Given our current set of circumstances in business, this series is designed to help you take a leadership role in your industry…regardless of what your industry may be. This series doesn’t sell anything…it simply HELPS your business stand out and rise above your competitors. These are practical, actionable, quick acting, and proven ways to elevate your business above others and make you “top of mind” to your customers. I guarantee they will make a difference in your business. I hope you will find these helpful. I hope you will share them with your fellow business owners and leaders. And I look forward to hearing about how they helped you in some way. If you missed the first one, NOW is the time to…DIFFERENTIATE, check it out, it will give you a great foundation to build upon. Here’s the second one…
TRUST...something we all want more of
Fake news, telemarketing, multilevel marketing, lying and deceiving politicians (on both sides), products that don’t work the way they are supposed to, less than spectacular services, increases in sexual harassment, and the list goes on and on as to why our level of trust is at an ALL TIME LOW! It was already at an all-time low before COVID hit (Trust…the most “Taken for Granted” Part of Business) and it continues to decline.
Now is the time when we need more Trust…businesses need to step up and build more trust with their audiences if they want to create Loyalty and Advocacy…which are the Holy Grail for business.
Ask yourself, as the CEO, Business Owner, or Leader in your company, “Are we doing things to specifically “build” more Trust with our audience (including customers) during this crisis or are we doing things that “erode” Trust with our audience?” Be honest with yourself…the real answer to this should help you see whether or not you need to be more “proactive” in specifically building more Trust. If you feel that you are “building more Trust” with your audience, the next step is to identify specifically “HOW” you are doing this on a daily basis. If you answered “no” to this question, then the next step would be to hold a brainstorming session immediately with your leadership team and identify some specific ways where you can build more Trust.
If you aren’t “building” Trust on a daily basis, you are “eroding” Trust on a daily basis.
Think of the above phrase for a minute. It’s synonymous with the idea in business that if you “aren’t moving forward” in some way you are “falling behind.” There is no “staying the same” when it comes to business. The same is true with building Trust. Unfortunately, our audiences need constant reinforcement and emphasis if they are to see any changes. They need to “see and feel” what you are doing that will allow them to Trust you more tomorrow than today. They need constant reinforcement to “why” they should Trust you.
Most leaders I talk to don’t have a “specific action plan” for building Trust. They think it will happen just by the way they do business. This is false thinking. Trust is prescriptive. You need to have specific (prescriptive) measures and actions you are taking if you want to continually build more trust with your audience. These don’t have to be major programs, but your actions need to be consistent and frequent to be effective.
PROMISES...the best and most effective way to build Trust
In the previous post on DIFFERENTIATION, I talked a bit about Promises. And I can give you a spoiler alert as you read more of the articles in this NOW series…Promises will come up again and again. They are a game changer. Let me repeat this just to burn it into the front of your brain…KEEPING YOUR PROMSES WILL CHANGE YOUR BUSINESS…GUARANTEED.
Every employee in every business makes Promises throughout the day. Some are very direct and some are indirect and quite passive, but they are still Promises. Employees make them internally to other employees, they make them to their customers, and they make them to others in their audience. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of Promises being made every day in your business. Here’s a way to learn more about what promises are being made in your business today…
Walk into any area (department) of your business and spend 15 – 60 minutes just listening. Listen to what is being said. I doubt you will hear the actual word “Promise” being used, but if you listen closely, you will be hearing them “committing” to doing certain things. These commitments are Promises in the eyes of your customers, employees, and others in your audience. It’s always amazing to me when I interview customers how often the customer uses the word “Promise” when they describe what the company does. They always tell me that the company “promised” to do something and they didn’t. Yet when the employees are asked, they never said they “promised” them anything. Why the disconnect?
Your audience hears the word “Promise” even if no one ever specifically said it.
I know, this sounds crazy (and it probably is) but it’s what’s happening inside your business today…guaranteed. Your employees are saying things to your customers (and others) where they actually think a “Promise” is being made…even if the word is never said. These are “inferred or implied promises” and they are, in the mind of your customer, just like saying the word “Promise.” It drives business leaders nuts. But, the customer, in their own mind, hears a Promise being made. How do you deal with this?
Use the word "PROMISE" and change the game
Here’s something I would encourage you to think more about…actually using the word PROMISE. Instead of wondering whether or not your audience is hearing this word, use it. Whenever you think you are making any kind of commitment (large or small), use the word Promise. For example, if you are going to deliver something to the customer on Friday, tell them, “I Promise we will deliver it to you by the end of the day on Friday.” Now there isn’t any misunderstanding and the customer probably heard that phrase anyway, regardless of what was really said. But now you have it on the table, in front of them, and they will recognize it. They will really appreciate it and you will have just taken away a ton of stress from them. Now you just have to keep the Promise, which is also the most important part of making a Promise.
To build Trust, you have to KEEP the Promises you MAKE.
Now that you have started telling your audience you “Promise” to do something, the key is to KEEP this Promise…every time. It’s the “keeping” part that builds Trust, not the “making” part. The “making a promise” part is easy, everyone does that. It’s the “keeping your promise” part that builds Trust. You can make all the Promises you want but if you don’t keep them, you will be worse off than if you didn’t make any. Having plans in place where you can keep these Promises is a game changer. Caution…this doesn’t just happen because you say it should. Telling your employees they need to keep all the Promises they make won’t change anything…they won’t keep them. Not because they don’t want to, but business processes and other demands will deter them from keeping these Promises.
Go back to the beginning of this article and you will see that “building Trust is a prescriptive process” that has to be orchestrated throughout the organization. There has to be processes and maps in place to help the employees keep their promises. If these aren’t in place, they won’t be able to keep their Promises. I have never seen a single situation where employees can naturally keep all their promises without a prescriptive, well-designed plan in place. They need tools and processes in place so they can keep their Promises as part of their job. They have to be “supported” beyond words if you want them to deliver on the Promises they make.
There are other ways to build Trust. This is just one, albeit a major one. However, developing a prescriptive process and plan for how to help your employees keep their Promises will change the game NOW…today. As I mentioned at the start of this series, I want to give you things that you can do quickly and that have a long-lasting impact for your organization. Creating a prescriptive recipe for how you will keep more of your Promises is exactly that…it will change the game almost immediately for your organization when you put it into action. If you need some guidance on how to get started doing this, shoot me an email and I’ll give you some additional thoughts to get you started…complementary of course. I’m here to help…I want your organization to build more Trust.
My GOAL for YOU...
As with this series, my goal is always the same…help you be more CUSTOMER OBSESSED so you can become “REMARK”able where your customers (and others) are doing your marketing for you and acting as your “Marketing Agents.” Everything I share with you has this underlying purpose and goal attached…I want you to “light up” your audiences so they can become your Advocates and Marketing Agents. That’s it. If you want the same, keep reading. Thank you…
My NEW Book
I referenced earlier that I have a new book coming out. It is in the final editing stages right now so you should hopefully see it as early as August but most likely in September. It will change your business…forever…guaranteed. This series of “NOW is the time to…” focuses on some of the components that I will talk about in-depth in the book. And, unlike I can do here is a brief article, I share specific ways for HOW to make it happen in your organization. It’s transformative. Keep your eye open for the announcements of it’s upcoming release. If you want to be on a list to know about it exactly when it comes out, shoot me an email at blaine@WOM10.com and I’ll make sure you get on the early announcement list.
Comments are closed.