Trust does not come overnight. It takes time and effort to build reliable, trustworthy relationships, whether with friends, teammates, or clients. However, trust is essential to any relationship. In a business context, it is extremely important to create an open, friendly and transparent work environment where all participants feel confident and can rely on each other. Trust is one of the most effective ways to increase the productivity of your team, retain customers, and increase sales.

However, according to a HubSpot study, more than half of customers have stopped supporting brands they previously trusted. Some believe that this is because modern companies are losing their human touch, exchanging it for automation.

What should you do to avoid letting your customers down? What are the two main types of trust? And how do you approach building trust in your business? Read on to find the answers!

What is trust?

Before delving into the topic, let’s define what we mean by trust. While the answer may seem obvious, let’s be honest: everyone has a different understanding of trust.

So, what is trust?

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, trust is a reliance on someone’s character, strength, ability, or truth. In other words, it’s a sense of firm belief that helps build a confident, strong connection. Building trust is the key to reliable partnerships.

In the business context, trust is an equally important principle of productive and fruitful cooperation. Harvard Business Review reports that people in companies with high levels of trust experience 74% less stress, 106% more energy at work, 50% more productivity, 76% more engagement, and 40% less burnout.

Finally, building trust is one of the most important components of customer relations. People appreciate companies that stick to their values, provide high quality customer service, and do not neglect emotions. Therefore, businesses should strive to build trust and achieve transparent, friendly relations with customers. Otherwise, all your marketing and sales efforts may become irrelevant.

Main types of trust

At its core, trust is a broad concept that can be explained and interpreted in different ways. However, there are more precise approaches to building trust with customers.

In fact, according to the Graziadio Business Review, customer loyalty largely depends on two main types of trust: emotional trust and rational trust. What’s more, each of these types of trust has a critical impact on your customer experience. Therefore, it is worth working on both of them at your workplace at the same time.

Let’s explain these two main types of trust in more detail.

Rational trust

Rational or practical trust is based on factors that you can assess, prove, and develop. This is usually what we think of when we think of trust in a business context. In contrast to trust based on feelings, this type of trust implies practical knowledge, experience, skills, security guarantees, competence, and authority of the company. Building trust in this way is one of the overall goals of any organization or business working on its image and reputation.

Rational trust is often linked to a company’s purpose and is consistent with its values, principles, and high standards of customer service. Research shows that 94% of customers are ready to give preference to companies that have a clear goal that they trust.

It is also worth noting that businesses should make every effort to build such trust. Many factors can affect rational trust. Here are the most common ones:

• Customer reviews
• Experience.
• Security.
• Transparency of communication

Emotional trust

Emotional trust depends on how people perceive your brand, service, or relationship with you on a non-rational level. In particular, it depends on empathy, affection, a sense of safety and care. This type of trust is much more difficult to measure and develop, as it requires a high level of emotional intelligence and an honest, human-centered approach to cooperation.

A company that prioritizes profit and does not care about people’s feelings may simply fail to build trust with its customers. However, this approach can critically affect the success of your business. According to a recent study, more than 70% of customers are willing to pay even higher prices for the services of a company they trust.

The reason is that many clients’ decisions are not entirely rational. Often, people make impulsive choices based on their feelings. And in such cases, the role of emotional trust is critical.

Why is it important to build trust with customers?

Both types of trust play a vital role in the relationship between a business and a customer. Therefore, you should pay special attention to cultivating caring, transparency and high quality customer service in your company.

But how can trust in your company help you grow your business? And what are the most significant long-term benefits of prioritizing trust in your workplace? Let’s take a closer look at these main advantages.

Better customer flow

How will you expand your audience and attract more customers if they don’t trust your brand? Without feeling confident in your company, people will not invest their money in your services. Instead, they’ll go with your competitors, who may have a better reputation and more convincing reviews.

On the contrary, friendly and well-organized service pays off. Almost 90% of people are ready to return for a service that made a great first impression on them. Thus, customer trust is not a short-term effect, but a long-term benefit for your company.

Marketing insights

Based on the above, a company that has established various types of trust makes customers happier. Marketers and business analysts should pay special attention to the feedback they receive. If your customers start to believe that your brand is trustworthy, you need to understand what they value. Then you can use this information to further develop trust.

Higher competitiveness

No matter what industry your business is in, competition is getting tougher and tougher. And it is not easy to maintain a competitive advantage. Here, customer trust can be one of the most important success factors. If your audience considers your services reliable and of high quality, it will be easier to attract and retain customers. Why? Because even if there are several options, people tend to choose the services they trust.

Improving reputation

Finally, remember that trust is one of the pillars of your company’s reputation. A good brand image means that word of mouth is more likely to work for you. Good reviews spread quickly and draw more attention to your service. So how can this affect your income? According to statistics, customers are likely to spend 31% more on businesses with excellent reviews.

7 effective ways to build trust in your business relationships

Building trust is important for many aspects of business, from improving the atmosphere in the workplace to working with customers. However, achieving trust is not easy. Your manager, customer service team, and other employees need to learn how to build these relationships. As such, you should do your best to cultivate core principles and values that lead to a high level of trust between you and your customers.

EXPERTS SAY

From start to finish, when I work with clients, I want them to have a clear understanding of what they can expect from me and when. This way, I can ensure that I meet or exceed my clients’ expectations while maintaining clear boundaries that protect my time, labor, and resources.

Amelia Ferris

Owner and content marketing consultant at Valkyrie Marketing

We will discuss the most productive ways to build trust with customers and learn how to cultivate these principles in your workplace.

1. 1. Be a reliable partner

Reliability is one of the main reasons for your customers’ trust. This means that they can count on you and believe that you will meet their expectations. But how do you prove that you are a reliable partner?

Start by developing soft skills and time management. Show the client that you respect their opinion, know how to handle difficult situations, and deserve their trust. The project manager and team members should approach each task thoughtfully and accurately.

In addition, try to answer all customer questions and thoroughly advise them on everything they want to know. This approach will prove your professionalism and encourage customers to trust you.

2. Build trust through transparency

Transparency is another important pillar of trust. Make sure your customers know you’re not hiding anything by ensuring open communication. It is very important to start a trusting cooperation from the very beginning and maintain it until the end of the project.

At the first meeting, show that you are ready to share your ideas and ask about the person’s expectations. Make sure your colleagues and customers are on the same page to build mutual trust.

Here are some important steps to build trust and transparency in your company:

• Ensure trusting relationships in the workplace. All employees should trust each other, from the top manager to the new employee.
• Establish regular and consistent communication with customers. For example, use collaborative chats and provide access to management tools.
• Don’t hide your mistakes and difficulties. Instead, share problematic aspects and try to solve them together.

3. Show respect for your customers

If you don’t respect your customers, they will never trust your business. Therefore, you should keep your promises and learn to do everything on time. Try not to be late for meetings and meet agreed deadlines. To do this, establish effective time management in your workplace and encourage each employee to take care of customer expectations.

A project manager can also help increase your company’s credibility. This specialist will organize workflows and deliver results to the client. Without a project manager, a lot of effort can go to waste when building trust.

4. Recognize wrong decisions

One of the most important steps to building trust in your team is to be able to admit when you make bad decisions and mistakes. Honesty is the best way to maintain trusting relationships with clients and colleagues.

Besides, mistakes are natural. They make us human. So instead of hiding your shortcomings, share them and try to fix them together. Your honesty can build a better rapport between you and your customers. In this way, it helps build trust rather than destroy it.

5. Establish effective communication

Good communication is one of the most direct ways to build trust and understanding. Conversely, misunderstanding is one of the most serious obstacles. Therefore, one of your main tasks is to start an open, trusting, and fruitful cooperation with clients during meetings and business calls.

Here are some useful tips to help you get started with trust-building communication.

• Ask questions. The opinion of your customers is very important. Be sure to ask them about their basic expectations, priorities, and vision. Show your customers that they can trust you with all their thoughts and ideas.
• Prioritize the conversation. Learning to listen to partners, colleagues, and customers can be difficult. However, it is crucial for building trust and strengthening your collaborative efforts. Try to listen and hear the other person before expressing your opinion.
• Speak clearly and concisely. Even if you are an expert in something, don’t brag about it. Do not use jargon or specific technical terms. Instead, try to be on the same page with the client. A friendly and polite tone of voice is one of the keys to building trust through communication.

6. Work on the level of emotional intelligence

Remember how important emotional trust can be? Customers often perceive business relationships through their feelings and expect an empathetic attitude. They value services that take care of their needs and take into account their pain points. Thus, learning and implementing the principles of emotional intelligence is vital to gaining trust.

In this regard, your customer service and other employees should be trained to build trust and establish a strong connection with customers. Learning empathy and the ability to put yourself in the other person’s shoes are some of the best practices that make people trust you.

7. Don’t just deliver. Cooperate with us!

Last but not least, remember that work and business relationships are still relationships between people. Therefore, a high level of trust is only possible when you treat your client as a partner and vice versa. Mutual understanding, productive communication, and respect should encourage you to work as a team, share experiences, and seek compromises when things go wrong.