Trust helps us build strong relationships, establish communities, and maintain stability. But it’s also becoming an increasingly important aspect of business that requires a concerted effort to prevent problems.
We don’t tend to continue associating with acquaintances we don’t trust. The same is true for where we take our business. And in the information age, trust is a form of capital organizations can’t afford to spend recklessly.
Brand reputation is no longer a chore to be handed off to a PR agency for damage control. If we want continued success and growth, trust management must be a component of our active revenue strategy.
An Overview of Trust Management
First, let’s define trust in a business context. Trust is, broadly speaking, the level of confidence that a brand name inspires in those who see it. Customers, consumers, and clients alike make buying decisions informed by their level of trust in a brand. If a product or service met their needs in the past, or they have heard positive things about the brand, they’ll be more likely to choose it.
Trust management, then, is the proactive, intentional approach to increasing trust among current and potential customers.
While the concept of “trust management” in a business context is still in its early stages, both the principle and the practice are similar to other forms of risk or asset management. And, ultimately, the goals are the same.
Trust, while difficult to quantify, can be treated as an asset, a resource, or a currency. One that can be leveraged to amplify efforts and multiply positive outcomes.
A loss of trust is akin to other forms of loss. A scandal often proves just as costly as penalties for non-compliance, class-action lawsuits, or natural disasters.
Despite these similarities, however, there are some important differences. Mostly, there is the matter of authenticity. Trust is easiest to establish when the initiatives are genuine and sincere. Performative, hollow gestures in the style of “Your call is important to us” may work for a time, but the eventual loss of trust is greater when the target markets discover the lack of commitment.
Put simply, trust is not something that can be faked or manufactured. It can be nurtured, encouraged, and even repaired. But it’s never artificial; only organic.
Why Trust Matters in Business
Trust is valuable in business for the same reasons it is in our personal lives. No matter how much trust has been established previously, existing relationships will only tolerate so much betrayal before they decide to walk away for good. And new relationships are difficult to get off the ground unless a baseline of trust can be established.
No one wants to waste their limited time, energy, or finances on a risky gamble.
Conversely, genuine trust can do wonders, motivating people to go out of their way to interact specifically with the other party. We take our car troubles to mechanics we trust. We seek medical advice from providers we trust. And we do business with partners, suppliers, vendors, and other third parties who have proven that they care about us.
In more analytical terms, trust is a qualitative meter stick that facilitates more accurate risk assessments. A positive track record can vouch for a potential opportunity even when social proof or other forms of vetting might fall short.
Putting It Into Action: Building Trust with Stakeholders
An overly reductive recipe for building trust might be “fulfill your commitments.” But there’s obviously more to it than keeping your pinky promises.
Establishing trust is a necessity in virtually every business interaction, be it with customers, employees, investors, partners, or even the general public. In every case, brand reputation will influence the disposition of stakeholders, and often heavily impacts the outcomes. Now, this article isn’t intended to be comprehensive or exhaustive, but there are at least three aspects to this process.
Fulfillment
We work backwards from the end because we measure trust in terms of follow-through. To be fair, this is the aspect that’s most visible to the other party—they often don’t see what complicating factors happen behind the scenes. Just that they didn’t get what they expected.
Delivering on promises and meeting demands requires that we care about what the other party is getting from the exchange, rather than simply prioritizing the benefit to ourselves. Remember—a broken promise and a con are difficult to distinguish between when you’re the victim. It’s easy to interpret negligence or legitimate difficulty as outright malice.
Transparency
Some expectations will be easy to meet, and will largely be a foregone conclusion. These are admittedly in the minority, however. Even for products, services, and interactions that are heavily standardized, no system is immune to wrenches in the works. In these cases, building trust is a matter of keeping the other party aware of the situation, and your ongoing efforts to make the appropriate adjustments.
If there are delays, shortages, quality control issues, or other concerns, stakeholders will trust you more (or at least lose less trust) if you make it clear how many of the original expectations can still be met, and to what extent changes must be made. For the other party, such a breach is easier to accept if they know to expect it and can plan accordingly. Honesty here will mitigate the damage caused by the disruption.
Expectations
Managing expectations is, in actuality, the best way to keep commitments and build trust. Most stakeholders are satisfied with modest promises that are fulfilled as expected, and nearly all are pleased when they’ve been on the receiving end of an “underpromise and overdeliver” approach.
Few, if any, are happy to see us overpromise and underdeliver.
Again, the key here is honesty. A realistic assessment of what stakeholders will be receiving is the best tactic, even if we know from experience that it’s far from the upper limit. While setting higher expectations may lead to short-term gains, word-of-mouth travels too fast in the digital age for it to be a viable long-term strategy.
Conclusion
Trust is a two-way street. Building trust in our own brand is just as critical as having trust in the brands we partner with. And while we can’t plan for, or control every potential outcome, we can leverage the tools at our disposal to manage the risks and maximize the possibilities for positive results.
RiskRecon by Mastercard is here to help. We know that confident business decisions depend on accurate information and data, and that extends to decisions about risk, trust, and security. Rather than “trusting your gut” and taking a chance where potential losses would be too costly, get a clear idea of the risks involved with our portfolio risk management tool.
