In my recent blog discussing the importance and leveraging value of trust, between individual stakeholders, between stakeholder groups within organizations, and between enterprises and stakeholders – http://www.customerthink.com/blog/in_praise_of_the_value_of_stakeholder_trust_building –
I cited content I’ve seen on this subject by Don Peppers. I thought it would be useful to expand on that reference.
For those who are interested (and I hope that is a lot of CustomerThink blog readers) please take a look at this 2010 interview by my colleague, Charles H. Green, noted consultant on enterprise and individual trust-building and co-author of The Trust Advisor: http://trustedadvisor.com/trustmatters/don-peppers-and-martha-rogers-customer-trust-is-the-next-big-thing-trust-quotes-12.
Jeanne Bliss has also written frequently about various elements of enterprise trust – keeping promises, building partnerships among stakeholders, minimizing ‘rules’, creating a positive, holistic, memorable customer experience, proactively apologizing for mistakes, etc. – and here is a link to some of her trust-related blogs for Peppers and Rogers’ media arm: http://www.1to1media.com/weblog/guest_blogger_jeanne_bliss_1/
My perspective on trust is pretty straightforward: Technology has created a world where we are witnessing, in real-time, both the amount, and impact, of offline and online informal brand-related communication. Negativism in this context has the power to impair, even cripple, any brand or enterprise, both tactically and in strategic ways.
In trust research conducted by PR firm Weber Shandwick, under the direction of Leslie Gaines-Ross, Chief Reputation Strategist, it was found that 70& of consumers surveyed avoid buying an organization’s product if they do not like the company making or selling it (http://www.massmutual.com/mmfg/pdf/Choosing%20Companies%20to%20Do%20Business%20With.pdf). For the financial and reputation realities of trust, just look at Global Crossing, Enron, British Petroleum, Toyota, Carnival Cruise Line – – and, more recently, public figures like Lance Armstrong, David Petraeus, and Paula Deen, who has seen lucrative endorsements vanish (http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2013/06/27/paula-deen-dumped-by-home-depot-and-diabetes-drug-company-novo-nordisk-as-target-sears-qvc-mull-next-move/).
What Jeanne, Don, Martha, and Charles Green are addressing is how an enterprise, or an individual representing an enterprise, needs to be trustable in the extreme, i.e. customer-focused, proactive, transparent, fair and honest. Trust is a foundation element in building and sustaining customer relationships, and in driving strategic customer loyalty behavior.
In 2010, Peppers and Rogers saw creating trustability as the ‘next big thing’. It was, is, and will continue to be.
A business or brand which is customer-focused, proactive, transparent, fair and honest will definitely be earn the respect of the customers. That’s a given factor I think. The question is how do businesses deliver a honest, transparent, fair, and customer centric product or service without risking too much of their revenue? The sad truth is that some businesses just care about ROI and are not so concerned in providing world class customer service.
Well the good thing right now is that technology as well as customer knowledge are progressing very fast. And the best part of it is that businesses are able to take advantage of technology in a very productive way. Let’s take for example Social Media. Brands are able to promote engagement, respond, and connect to their customers in a real time manner and at the same time promote their brands through social media platforms. It allows us to connect with each other and the distance became not so much of a hindrance anymore.