In the business world of today, we face an uphill battle in the area of trust, due to past actions of others. Customers are inherently suspicious that they will not get the level of service they are promised. The latest report from the Edelman Trust Barometer, which measures the economic impact of trust, showed disturbing results.
Edelman polled a large number of consumers, which indicated some very interesting statistics on trust, and the lack thereof:
1. 72 percent of those surveyed indicated that they had been critical of a company they distrusted, and had shared this information with friends, family or colleagues. Not a good way to build a customer base.
2. 77 percent said they refused to buy a product or service from a company they distrusted.
The bottom line is if you have an issue with trust in your business, your customer base will eventually disappear, and your bottom line will be non-existent, unless you take immediate steps to solve your problem and rebuild that trust.
The first step is understanding that you have a problem. Do you remember the old saying; the customer is always right? Though cliché, this statement is correct nine times out of 10. The problem with trust is usually going to be you or one of your employee’s fault. If you have this issue plaguing your business, don’t panic, don’t throw your hands in the air and throw in the towel, fix it. Though difficult, and usually an uphill battle, it is fixable in a few simple steps.
- Identify: Positively identify where the breakdown in trust happened. This is tough, it means swallowing your pride and asking the customer to be specific, and explain why they lost your trust.
- Fix it: Train your employees. Take steps to ensure that it will never happen again. Most business owners think of their employees like family, or at least they should. The employee is responsible for making your house payment, your car payment and putting food on your table. They can also be the catalyst that causes you to lose everything.
- Tough love: There needs to be consequences. If you have done your job as an owner, president or CEO, and the breakdown in trust still takes place, that employee must change or they must go.
- Communication: Communicate with your customer and once you have established where the breakdown occurred and you’ve made a plan to address it, let your customer know how you plan to prevent it in the future. This will show your customer you are truly sorry for the problem, and it will begin to rebuild some trust. You should also encourage your customer to give you feedback. You want to know what you did right, as well as what you have done wrong.
You’ve read this article, and hopefully you have a better understanding of the importance of trust and customer care, but I would be remiss if I didn’t give you an example of a company who truly cares for and understands their customer’s needs. I recently had a personal experience with just such a company, Auto Rehab in
I drive an older diesel pickup and was having problems with my injectors. I checked around for a shop to provide the repairs, and like most consumers, I based my initial decision on price. The dealer was out of my price range, and most independent shops were basing their quotes on an over estimation of time to complete the repairs.
What drew me to Auto Rehab was their commitment to only charge me for the actual time to complete the repairs. Little did I know that they would have to do those repairs several times, due to faulty parts they were receiving from a supplier. I never heard a complaint from the shop’s owner, even when my truck took up floor space in their shop for the fifth time in three months. They never once asked for more money than the initial repair cost, even though they had to repeat that same repair at their cost several times.
“We always strive to provide the utmost honesty to our customers,” said Don Young, owner of Auto Rehab. “We are all humans, we all make mistakes and it’s how we handle those mistakes that help to prove our integrity.”
Auto Rehab has been proving that integrity since 2004. The business was born from Young’s love of cars. He is a prime example of someone turning their passion into a successful business.
Whether you are a company with 500 employees or just four like Auto Rehab, you can learn from their example. If every executive would make customer service, integrity and honesty their main objectives, who knows we may once again be able to do business as our ancestors did, with a firm handshake, a warm friendly smile and a person’s word of honor.
Auto Rehab 541-390-7898
