9 trust-gaining strategies (Part 3 / 3)

This is the final part of the series containing trust-building strategies. I hope that these strategies will help you to develop the skills required to both trust others and getting other people to trust you in return.

7. Be sensitive to others' needs

It is important to realise that you might not be the only person who works hard, get tired and experience the everyday pressures. There are people around you who also go through these emotions and experiences. I am not asking you to pity those around you, but I can assure you that everyone, including yourself, needs some understanding and sympathy from time to time.
To in order to establish strong trust you have to show awareness of, and sensitivity to the needs of the people you work with, do business with, and those you share your life with.
Relate to others in their circumstances, not yours, and you will experience reciprocal understanding for the things you are going through and experiencing.

8. Respect the opinions of others

Two people are staring at moon. The one can see the moon clearly without any obstacles that could ruin the view. The other person is looking at the very same moon, but through the leaves of a tree, slightly obscuring the view.
Both of these people are looking at the same moon, only from different perspectives.
You have to learn to respect other people's views and opinions. The main focus here is to show respect and to cultivate an attitude of diversity.
Don't allow your low self-esteem to diffuse other people's creativity, ideas, perceptions and opinions. Form your opinions about other people by spending time with them and getting to know them better. It is impossible to make objective decisions about someone based on some gossip you heard.

9. Empower people to take action

Everyone knows the age-old saying: "You can bring a horse to the water, but you can't make it drink". The logic behind this is that people have to empower themselves to act. You can assist them to take action by providing an environment where it is all right to make mistakes, to take risks and complete what you have started. If people do not experience the freedom to act, the will not be able to empower themselves to take action. It is ok to trust your senses, but keep an eye on your brain. A world without trust is a world full of lawyers and prosecutors. All control-freaks loose control sooner or later, and often find themselves in an empty world where there is no trust.

9 trust-gaining strategies (Part2 / 3)

Yesterday I published the first of three entries that focus on strategies that gain trust. Today I continue with the next three strategies that I consider to be important in order to gain trust. I realise that the things that are important to me might not be important to you, but I sincerely hope and believe that you will find at least one strategy that "speaks" to you.

4. Show some loyalty to everyone

Loyalty reaches beyond, but not excluding, your colleagues and clients. It goes back to the roots of family life, and in a sense refers to the glue that keeps family together. We often laugh at the idea that we can not choose family, and that family stick together no matter how big the fight or the mess you made.

The reality is that fights will occur. Disagreements are something we can not avoid. They will cross your path for certain. The important thing to remember here is that you have to keep the fight inside the team (family). You don't put your problems, differences and dirty laundry out on display for all to see.
Show some loyalty. We are often presented with the opportunity to agree with someone about a fellow-worker or team member's distorted ways. When was the last time you defended another person who couldn't defend him / herself in his / her absence?

Bad-mouthing someone behind their back will cause the person you are talking about to find out about it, and they will certainly not trust you. The person you are sharing the conversation with will also doubt you, because the assumption will be made that you probably bad-mouth everyone behind their backs. Show some loyalty and stick up for fellow-workers, friends and family.

5. Take responsibility

How often do we point fingers when something goes wrong? Pointing fingers destroys trust. By taking responsibility for things, even if you are not a manager or team leader, builds trust and loyalty. It brings down the walls of crossed arms that point fingers in all direction. Perhaps this is one of the main reasons that governments across the world is no longer trusted.
Who will be willing and able to exercise their right to speak freely and share new ideas if there is a ton of bricks that will come down on them when they open their mouths?
Be a stand up and accountable person. You will gain much more trust if you have an attitude that says "this is our mistake. Lets learn from it and move on".

6. Give credit to others

"Nothing is ever yours until you give it away" - Albert Einstein

In most things I accomplish there are more people involved than just myself. It only makes sense to me to be generous with what you have done. Yes, maybe it was your idea to do it in the first place, but it involved other people. People who made it possible to realise your dream, concept or idea.
By scooping up all the credit you have accomplished to loose people's trust in you. If you have sincerely shared the credit with everyone who stood by you, and made it possible to accomplish your goals, you have cultivated trust.

The gain in trust lies not only in your ability to give sincere credit to others, but also in your ability to share. Don't take credit that belongs to someone else. Take credit only for the things you have actually done, and share the spotlight with others. There is nothing more aggravating than to see how someone else takes the trophy for the work you have done.

9 trust-gaining strategies (Part1 / 3)

Trust is something that is gained through hard work over a long period of time. It can be broken in a wink of an eye, and broken trust will leave you on a long and lonely road to recovery. It is therefore best to keep trust in tact, and not allow it to be broken.
Most of us is far from perfect, and at some stage in our lives we will be guilty of breaking someones trust. When you find yourself guilty of breaking someones trust you have to acknowledge your mistake, explain it, apologise and pledge to do everything in your power to prevent it from happening ever again.
I have put together 9 strategies to gain trust, and divided it up into 3 parts. These 9 strategies represent the building blocks and requirements for building trust:

1. Have clear goals

Always be clear on where you are going and you will not be overwhelmed by confusion. If the people around you can not clearly identify what your goal and purpose is they are most likely going to doubt you and find it difficult to trust you.
Without a clear vision and set of goals you will leave those around you disillusioned and bewildered.

2. Become an honest, fair and willing listener

This is an interesting concept that helps you to gain trust in other people. If you are open, willing and honest when you listen to someone else, you are more likely to trust the person talking to you.
It is a scientific fact that your attitude towards someone else is reflected back to you through their attitude towards you. People mirror the emotions sent out to them, and it is therefore important that you do your best to trust someone else first.
If you do not trust someone else, there is a strong possibility that you are also not trusted.
Encourage people to discuss their concerns with you, and make sure that your door is always open to people who need to talk to you.
Share your knowledge and keep clear of power-play. People in general, especially the new generation is known for their lack of trust in authoritative figures.
Powerful, intelligent people in authoritative positions can cause those around them to feel insecure and inferior. To gain trust you need to loosen your grip of power and start to listen with an honest, willing and fair hart.

3. Stop being so indecisive

Making decisions without a clear course of action on how you are gong to execute these decisions is very frustrating draining on those around you.
I am a firm believer that it is better to do something than doing nothing. It is therefore better to make bad decisions with a clear course of action than to make no decisions at all. If you want to gain trust you should stop being so indecisive. Make decisions and execute them.

Create a customer BUZZ!

5 Reasons why you should focus on product development

Creating a customer buzz is all about creating NEW products. Most companies take an existing product, change the shape, size and colour, make it more stylish, and then attempt to sell it to their clients as a new product.

Differentiation is a key-factor in various aspects of marketing. If you want to be different from your competitors you should focus on the development of products that will get your customers excited. Avoid the mistake of becoming a company that starts with one idea and finishes with the same idea everyone else has.

You have to master the art of creating and developing new products, and here are 5 reasons why you should:

1. It keeps your customers excited

Customers get excited when a steady stream of new products find its way to the market. Nothing gets customers in a better buying mood than the excitement of a whole new product range.

What can I do to get customers excited if I don't have the ability or resources to invent new products?

The main ingredient required is a little creativity. There are many businesses who spend a lot of time, money, and energy in finding new clients. It is in my opinion just as important to retain clients as it will be to find new clients. It is proven that it is more expensive (approxamately 5 times more expensive) to gain a new client than to retain a client.

Sometimes an improvement in the quality of client service will get clients just as excited as a new product or service. So, if you can't afford developing new products and services it might be a good idea to find areas in your business where you can improve and get your clients excited.

2. It gives your clients a reason to stick around

The slightest hint or promise of the newest, latest and greatest creates a customer buzz. Your clients will stick around in anticipation, waiting to see what you offer next.

Communicating with your clients on a regular basis is an important aspect of this exercise. Communicate with your clients in person, in letters, in faxes, in emails, through your website, with brief newsletters, etc.
As long as your communications are solicited you don't have to worry, you can’t over-communicate with your customers.

I always encourage my sales executives to make sure that they never contact a client unless they have something worth wile to share with the clients. The purpose of your contact should be to add value each time you interact with your client.

It is important to have your clients stick around, because real profits come from repeat business. You want a constant stream of sales, repeat business, clients who stick around.

3. They will buy from you as long as you have what they want

It is a well known fact that people's needs change over time. As long as you can succeed in providing products and services (new ones) that satisfy their needs they will stick around.
The main requirement for you would be to keep a pulse on what is going on around you, the latest local and international market trends, and advances in technology that could give you the leading edge.

Always keep in mind that the customer is the boss, and if the boss is not happy you are fired.
In fact, if the customer is not happy everyone in your company is fired. If your customer can't find what he wants he will spend his money elsewhere. Give the customer what he wants and you will have a long relationship and employment. The only people who will benefit from your unhappy clients are your competitors.

If you don't know how your customers are feeling about the quality of your products and services, ask them. Send a survey to your clients once in while and take action to rectify any serious problems.

4. It creates customer loyalty

There will always be clients who want to be the first to try, and those who want to be the first to follow. Your constant introduction of new products creates an expectation that has a compounding effect on customer behaviour. So, retain your customers' interest with a steady stream of new and innovative products and services.

An important factor that influences customer loyalty is whether or not your customers receive exactly what they paid for. Don't develop products and services simply to get your customers to enter your door. The disappointment of a client who didn't get what he expected and paid for will do great dammage to your business's reputation.

5. It sends a message to your competitors

By introducing new products you will be sending a clear message across to your competitors.
Yes, it won't be long before they take your products and service, change the shape and size, and sell it to their clients as a new product. It will also not be long before you are recognised as a market leader, and your competitors recognise you as a trend setter.
Your competitors will receive a clear message that you are here to stay and that you mean business.

Don't let success be the reason for failure

As your business develops and start to grow, you will soon realise that growth puts an enormous amount of pressure on your business.
It is important to have a plan to accommodate growth, as a business should always aim at gaining maximum benefit and revenue from its customers.
Preparation and planning is paramount to the long term survival of your business. Once the wave of success breaks on your shore things will happen very quickly, and there will not be sufficient time for planning.
If you are not prepared you might not be in business much longer.

"5 things you should do to prepare for success"

1. Always know what you are going to do next

Growth means more customers. More customers will require more goods / services, human resources, and cash flow.
You will probably need to expand your premises, or find a bigger space to conduct your business.
In order to expand you will need access to finance.

Know what you will do next by asking the following questions:

Who? (Example: We need more people. Who will be the best for this...?)
What? (Example: What skills will be required to accommodate this change...?)
Where? (Example: Where will we go if we need to move to a larger office...?)
When? (Example: When / How long will it take for us to be prepared and ready..?)
How? (Example: How will we finance the expansion...? How much people will we need?)

2. Know your customers better

As your clients become more, so does their needs, requirements, and expectations. Your clients will expect better and faster service at more competitive prices.
Do your research. Conduct a survey to determine how and if your clients' needs have changed.
Don't spend all your money on market research and data you can not trust.
Ask your clients what they need, they are usually more than willing to give you a piece of their mind.

3. Be prepared for a fast pace

The last you thing you want to tell your customers is that you are not able to meet their demands, or that you don't have enough competent people to do the work.
Do your planning ahead of time. Make use of schedules, charts, and enterprise resource planning systems suited for your business.
Always keep records of everything. Use your data and statistics to identify trends and market changes in advance, get suited up for the marathon, and be mentally prepared for the race.

4. Find the best people for the job

This is one very important rule that is applied by most successful businesses.
Identifying the best people to perform a specific task could be a tiresome process, but it is worth every penny. Reputation is more often than not determined by your ability to deliver the best quality product or service.
You will not be able to honestly say that you are the best at what you do if you do not make use of the best people available for the job.

5. Know how fast your business grows

If you are unable to tell whether you business is growing you are flying completely blind.
It is really not that difficult to calculate growth. There are various schools of thought regarding the calculation of growth, as there are so many areas you can measure.

For the purpose of this article I will suggest that you make use of your sales figure to calculate growth.

For example:
R = South African Rand (ZAR) currency.
Net sales 2006: R100 000
Net sales 2007: R180 000

Sales growth = (Net sales 2007 – Net sales 2006) ÷ Net sales 2006
Sales growth = (R180 000 – R100 000) ÷ R100 000
= 0,8 (Multiply by 100 to get percentage)
= 80%

There are many schools of thought regarding growth ratios. I believe that there is only one growth figure that really rings my bell, and that figure is called PROFIT.
I recommend that you find the growth ratio that speaks to your business's unique circumstances and requirements.

It is generally excepted that a business that shows a growth rate less than 10% per year is more predictable, and allow more time and space for “preparation”.
If your business grows by more than 10% (The double digit rule) per year you might find yourself in a difficult situation if you don't have the right support systems and business processes in place.

Interesting fact:

If your business is growing at a percentage rate, lower than the current inflation rate, your business is not growing at all.