The BIGG Successs Show
Do Your Customers Trust You?
Find out how you can capitalize on a recent study about business. Listen to the show & read the summary here.
Welcome to our 47th Big Success Show. Today, we'll talk about keeping your customers trust. The Big Success Show with George and Mary Lynn. There's a recent survey out by the Better Business Bureau, along with Gallup, and they call it the Trust in Business Index. It's the first time they've ever done that. What they find is that in the last year, trust among consumers is down. They cite some contributing factors, things that have been in the news we've all heard of them, like the toy recalls, the subprime mortgage crisis, ethical lapses in leadership, in some cases even criminal violations, and declining customer service. Right, and all of these things affect a company's reputation. Well, Mary Lynn, we know that reputation is built one act at a time, right? And Stephen Covey talks about your emotional bank account in seven habits. And whenever we do something good, people make deposits in our bank account. And whenever we do something bad, they're making withdrawals out of our emotional bank account. That's right, and trust is built one act at a time. Relationships are built on trust. And interestingly enough, the single biggest factor in this study to help customers trust you more is honesty, fairness. Gee, imagine that. Followed closely by dependability and reliability. And today we wanna talk about what you can do to increase trust. The first thing to increase trust is this. And it's the old saying goes, under promise and over deliver. Yeah, usually what you get these days is the exact opposite. You get over promised and under deliver. Now, in most cases, I'm sure the intentions are good, but good intention doesn't build relationships. Good actions do. Yeah, and part of the key to that is to manage the expectations. And you know, I had a phone call once with a customer that's been a few years back, and she was trying to get me to commit to something that I just didn't think we could deliver. And she kept prodding me and prodding me. And so finally I said to her, okay, let me give you a choice. I can tell you we'll do it right now on the phone and I can tell I'm gonna make you happy. But when we do business, when we actually perform this service, you're not gonna be happy with us, most likely. Or I can tell you what I am telling you. I'm telling you I don't think we can do that. Now, if we get out there and actually do it, you're gonna be thrilled. Which would you rather have for me to tell you something that I don't think we can do now and disappoint you later. Or for me to tell you right now, something you don't wanna hear and maybe have you disappointed a little bit, but then have you thrilled with us when we actually perform the service. And she said, I think I get what you're saying. - Honesty is the best policy. Tell me now and it's an explanation that I can accept. Tell me later and it's an excuse that I can't. - Right, and once you've managed the expectations, now you can work to exceed them. That's where the fun begins. You know, that's all the continuous improvement. That's where we grow and we find meaning with our work. The second way to increase trust is closely related to our first point and this is follow through. Say what you'll do and do what you say. - And this, Mary-Lena, is really all about developing a personal system so that you can track your promises. If I tell you I'm gonna do something, I get it written down somewhere so that I make sure I do it 100% of the time. - That's right. I mean, look, everybody drops the ball occasionally but this is going to help make sure that that is a very rare occurrence. And that's what you've got to have, something that's rare. But you know, this also serves you well 'cause follow through actually can make you money. I had a friend who was in sales and he got very good at, you know, because people are always saying, "I'm not interested now, call me back in 30 days "or call me back in three months." He used his system to make sure he got it written down and then he called them back exactly when they told him to call him back. I took that and said, "You know, that's how I'm gonna treat sales people. "I wanna see if they'll follow through like they say they will." Well, yeah, because if somebody won't follow through before the sale, you certainly can't count on him to follow through after the sale. - Exactly right. - Right. - The third thing is this, and that is address the needs of the customer first and then worry about your needs. - My sister recently had a situation where someone had fraudulently used her credit card. So she calls the credit card company to get it taken care of. And all they're concerned about is trying to sell her another credit card, sell her additional services on her current credit card. And she's like, "No, I don't care about what you have to offer. "I have a situation here." - I have an emergency here, yeah. - I need you to feel like that's important. She was infuriated. - Well, it's unbelievable. And I just can't say, I've heard other stories like that. I don't understand where somebody comes up with that kind of process. But you know, this isn't just about customers. It's about all of our relationships because if someone comes to you with a need, they're coming to you with a need. That's top of mind. And you're not gonna get anywhere until you address that need. - Right, so first take care of your customer and then they'll take care of you. So we've discussed some ways to build trust here. We certainly haven't covered them all. And we'd love to hear from you. What do you do to show your customers that you're honest and dependable? Leave us your comments on our blog at bigsuccess.com. - And just a couple more tidbits coming out of this study, Mary Lynn. You know, first number one and two was honesty and dependability. The third thing customers look for are safe products. The fourth is value and then way down on the list at number five, I think surprise a lot of people, price. - And coming up, one more thing that we found very interesting that can help your business have an edge. - Today we've been talking about building trust with customers and as Mary Lynn said, there is one more thing we wanted to share with you and that is this. Two thirds of all these people that they surveyed said they would rather do business with a small company than a big company. - So what this means, small business owners, you have an edge. - Yeah, and it also means that now may be a great time to start that business you've been dreaming of. - All right, and we've got an article at big success called 10 signs that you're ready to quit your job and start a business. And we've got the link to that on our blog today. That's also where you'll find a written summary of today's show. And before we go, let's get our big quote for the day. - Our big quote today comes from Ray Crock, the founder of McDonald's. If you work just for money, you'll never make it. But if you love what you're doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours. - Remember that customers that feel like you put them first, are customers that will last. Your honesty and dependability leads to their loyalty. - Next time, Mary Lynn, we're gonna talk about some little balls of sugar. - Great balls of fire, why are we gonna do that? - Actually, we're gonna talk about the marshmallow test. Can you resist sweet temptations? - If you're bringing them in, I won't be able to. Until then, here's to your big success. - The Big Success Show at B-I-G-G Success.com. (crowd cheering) (gentle music) (crowd cheering) (gentle music) (crowd cheering) (gentle music) [BLANK_AUDIO]