TRUST…let me be a bit more specific…LACK OF TRUST.
“Trust” has always been a “golden word” but today it has been elevated even more due to the massive (and easy) means of communication. The biggest reason is not because we don’t have Trust but because of all the…wait for it…MISTRUST that is being generated in the market. Social media has simply accelerated what has always been there…only now we are seeing it in massive amounts since it is so easy to communicate anything we want…a lot.
Today we find ourselves in the “Trust Economy.” Trust has become the “currency” by which people will spend or reward a business…if you have lots of trust you get lots of people’s currency. Without trust you find yourself scrambling to be just another commodity and compete on price.
Here’s the key issue in today’s world…we don’t have TIME to deal with people, companies, or social channels we don’t trust. The day of spamming your audience with “bait-n-switch” type of promotions and advertising is DOA. We are constantly asking ourselves, “Is this something I find appealing or attractive or enticing…can I trust them and it will save me time or improve my life?” If the customer doesn’t answer this with a resounding YES, they move on.
Take, for example, an article written in Advertising Age about such atrocities coming to light…known as the “Ad Agency.” Not only is the traditional model of and Agency DOA, it is one that is being exposed for what it has been for many years…a scam to make them money at the expense of their customers. The article, “Former Mediacom CEO alleges Widespread U.S. Agency Kickbacks,” goes into some pretty graphic detail about how you, the CEO/Business Owner, have been duped for all these years by someone you “trusted” with your brand. They didn’t deserve your trust…they misused it and this is costing them their industry.
Today, their model is tainted and doesn’t work because of the proliferation of social media and exposing it for what it did to companies. Unless agencies dramatically change their “business model” and not just dress up the pig, their model is dead and waiting to be buried. Why would any company pay for the placement of advertising (that doesn’t get read because of the “time” issue) in a medium such as newspapers, direct mail, and magazines (that doesn’t get read any more because of the “time” issue) when the company can interact directly with their targeted audience? And now we find out they were taking kickbacks for doing this all along says it really doesn’t make any sense. The model is dead…unless it gets reinvented.
Granted…not all agencies operated in this “untrusted” and “unethical” model…but apparently enough of them have to give the industry a reputation that they can’t be trusted. Not having TRUST in this economy will ultimately wipe out this model. This means there is even greater opportunity for others to come in and pick up the pieces and create a trusted model that helps their customers.
Another model that is rapidly dying is the so-called “referral model” were some organization are responsible for harnessing “reviews of the business or products” and then post these for consumers to view and use in their decision making. The model makes sense…until you find out that the reviews can be “tainted” by being bought, or moved up on a list because the company purchased advertising, or a host of other manipulations of the system. The consumer is getting really smart today…they have figured out these scams. They are aborting the process because of one word…TRUST.
These are no longer trusted sources for honest, unbiased, non-manipulated, and non-purchased reviews. The model is dead…unless it gets reinvented. But wait…it has!
Today, if you wanted to purchase something, go to dinner, stay somewhere, or interact with a certain company you don’t go to these review sources any longer. You go to YOUR TRUSTED NETWORK. This can be facebook or twitter or Instagram or LinkedIn a host of the other 300+ networks where your “trusted friends” hang out.
Now you can simply ask your friends/colleagues…the ones you trust and connect with…the ones you believe. You ask them these questions and get their feedback. And if they don’t know…they can ask their other (trusted) friends. Now you can easily tap into a “trusted network of friends” to give you an answer you would believe and trust. The manipulated networks of referrals and ratings are dead.
What happens if by chance you have a friend/colleague/connection you don’t trust? You either don’t listen to their opinions or you “unfriend” them or disconnect from them and the problem is solved. Today, YOU GET TO CHOOSE the referral network that you TRUST. This is a game changer and something that is growing faster than any agency or referral model in existence.
I could go on…but I want to be respectful of your valuable time…and I’m sure you get it by now. Here’s the bottom line…as a business leader/owner, ask yourself one hard question, “Are we creating and building TRUST with our audience(s) or are we destroying and eroding the TRUST of these audiences.” If you answer the question honestly, it will give you great insights as to the future success of your organization. It’s also not a bad question to ask your customers…the answers might just be a bit different from those of your employees.
Find ways to GENERATE TRUST and BUILD TRUST with EVERYONE today. With every interaction your company has with employees, partners, customers, and others, ask one simple question, “Did I build more trust with this person today or did I erode their trust in some way?” This should be a guiding light for every organization. If you, as a leader, simply wandered around your organization and listened to what was going on and then asked your employees this question, you could make one of the most significant changes in the way your company was perceived by your customers.
I would challenge every leader to have this discussion with their teams of employees. Ask them if they feel you are doing this every day…every interaction. If not, find out why not and eliminate this from the processes and procedures in the company. Establish it as a core value and watch the metamorphosis of the company go from where you are today to something much more remarkable. And when you do this with your customers, you are moving one step closer to OBSESSING OVER YOUR CUSTOMERS. I would love to hear your stories of how this goes…
