TRUST – Trust Leads to Sales, But Not Like You Think

The Business Trendsetter Podcast

Customers won’t buy from you if they don’t trust you. The very minimum is you must promise to your customer what you will deliver, and then make good on that promise. If your product and/or service doesn’t deliver on its promise, you won’t have trust and you won’t have sales. Surprisingly, companies often fail at this very bottom level. They fail to meet their promise, and they lose trust. For example, Fox News admitted it had lied on TV, and agreed to pay Dominion (the voting machine company) $785M for hurting Dominion’s reputation. By not fulfilling on their basic promise of telling the truth to viewers, their trust is sorely damaged.

But product alone is not going to provide real trust. That takes some level of branding. You have to demonstrate to customers they can trust you by telling them why they should trust you. Branding is about extending your promise of meeting needs beyond basic product features so people will remain loyal. And usually pay a premium because they don’t just get the basics, they get the promise you are doing more to meet their needs.

And that leads to the greatest trust, and customer loyalty. The companies customers really trust are ones that not only meet current needs, but look forward and use trends to develop new products & solutions that help customers meet poorly-meet or unmet needs. Like Apple, which maintains a very loyal customer base by providing products that meet customer goals of capability and usability with minimal failure. Or Tesla which has invested not just in an electric car, but in battery technology and a charging network that helps customers feel more confident (trustworthy) in their products. GM’s Volt and Ford’s Mach-e don’t have the level of customer trust because GM and Ford have not demonstrated they can meet all their customer’s needs beyond just a usable, and possibly stylish, electric vehicle. To be trusted GM and Ford have to demonstrate their commitment to the e-car marketplace much better.

SparkPartners is in the trendcasting business because we use large models to understand how trends develop. We know it’s not just the product, nor its reviews. It’s about how people use the products, and whether the supplying companies are making the investments that inspire behavior. We are here to be your trusted source for trend analysis and predicting pathways to greater success.

Thinking Points:

• Do you know your promise to the customer? Are you sure of delivering on that promise 100% of the time?
• Do you know not only your product promise, but your brand promise to the customer?
• Are you investigating how to use new technologies and business models to help solve customers’ poorly met needs?
• Do you have trusted advisors with whom you can discuss trends, adoption rates and applications that can meet future needs and grow your company?