KEY POINT: TRUST is one of the most valued aspects of any business…but most companies aren't purposeful about building it or earning it. Why is this? Leaders often "assume" they are building TRUST based on their daily activities…unfortunately, they aren't. Building deep and lasting TRUST needs to be PURPOSEFUL and PRESCRIPTIVE.
KEY QUESTION: Are your employee's BUILDING TRUST or ERODING TRUST with your customers and others?
If you have been reading my articles/posts, you know I focus on helping organizations GO BEYOND DIFFERENTIATION™ so they can become "REMARK" able™…the state where their customers (and others) go out of their way to tell their friends and colleagues they are THE ONLY ONE to work with or buy from.
Becoming "REMARK" able™ is changing your culture to a CUSTOMER OBSESSED CULTURE, creating ADVOCATES and MARKETING AGENTS™ for your organization…something EVERY ORGANIZATION wants (and needs) more of. In turn, it drives more profitability, creates more enterprise value, increases employee happiness, and many more coveted rewards.
Companies get these massive rewards when they create ADVOCATES in their market. However, less than half of the businesses we talk to have an active and PRESCRIPTIVE plan to make this happen. Without a formula or recipe to do this daily, companies can end up with more NEGATIVE ADVOCATES (someone who goes out of their way to tell others not to buy from them) than POSITIVE ADVOCATES. Organizations can generate more POSITIVE ADVOCATES when they focus on BUILDING TRUST…PURPOSEFULLY.
THE MOST CRITICAL FOUNDATIONAL COMPONENT TO BUILDING ADVOCATES IS TRUST. NO ONE ON THIS PLANET WILL EVER BE YOUR ADVOCATE AND MARKET FOR YOU IF THEY DON'T TRUST YOU.
Sadly, while everyone nods and agrees BUILDING TRUST is important, most leaders take it for granted and assume it will happen…it doesn't. And even if some trust is built by accident, it isn't consistent and generally isn't long-term.
Building LONG-TERM TRUST only happens when it is PURPOSEFUL…having a precise formula and recipe for how Trust will be built daily, by every employee, with every interaction.
When asking CEOs/Business Owners what they are doing to "PROACTIVELY BUILD TRUST" build trust with their customers and general audience, most don't have a prescriptive, consistent formula for how they do it. Most say, "It is built by how we do business." As with anything in your business, you aren't in control of the result if there isn't a plan. Without a plan, most organizations are experiencing TRUST EROSION…the consistent decline in Trust.
Since we live in a world of "Commoditization"…where we can find virtually any product or service at a lower price or better availability…building more Trust allows you to create greater DIFFERENTIATION. While we love commoditization as a consumer, we hate it as business owners. TRUST IS A GUARANTEED WAY TO BUILD MORE DIFFERENTIATION and escape the commodity trap. It's a proven way to differentiate your organization from your competitors. When customers trust you, they see you as different from your competition. This opens the door for you to create ADVOCATES in your audience…something your competitors most likely don’t have.
If a company chooses to play in the commodity game (lowering prices to attract customers, for example), they are furthering their position as a commodity but not building Trust. Lowering prices does not build Trust…it just reduces profits. And no one on the planet is ever an advocate for someone they don't trust!
Trust has to be built purposefully, and there must be specific plans for how the organization will build Trust. Understanding HOW to do this is a much more detailed discussion, and I will give you much more about how to do this in future posts. For now, let me leave you with something I believe will completely change your view of how to build Trust.
QUESTION: Do you have a specific plan for how everyone in your organization will build more Trust with your audience? If so, are they executing specific daily actions to demonstrate it to your audience?
From my experience, the primary reason Trust is not Purposeful is that leaders generally lack the knowledge of how to build Trust. Most leaders want to build more Trust…they just don't have a recipe or formula to make it happen. The usual practice is to have their employees "do their best to make the customer happy" and hope this will build Trust. While this approach helps, it rarely builds Trust to the level where it becomes a differentiator for the organization.
You can take very specific and actionable steps to build solid, deep, and long-lasting Trust with your audience. It doesn't have to be left to chance or hoping it will be stronger. There are definite ways to help your employees build Trust with each customer interaction, in-person, over the phone, or online. I'll give you more of these going forward.
What To Do Next...
Here are a few questions to consider as you learn more about BUILDING TRUST with your audience…
Everything starts with understanding where you are and identifying where you want to go. This allows you to understand what you need to do to get there. Making an honest assessment of where you are is always the start to change. Answering these questions with help give you some insight into a better understanding of where you are today. This is the first (and most) critical step to getting a handle on building more Trust and not taking it for granted.
Not sure you can do this as I described? I'm happy to help you with this if you need a boost to start. There are several ways to do this, so you can run with it going forward. Or, if you just want to talk through it a bit more, let's grab coffee (or lunch) sometime. My goal is to help save you TIME in the process if you are interested in going BEYOND DIFFERENTIATION and becoming "REMARK”able™ by building a Customer Obsessed Culture...which is my passion and goal for every company on the planet. Big goal…but it starts here.
