Trust in business

Trust – reliance on truth of the statement – according to the Oxford dictionary.

What does that mean in business?

We read and hear a lot about the principles of successful business but we rarely hear about the value of trust in business. We hear a lot about culture, strategy, marketing but not much about good old-fashioned trust.

I believe that the value of trust shows itself in many ways in business and has huge benefits for the bottom line.

Trust in the quality of the product

I was talking recently with friends about favourite restaurants and the group came to the conclusion that the restaurants we like most were those that were consistent, that you knew that what your ordered would be the same as the last time you ordered that same dish. We marvelled at the fact that so many restaurants change their menus frequently so you never know what you might be getting. We decided as a group that the best thing a restaurant could do for people like us was stick to a core and reliable menu and be creative through specials. We all named France Soir in South Yarra as one of our favourites and it was interesting to hear how long some of us had been going there and ordering the same dish, knowing we could trust it would be the same as last time.

Interestingly France Soir is one of the most successful restaurants in Melbourne.

Trust in the reliability of service

We will deliver this tomorrow really means we will deliver this tomorrow. Recently on behalf of my parents who live in the country I bought four beautiful and expensive chairs. They arrived on time but one had an incorrectly sized screw in the base. I have now called this store numerous times and keep being told that they will do something about it. Reassurance after reassurance, the chairs were delivered four weeks ago,o ne is still sitting upturned in my parents house. As late as yesterday the salesperson told me that she would definitely get back to me with a solution that day. I would never go near that store again, regardless of the product quality which was great.

Recently a real estate agent called me to say he had a buyer for a property I own, he had a really definite buyer at the price I wanted. When I suggested he work through the managing agent as I did not want my great tenant disturbed, we did not hear from him again. The buyer I am afraid was a phantom. Perhaps some people in real estate have played the game so long they have no concept of the value of trust. It’s like he boy who cried wolf for me, if he ever does have a real buyer I will never know because he has lost my trust. A pity for him as we all know the power of spreading the negative word!

Trust extends to all sorts of business relationships: employer, employee, partners, suppliers and customers. I am convinced that to be trusted we need to be trustworthy. Sometimes that is really hard due to time and all sorts of constraints.

My view is if we commit we must do what we say in life and business. That is if we want to be trusted, and trust does impact on the bottomline!

Marcia Griffin’s latest book, High Heeled Success (pictured left), is a frank account of building a business from a solitary sales person to a multi-million dollar business with 4,700 sales consultants around Australia and New Zealand. Contact Marcia to purchase. Marcia’s latest venture is skin care company griffin+row, an amazing range of naturally effective skincare that Target immediately ranged in 154 stores.