How to Win Customer Trust
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• Understand Customer Expectations
  Think about it. When you buy anything from a supplier you have a set of expectations. Those expectations are formed from advertising, past experience, and word-of-mouth. They are also formed as a customer ‘experiences’ the buying relationship with the provider. Customers are evaluating the actual experience with their expectations of the experience. When there are disconnects between expectations and the actual experience, satisfaction, and trust are impacted.
  
  Formally ask your customers what they expect. Make sure you understand what they really want from you. Sometimes, the expectations are rather pedestrian! They may not expect a flashy web site but they do expect to receive a bill that is accurate and understandable.
  
  


• Understand the Customers’ Experience
  While a customer is buying goods or services, they are also experiencing a process when they do business with your company. Understand what that process looks like. Draw a map outlining what the customer experiences as he does business with your company. You might be surprised at what you see.
  
  Consider the Following Questions:
  1. Is it really easy for customers to do business with your company?
     One recent personal experience illustrates this point. I was ready and willing to purchase new phone services but the convoluted telephone system and inability to quickly make the purchase caused me to look elsewhere. Shop your own business as a customer would. You might be surprised at what you find out.
  
  
  
  2. Where are the points in that process that can most affect customer expectations?
     These are those critical 'trust' points. Sometimes, those points seem small and inconsequential. For example, when customers call in, do they first have contact with someone who is both knowledgeable and friendly? Our experience suggests that the first point of contact can have a great deal to do with setting customer expectations, both positively and negatively.
  
  
  
  3. Do you have metrics that determine the degree to which customer expectations are being met?
     Obviously, customer satisfaction surveys are helpful to a degree. Research shows that even satisfied customers may not be loyal. Consider other metrics. For example, monitor customer purchase trends - constantly. If a customer’s purchasing pattern changes dramatically, find out why. Were expectations not met?


• Is Your Company’s Value Proposition Clear? Can Employees Explain It to Customers?
  There are value propositions throughout a company (or should be). A clear value proposition answers the question as to ‘why’ the customer should buy a product or service or even do business with your company. To illustrate why this matters, I will share a recent experience. I was getting some maintenance done on my car. The dealer is one that I would rate quite high on the trust scale. When I brought the car in for some regular maintenance, he suggested an additional maintenance service that should be done AND why it was needed. His effective approach resulted in an additional $75 on the total bill. Another example was again with my car at another service provider. The technician suggested an additional service but could not explain what the real value to the additional service was. I thought it was nothing more than an attempt to increase an already too large service bill. I declined and my medium level of trust in this company was further lowered.



• How Do You Handle Customer Problems?
  My first job out of business school was sales. In the company’s training, they repeatedly made the case that a customer problem often represented a sales opportunity. As a 'green' salesman, I thought they were wrong. I quickly learned differently. Many times, if you handle the upset customer effectively, there are opportunities to not only sell to the customer but to reestablish and even enhance the customer-trust level. Think about how customer issues are handled. Are they viewed as ‘problem’ customer or ‘customers with problems’? There is a difference.
  
  In our research, we have found many things that inhibit the development of a strong relationship of customer trust. Most of the time, these are seemingly 'little' things such as unclear invoices and repair statements or not communicating with the customer when needed repairs exceeded the original estimate. Sometimes it was just not explaining what repair work was needed and why.