Hi. Chad and Will here. I recently sent out a newsletter focused on the science of trust. In it, I offered for people to reply with some challenges they were up against and said that I would respond with thoughts or insights to perhaps help them or their team get unstuck.
One person responded and asked:
How do I build trust as a business? And is that different that how I would build trust as an individual?
4 Quick Thoughts on How to Build Trust as a Business
I would also say that these ideas very much apply to creating relationships of trust on a personal level both at work and at home as well. The first two examples are pulled directly from our website. See the screenshot below.
1.) Tell people exactly what will happen next.
As a business, especially on the web, some of the best advice I ever received was from a copyeditor we hired. He suggested that before you ask anybody to click a button or submit any form on your website, tell them exactly what is going to happen next. So, on our services page, the contact form at the bottom clearly states that “we’ll respond within 48 hours with pricing and availability.”
2.) Offer “social proof” AND be real.
The phrase “social proof” is tossed around frequently in entrepreneurial circles. Essentially, the way we see it is: if somebody has already invested their trust in you, don’t be afraid to share that. Trust can be contagious. For example, we facilitated a workshop for JetBlue Airways. After we were done, we actually had to kick people out of the room 2 hours after the workshop had ended because the entire group (except for one person who had a meeting) stayed and asked questions nonstop until we had to leave. In other words, they trusted us, it paid off really well, so we asked the team afterward if they would be willing to share a testimonial for our work for people that haven’t trusted us yet. We were humbled by what they shared. See below. For yourself, think: testimonials, videos, case studies, written or recorded success stories (and failure stories). The “be real” part of this is important. In order for social proof to build trust, we believe it must be true. You can’t fake it. You must “prove” with integrity.
3.) Express genuine care every single touchpoint you have with a client.
When running a business, it’s easy to say “look at me, look how awesome we are, blah, blah, blah.” When the “Who Do I Trust Goggles” are on, people want to know you care about them. They don’t give a hoot if you care about yourself. The cousin of “Care” is “Curiosity.” Want to build trust with people on an individual basis and in your business? Be curious about them. Ask powerful questions that cut to the heart of the matter. Questions are like a key that has the potential to unlock the connections that lay the foundation for trust.
4.) State your intention and keep your promises. Every. Single. Time.
The Power of Intention goes a long, long way when you are inviting multiple people to play the same game that you are. The trick that some leaders forget is that you must keep those promises and live out your intention. Every. Single. Time. A broken promise sets a relationship of trust back much further than keeping one does. The science and research in field of positive psychology generally agrees that a 3:1 ratio of positive to negative interactions, emotions, etc. is required just to tip the scales to an overall positive interaction. Negativity has more weight. Not sure why, but it does.
Hope these tips were helpful. If you enjoyed, and you trust us enough, we’d love for you to pick up a copy of our new #1 Amazon Bestseller, Ask Powerful Questions: Create Conversations that Matter, which is an in depth guide on how to connect and build trust as a leader.