Think about what trust means to you, or to your organization or company. Webster’s Dictionary provides some good keywords: confidence in something or someone else, dependence on something in the future, assurance of the character or ability of a person or group of people – ultimately, they will pull through for you.
So with this in mind, what does it actually mean to build trust? Companies that have high-performing team members and work to gain and keep their client partners rely deeply on relationships of trust, both within the employee team and with partners.
In the Office
According to Forbes contributor Glenn Llopis, one of the most powerful components of building trusting relationships is transparency. Transparency means two things in this situation:
- Teamwork. When leaders are transparent about the team’s strengths and weaknesses, team members are able to work more efficiently. This means that problem solving can be based around what’s actually going on, rather than what people are inferring. New teammates will immediately know what’s going on and be able to bring their whole selves into the work.
- Consistency. In order to build trust within the office, it’s important to remain consistent. Consistency in this case means treating everyone fairly; it should be a no-brainer, but unfortunately it doesn’t always work out that way. Frequent communication doesn’t just mean letting people know what’s going on, either – remember, it is important to listen to your teammates, too.
What does trust building lead to in the end? Higher performance, according to this Guardian UK article, which is what customers are after.
With Customers
Believe it or not, building trust between a company and its customers is a very similar process. It all comes down to letting your clients or customers know that you care about them. Don’t just tell them – show them.
- Be good at what you do – A more straightforward way of saying, deliver what you promise and then some. Do what you say you are going to do, and beyond that, exceed expectations whenever you can.
- Ask for feedback – If you’re convinced your product or service is of the highest caliber, that’s not going to do much for your customers. There are few things that consumers trust more than peer reviews, so give people who have used your service or product a chance to share their experience through testimonials and reviews.
Remember: building trust takes time and effort. It’s not going to happen overnight. But by making sure your in-office team is working together, you will find that you are, in the end, creating a relationship of mutual trust with your clients. This leads to an empowered partnership between clients and coworkers.
