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It happened again: A salesperson promised a client things that we couldn’t deliver. A few weeks later, a different client expressed frustration about being told, “It’s too complicated to explain,” as if our services and methods were beyond his comprehension. And after that, data was purposefully obscured from yet another client. How long before these clients, like others, lost all trust in the agency and went elsewhere?
Scenarios like this were all too common during my early years working for various SEO agencies; they eroded client relationships and infected internal culture like a virus. When I founded my own digital marketing agency, I vowed to put trust at the center of everything we did. I believe this focus has directly fueled business success — we’ve experienced 300% growth in the last three years. It’s why we’ve had a spot on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing privately held U.S. companies for four years running and won numerous awards.
Over a decade ago, Stephen Covey’s The Speed of Trust increased awareness about the role that trust plays in business success. While strategies and tips abound for building trust in the workplace, managers are busier than ever. Is it possible to focus on one or two key strategies to maximize your organization’s return on investment in trust?
According to my experience, the answer is yes. Focus on relationships, and then the trust will follow as a natural byproduct.
We’ve found three ways to foster meaningful relationships with our employees, our network and our clients, which has contributed in large part to our success. And even better, these strategies are applicable to any business.
1. Structure For Trust
The first place we focus on building trusting relationships is within the company. By structuring for trust with employees, we create a culture that expands to encompass trust with clients.
Here are our tips for doing this:
• Use only trustworthy methods — no shortcuts or shady hacks to get quick results that often fizzle out.
• Clearly communicate expectations, and make a path to career progress available.
• Hold frequent company activities so employees can get to know and trust each other.
• Encourage feedback with a system where any employee can express their thoughts, anonymously or otherwise.
• Consider an open office floor plan and companywide open-door policy. We’ve found that having upper management available and working alongside all the employees can help promote trust. Any employee can talk to any manager they feel most comfortable with — even the CEO.
• Ensure that no problem is off-limits. Encourage candor and bringing issues to light so that you can discuss them and find solutions.
• Hold regular follow-up interviews so employees know that you care. For example, after onboarding a new employee, we hold three to five follow-up interviews throughout the first few months. These are structured around predetermined questions about the new employee’s progress, their ability to perform with the resources we’ve provided and any concerns they may have about the position or the company as a whole.
2. Gather Your Own Crew
Most people recognize the value of networking, but the term itself has a self-serving connotation: You make connections because you believe they’ll be beneficial to you or your business. We didn’t just network; we built our own crew. In colloquial usage, a crew is a group of friends who hang out together. Relationships are the cement that holds a crew together.
Our crew is a network of trusted people who meet regularly, have fun, chat, help solve issues or meet needs, learn from each other and refer business to each other. Some of our crew members work at our company and some are clients, but most aren’t part of the company at all. A crew can provide a unique support system built from strong relationships, and we’ve benefited greatly over the years from ours.
Agencies can gather their own crews by attending local networking events, contributing to industry-specific conferences and maintaining close relationships with past, present or potential customers. Making strong connections in all of these scenarios is ideal for building a crew. Solidify the details of your crew before you start inviting others to join. Create a routine meeting schedule (whether it’s weekly, monthly, bimonthly, etc.). Make it worth their while by providing value or entertainment.
3. Sacrifice Now To Win Later
We live by the mantra “Sacrifice now to win later.” Sometimes you have to take necessary risks upfront for long-term gains. For example, we’ve given a free month of services to clients who weren’t happy with results to prove that we’re trustworthy and to show them that these kinds of services often just take time. Many of these clients are still with us years later.
Train your sales team to focus on fit rather than on commissions. Tell them to be transparent with clients and prospects, even if that means sacrificing now to win later. Not too long ago, an enterprise company was considering us along with two other agencies. They asked all three of us how to beat a top competitor in search rankings. We took the risk of being honest and explained that they wouldn’t be able to achieve that goal (at least not in the near future) because this competitor was at the pinnacle of their industry.
Due to that transparency, the company chose to work with us over the other agencies that told them what they thought they wanted to hear rather than the truth. Our trusting relationship with this client has resulted in measurable success for both of us over the years, which proves that sacrificing now can become a win down the road.
Focus On Relationships To Maximize Your Trust ROI
While there are plenty of tips and strategies for building trust, focusing on creating meaningful relationships not only can maximize your time and efforts, but also can create a long-lasting, sustainable trust that will impact your business for years to come.
