you’re not going to be in business very long. And these days, with access to the internet, camera phones and 24×7 media – trust, credibility and authenticity are more important than ever.

How does trust impact your business? Let’s take a look:

Trust and your Customers

You set expectations when you start marketing and communicating with your customers. If the delivery of your product and service doesn’t meet those expectations, then your customers will quickly learn not to trust you.

And if they don’t trust you…they certainly aren’t going to buy from you.

That’s why the details are so important. If the details aren’t right, it may not be significant in the big picture, but you’ve given me a reason to not trust you. And if you miss a couple of details…then the trust is gone – and not likely to come back.

Are you setting the right expectations with your prospects when you market and communicate with them? Are you meeting those expectations or are you giving them a reason not to trust you?

What could you do to build up more trust with your customers?

Trust and your Employees

The employer – employee relationship is an interesting one. On the surface it’s a business arrangement. The employer offers up a compensation package in exchange for effort and results from the employee.

However the reality is more complicated than that. Employees also expect their employer to respect them as people, to treat them in a certain way, to openly communicate and to be consistent when it comes to how things need to work.

Employers expect not only effort and results, they also expect loyalty, support…even a sense of partnership (despite it not being a partnership).

Can your employees trust a consistent message and expectations from you? Do you ever suddenly change direction on your employees without any real explanation? Technically you don’t owe them insight into your strategy (or lack of strategy) but once your employees stop trusting you, they will only be as motivated and productive as you can force them to be (requiring constant supervision and oversight to really get anything done).

Once you’ve lost trust with your employees you’re entering a downward spiral that will be very hard to pull out of.

What could you do to build up more trust with your employees?

Trust and Networking / Referrals

When someone gives you a referral, they are putting their own reputation on the line. They are trusting that you are going to treat their friends, family, customers at least as well as they would treat them. They are trusting that you will not take advantage of there relationship and that you’ll do everything you can to make that referral a win-win-win situation.

If they can’t trust to follow through in a positive way, not only will they stop referring you, they will also likely start pulling away from you. No one wants to be associated with someone they can’t trust.

Do you always (100% of the time) follow through on referrals and introductions from your customers and networking partners? Do you give those referrals and introductions special attention?

What could you do to build up more trust with your referral partners?

If you want to grow your business – you’ve got to be building TRUST every day across all aspects of your business.

What are your thoughts on trust and business? I’d love to hear your comments – share them below.

Shawn Kinkade Kansas City Business Coach