Trust is the foundation of all successful relationships and it is a theme I will be exploring over future posts. To whet your appetite, I thought I’d remind you of the brilliant book on the subject: “The Trusted Advisor” by David Maister, Charles Green and Robert Galford. They open their work with a question:
“What benefits would you obtain if your clients trusted you more?”
They go on to explain that the more your clients trust you, the more they will:
- Reach for your advice
- Be inclined to accept and act on your recommendations
- Bring you in on more advanced, complex, strategic issues
- Treat you as you wish to be treated
- Respect you
- Share more information that helps you to help them, and improves the quality of the service you provide
- Pay your bills without question
- Refer you to their friends and business acquaintances
- Lower the level of stress in your interactions
- Give you the benefit of the doubt
- Forgive you when you make a mistake
- Protect you when you need it (even from their own organization)
- Warn you of dangers that you might avoid
- Be comfortable and allow you to be comfortable
- Involve you early on when their issues begin to form, rather than later in the process (or maybe even call you first!)
- Trust your instincts and judgments (including those about other people such as your colleagues and theirs)
It’s fantastic if you have clients like this…but first you have to win their trust…
