Trust is an essential part of building business relationships, but how does it get there? Here’s FIVE ways to build trust and improve your return from your business networking.
1.Start by making Friends.
People don’t buy from businesses they buy from people they Know, Like and Trust.
If you want people to get to a point of Trust with you (and therefore help you grow your business) then you need to start by connecting as human beings.
Too many people underestimate the amount of time it takes for this to happen.
So, start with the knowing and liking bit. Don’t be in too much of a hurry to sell your business. Make friends. When that bit is working well, you can start to talk about passing quality business to each other.
The 121 meetings you have after networking are the perfect place to work on Knowing and Liking. Find the common ground. It’s that stuff that forms the friendship. Do you both like holidays, cat videos, Thai food… ? What do you both find amusing, annoying etc?
It does take a bit of time. So, don’t skip this part. The deeper the foundations at this point, the more robust the relationship will be in the long term.
Once you’ve started to bond as people you’ll be able to bolster that with the things you need to do to build Trust (i.e show that you are credible and reliable).
2. Do what you say you’re are going to do.
Building trust is a bit like a game of snakes and ladders. During business networking and our 121 meetings we are undertaking activities that help to demonstrate how trustworthy we are – working our way up the metaphorical ladders. But, as we all know, trust is a delicate commodity. Being unreliable is a sure fire way to end up on a snake and undo all of the good work you’ve already done.
If you are unreliable in your day to day networking we will make the assumption that you do that in your business too. The behaviours you show in networking, social media etc are your shop front. It’s what we use to make assumptions about you.
If you don’t do what you say you’re going to do then you let us down. Now we are less motivated to help you. The trust is damaged.
If you can’t deliver on your promises, make sure you communicate with the people you are going to let down. Explain yourself and how you will rectify it. Apologise if you need to. It will go a long way to avoiding that big long snake and finding yourself back at the start of a potential productive relationship.
3. Be organised, reliable and professional
When out networking you are marketing you and your business. You are showing people your values, what you stand for and how you do business. This will ultimately make you more likely to be recommended or introduced by your connections.
It sounds simple, but I see so may people at networking meetings who have clearly done no preparation for being there. They are ‘flying by the seat of their pants’ and just winging their way through it; they haven’t thought about their one minute pitch, planned who they want to speak to afterwards and don’t appear to have done anything since the last meeting. They don’t appear to be proactive about any part of it.
Another thing that people don’t think about is how they portray themselves. Not just in meetings – but on social media and all of their other interactions.
FACT: People are observing you all of the time. They are deciding whether you are a potential supplier or referral partner. How professional, organised and reliable you appear to be will have a massive impact on that decision making process.
Remember, there are eyes on you all the time. Make sure what they see is the best that you can be AND how you want people to think about you and your business.
4. Show that you are credible
People don’t just buy from people, they buy based on what other people say about you. They are also swayed by how much of an authority in your particular area you are. So, it’s important to make sure that you are covering these bases too if you are to build proactive relationships based on trust.
Social proof is a massive way to tick this box. Ask the people you’ve worked with or who already know you well to write testimonials or recommendations.
LinkedIn has a great tool for requesting recommendations from your connections. Google My Business is also an excellent way to solicit feedback from customers. Turn these into social media posts, put them on your website, use them in your one minute pitch and on your sales and marketing collateral.
Use blogs, video and social media to show what you know and position yourself as an authority on what you do. Giving away useful content can also help forge trust with your contacts as well as your customers.
One other really important point on credibility. If what someone as asked you to do is NOT your core business, don’t just cobble it together for them. Have the courage to tell them and introduce them to someone who is an expert in that type of work. This will buy you a lot of credibility and trust brownie points for the future.
5. Do something to help others
One of the best ways to make someone ‘like’ you more is to do something nice for them. It will definitely make you memorable and it’s human nature to want to reciprocate – although we shouldn’t be too transactional about this if we want to stay friends!
There are so many ways we can do to help each other in business networking circles. Try and do a couple of things to help someone and you’ll be surprised how much this can bolster a relationship and encourage the development of trust.
Here’s a few ideas:
- Invite them along to another business networking meeting or expo with you.
- Introduce them to someone new – not a referral (yet! You’re still getting to know each other) – just someone new to connect with.
- Attend an event they are running or suggest it to someone else.
- Follow them on social media and like and comment on their posts regularly.
- Look for ways to collaborate – e.g. write a guest blog with each other.
- Teach them something that you do that could help them with their business i.e. if you are web designer make a couple of simple suggestions that they could change on their homepage.
They don’t have to be big things. Just something that helps you to bond further.
Ultimately, the key to building trust is to just be a nice person!
Take an interest in people, be professional and kind, do what you say you’re going to do and don’t sell to people…avoid the snakes and concentrate on the ladders.
If you want to develop your networking skills further you might like to read our other blogs about trust and networking and how to get the most out of your 121 meetings.
