Trust. It’s something we encounter in every walk of life. Most importantly, our romantic relationships rely on this to survive. Equally, our friendship and family communications are built on it. In short; it’s impossible to operate successful human interaction with it. So you could say trust is a big deal.
And, it doesn’t only apply to our personal lives. When you work for someone else, you need to trust they have your best interests at heart. They, in turn, need to believe you’ll turn up on time and give the role your all. Even when you go it alone, trust will keep cropping up. This applies to your staff interactions, and your customer ones.
In fact, you’ll struggle to gain a customer base without trust on your side. After all, they’re trusting you with their money and time. And, you need to repay that by doing everything you can to meet their needs. You’re a business manager, though. You don’t need us to tell you this stuff, right?
But, there’s a possibility you aren’t as savvy with this subject as you think. In fact, your reading this article suggests you aren’t. Whether your business is already failing or you’re just struggling to gain loyalty, trust issues may be at the heart of your troubles. What’s more, they aren’t always easy to detect. You may think you repay every ounce of trust your customers give. You certainly don’t go off and kiss other companies behind their backs. But, keeping trust is about more than not breaking it. You also need to put plans in place to ensure the bond stays strong. Read on to find out what they are.
The security backup
With many businesses now online, we’re all familiar with digital security. You may even have antivirus software you update occasionally. But, that isn’t backup enough, and it won’t keep trust alive. Remember that your customers provide you with sensitive information. And, they’re trusting you’ll take care of it. That means more than a half attempt at security. You should hire IT services to monitor online safety in a specialized and regular manner. You should also work on developing a data backup strategy for business operations which can act as insurance should a breach occur. That way, you can at least contact everyone concerned, and let them know whether they need to take further safety measures. Putting plans like these in place is sure to show you’re willing to go the extra mile. And, that’s the best backup of all.
Plan to offer the best price
To a certain extent, every company does what they can to offer the best prices. How else can you get ahead? But, your price-cutting efforts likely end once you’ve undercut your competitors. This is a business, and you want to pull as much profit as possible. In truth, though, that’s not the best plan when it comes to trust. It certainly doesn’t show you have customer’s best interests in mind. After all, you choose where you buy your supplies. By cutting costs on that end of things, you’ll free yourself up to translate those reduced prices to customers. And, you still won’t be out of pocket. Your customers already trust you to give them the best price you can manage. And, they’d be hurt if they found out you just didn’t bother. So, never think you’ve ‘done your bit’ when it comes to pricing. Keep pushing to keep your costs down and your customer trust strong.
A plan of full transparency
This one is tricky, and it largely relates to online content. Any company worth their salt makes use of social media and blogging capabilities. Of course, you’re a busy person. There’s every chance you accept blog posts from elsewhere, and entrust your social media to a different team member each day. There’s nothing wrong with that, until you start lying. You wouldn’t be alone in trying to pass blog posts off as your own. And, you certainly wouldn’t be the only company to pretend the same person updates your social media. But, how do you think your customers would feel if they discovered the deceit? It’s akin to getting someone else to text your girlfriend. Instead, put an open policy in place. Allow each member of staff to introduce themselves, and develop their voice. Add a disclaimer on your blog posts, and a paragraph about why you think your audience will enjoy them. When you’re open, that trust can really start to flourish.