As a marketing professional for the last 30 years, what most clients and individuals seek is high visibility. Most consider visibility the first step to increasing the revenue pipeline of any business. But there is a component of visibility that is perhaps more important and of greater value: the element of trust.
Trust is the byproduct of commitment. Trust is the intentionality to serve the best interests of others above those of yourself. Before there can be a value proposition presented, there has to be a trust component demonstrated.
Trust requires four components:
1. Care: we all know that familiar expression, people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. The best business arrangements are the byproduct of service and a willingness to do what’s necessary in order to arrive at the solution. Some people do business as if it is a train ride: they go as far as the road they are being paid to travel. The best leaders that I know are those who never do what’s necessary, they always do the extraordinary. In some ways the best businesspeople do leave money on the table, but it seems that such business practices only produce additional referrals.
2. Competence: no one is good at everything, so just make sure that you stay in your lane when you perform a business service. That is what makes certain real estate agents exceptional: they know what they need to do and if that is not enough to accomplish the purpose, they seek those who are experts in the areas that are lacking. Results are always necessary, but how they are arrived at is sometimes worth the price of paying a little bit more. Alleviating some of the pain and suffering of correcting a situation is still an art form. You can’t go into a big box store and buy expertise. Expertise is always a one-to-one relationship. Competence is the cornerstone of trust.
3. Accountability: no one is always 100% right. It’s the mindset that is prepared to become accountable and take the steps to correct what needs to be corrected. You can never trust anyone who’s not willing to be accountable. No one who is filled with excuses can ever be trusted.
4. Consistency: standards of service in some professions vary: from 100% consistent to 50% consistent. Before anyone signs a service contract or a business agreement, the quality and consistency of their words will represent the kind of quality and consistency that their service or skill will deliver. This is why consistency is a big part of visibility, because if people keep seeing you show up as you deliver your services, you are actually constructing their own expectations of what they will receive as a result of engaging with you professionally.