BASICS

1.    TAKE THE TIME TO GET IT RIGHT

                    a.    This should be discovered, and not rushed

There was a wonderful question asked recently on Linked In about the value of Trust and Loyalty, and whether this would make is easy for a Company such as Apple to move quickly and profitability into areas such as banking.

A survey had been conducted that suggested it would.

But then there were comments attached which stated (from Apple customers) that perhaps it wouldn't be that simple: because they felt 'tied in' by Apple and didn't want to be 'tied in' by a Bank (as they effectively feel already).

Reputation is the key to success in business and life.

Customers, investors, employees and others in the market place react differently from the time they start trusting you or your brand.
If you have a great reputation, they will refer you to others, give you a benefit of doubt and buy your products. They will also stay with you long term … even if you make mistakes.

The amount of trust you generate in the market place will determine your value.

Here's a GREAT little piece taken from 'the Speed of Trust' www.speedoftrust.com
The Most Trusted Countries in The World

2010 most trusted countries list resulted in a three-way tie according to Transparency International. Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore tied to top the rankings.
The correlation of trust and GDP discovered by Paul Zak and Stephen Knack is significant: "In all cases, the countries with the highest trust levels have the highest per capita incomes and GDPs. Because trust reduces the cost of transactions, high trust societies exhibit better economic performance than low trust societies."

Wow!

Imagine if you could develop these levels of Trust in your Organisation or team ... or even personally!

How do you do it: by the 'behaviours of trust', which are all 'going the extra inch'.

If you'd like me to send you a short summary of the Speed of Trust, please do contact me.

I have been a customer of the Carphone Warehouse for almost 10 years.

I have 3 mobile phones, 4 land lines and 2 broadband internet accounts with them. Recently I put an add-on on to my phone in order to help me keep in touch whilst I was abroad.

The total bill for this was £8.61.

The day before I went abroad I received a reminder letter saying that if I did not pay this £8.61 within 5 days, my phone would be cut off. I had never been sent a bill.

I pay all my bills by direct debit and have never not paid over all the time that I have been with them. If I hadn't received that letter on the day I received it, I would have been cut off whilst I was abroad with the potential business loss of many thousands of pounds.

On phoning their help-line, after intense discussion, I discovered that this was the way their system worked, to use the words of their Customer Services operative.

In a nutshell, Carphone Warehouse systems don't trust anyone.

If you have any outstanding bill, no matter what your payment history, no matter the size of your custom, no matter how good your credit rating, they simply cut you off. On top of this they don't even have the good manners to send you a bill beforehand, they just send you a reminder to pay (which is in itself an insult because you haven't been asked to pay in the first place anyway).

So: the Carphone Warehouse clearly doesn't have a customer focused mission, and clearly do not filter all their systems and processes through the customers real needs. If they keep doing this, over time, business will surely falter.

No matter how many times their staff go the extra inch, without customer focused systems and processes, they will be in trouble.

If you would like us to look at your systems and processes and find out how customer focused they are, please do contact us.

For more information on how 'Great or Poor' can help you significantly boost sales and profits, or to discuss our fixed price business support services, please do contact us.