If you treat your customers well they will respond with loyalty. If you treat them poorly, they will vote with their feet and march out your door, straight into the arms of your competitor.

There are many ways to build a foundation of trust in business - the most obvious way is to treat the relationship with value and respect, just as you would a personal relationship. In business relationships, it adds up to working with integrity (when your words align with your actions): if you tell a client you will follow up a conversation with a phone call, call them; respond to emails promptly; and be reliable in your dealings with people. Building trust is also the foundation of many networking groups and these can be great but this does take time.

Trust builds when you are honest and transparent with people, showing them you are sincere and that you value the relationship. At the end of the day, people want to do business with a person. If you want their business you need to demonstrate who you are and show them your ‘authentic’ self. Remember, authentic dialogue builds trust.

To help customers get to know and trust you, tell them a story! It could be a little more about you or about what you, or your product, will do for them. 

Not so long ago, ‘building trust’ was the reason behind so many of those long business lunches and golf games and so on. It took time to get to know who to trust and to develop those business relationships. Times may have changed but people still love a good story and one of the reasons storytelling has become so popular in marketing is because a good story will connect the storyteller with the listener. The solution is a storytelling film on your website which allows potential customers to view and connect with you from a foundation of trust.

People also pay attention to what other’s say about you and your business. This is where referrals from clients and network groups can pay off. So another shortcut is to use video testimonials on your website (or social media) to demonstrate trust without you speaking a word. Testimonials can also minimise the “bragging” component and keep the ego out of the picture thus also helping clients to identify and engage with you.