10 Ways to Build Trust & Build Your Business
- As the saying goes, don't make a promise you can't keep. This goes for customers and company employees. Many individuals hold you to every promise you make. Making a promise sets others up for an expectation you must meet.
- Demonstrate your commitment to running the business. Customers and employees will champion those (especially leaders) who are willing to do the dirty work to get the job done successfully. This kind of demonstration is contagious to other employees; your commitment is motivating to them and instills trust.
- Creating a history of honesty will build trust and loyalty with your customers and employees. If what you say and do has a complimentary result each time you will give individuals the proof that you are trustworthy.
- Allow others to share why they trust you. Many times an individual's testimony or advocacy of you or your business' trustworthiness instills trust in others. They could share about their experience with you, your product or service in a company meeting or in a promotional advertisement.
- Demonstrate how your product or service works. Give people an example or demonstration of how your business' services will work for them. This will allow them to see how your product or service will meet their needs and is a significant gesture of customer service.
- Share the outcomes of what you as an employee, or as a business, accomplished by your hard work or use of your product or service. People respond favorably to beneficial results and outcomes. Share your results in your company newsletter, marketing materials or in the media.
- Exemplify what makes your product or service unique. Many people develop an interest and trust in your business by what you do differently.
- Request customer or employee feedback and implement the suggestions. This expresses that you truly care about and trust the employees and the customers. Getting customer or employee feedback and implementing it develops their trust, which means that customers or employees will be more willing to buy in, or give your company's products and ideas their loyalty and support.
- Find a way to say thank you. Find creative ways to personally and publicly thank your customers for trusting you. They'll respond by continuing to patronize your business and share their experiences with their acquaintances, friends and family.
- Admit your faults and correct them. This only works with minor faults or faults of which you don't have direct control. Admitting your faults and expressing the appropriate way to handle them in the future may build trust with customers and employees. You gain more trust by first admitting and secondly by attempting to improve the situation in a comparable way. For example, you may be out of stock in blue but providing a similar item in another color at a discount may suffice.