The Trust Bank - Increasing Client Relationship Equity

Trust.

It's a word we all use when we talk about developing relationship with our clients, but what does it mean?

A little story...

When my kids were 6 and 10, I taught them about my concept of the trust bank.

I explained that in every relationship we form, we are subconsciously evaluating trust by making deposits and withdrawals from our trust bank, based on people's actions and words. And trust is the foundation of how we feel about people. And how they feel about us.

To demonstrate this big idea, we did a craft together where we painted our own wooden boxes, for our own trust bank, and had a communal jar of pennies that would symbolise trust.

I explained our goal is to keep a positive balance in the trust bank. Kindness, honesty, integrity, accountability, proactive communication, and consistency - those kinds of things would add pennies (aka trust) to the bank. And we made a point of adding pennies when we behaved in ways that built our trust.

We also knew that things like lying, being sneaky, being late, and not doing what we said we would, would mean a withdrawal of pennies.

Over a couple of weeks, they got to viscerally experience what the gives and takes that create and deplete trust meant.

One day, my son had done something that meant a withdrawal of 3 pennies from his trust bank. Cocky and unapologetic, he went to his bank to pull the required pennies from his box, only to discover he only had one left in there.

Naturally, he had an unhappy reaction! He wanted to take the other two from his sister's bountiful bank and was angry when that wasn't allowed. He cried. He understood this to mean he had run out of trust and the lack of trust would limit what he was allowed to do.

It was a great teaching moment for all of us. We talked about how each of the things we had done had earned or spent some of the trust we had for each other and why his sister's bank still had so many pennies in it.

How doing more of the earn trust things meant that when we did mess up, it was okay because there was a surplus of trust in the bank, on deposit.

That it was important to do more of the things that earned it, so there would always be enough to cover the times we had to make a withdrawal - because they are inevitable.

Being his mom, of course we made a real effort here to find things he had done to earn pennies that were "missed" before. I couldn't let him think he had lost all my trust. That would have been damaging.

And this simple act led him to give me 3 pennies from the penny jar. My faith in him built his trust in me - an unexpectedly pleasant result of our experiment.

This trust bank concept is simple and applies to your client relationships too.

Know. Like. Trust.

Everyone tells you it's essential to build trust to get the 'yes'. That the client must believe you can help them before they sign or you won't make the sale.

And that forms an assumption.

You assume when they hire you, they trust you to help them get the results they need and want. Why else would they say yes and give you money?

So, it's baffling when your client ignores your advice. Challenges it. Disregards it. Acts in a way that is contrary to it.

If they trust you, why do they do the opposite, or nothing at all?

But we aren't always as conscious of what happened that might have withdrawn some of their trust from the trust bank.

In some cases, it's because they don't trust themselves.

Sometimes it's because your advice is conflicting with their beliefs or previous knowledge.

Other times, it's because they don't understand how your advice connects to the outcome they want.

And still others it's because your walk doesn't quite match your talk.

Believe it or not, each of these can be solved by mapping out and optimising your client processea so they are designed to provide an outstanding client experience.

I'll talk, more in depth, about what I believe makes an experience outstanding in another post.

To keep it brief for this post: A great experience starts with a plan. A map.

Mapping it out. Getting out of your head and onto some form of document as an overview so you can proactively plan how you'll create and manage expectations throughout the engagement.

What communications you need to have in place to do that and how you provide that communication. (Video, charts, written instructions?)

You establish the whys, the milestones and benchmarks and tie them to an outcome that boost your client's confidence about the actions they must take in the process and maintain their trust in it and in you.

You create a clear path to results so they can see it. Believe it.

You can tap into your expertise and leadership to identify where the common pitfalls are on their path to results, and put supports in place to help them stay on track, reaffirming your authority.

You plan contingencies for the unexpected that reassure your client that you've thought of everything and you've still got them. They are safe. They can still trust you.

You have the big picture and the micro-picture so you can set up automations that actually work and support your own effort to deliver without relying on you to remember to send that document, book that appointment, remind them of that upcoming invoice - and so many other little tasks that are part of delivery and often fall by the wayside because you are BUSY!

All of these little things make deposits in your client's trust bank. You maintain their level of trust in you or grow it.

And when they feel the same, or greater, trust in you, they heed your advice and they get the results they paid you for.

Make it a great day!

Danielle