What is the key to being able to build trust? In my opinion, there are many essential elements and not just one. In today’s fast-paced business world, having a range of trust elements is key to better customer retention. In this blog, I’ll explain how ESPN builds trust to keep customers on board.
Related: Best Buy Lessons in Customer Service
The most valuable business commodity is trust. Richard Branson, author, and founder of Virgin Group says:
“Building trust in your brand isn’t easy to achieve and it may take time, but it doesn’t have to come at a high cost. With honesty, ambition, hard work and attention to detail, you can instill a level of trust that will enable you to move forward.”
He could have been speaking for ESPN, yes?
Background
Customer trust is a must in today’s hyper-competitive, ultra-connected business environment. ESPN knows this well.
Everyone wants to do business with companies they trust. The one constant that all executives seek for their organization is a competitive advantage.
But as the widespread availability of high-speed networks has made it possible for companies of all sizes to compete on a global scale. It’s becoming more and more difficult for brands to distinguish themselves on a product, price, or even quality.
One trait that does separate exceptional companies from also-rans is the level of trust they engender with their customers. Customers prefer to do business with organizations that have gained their confidence.
As we noted on many occasions, customer trust is gained through two interlaced faculties: good intent and competence.
According to a Concerto Marketing Group and Research Now survey, when customers trust a brand, 83 percent will recommend a trusted company to others and 82 percent will continue to use that brand frequently.
While hardly anyone talks about the time you went above and beyond for a customer, you’ll certainly hear from the disgruntled ones. This is especially true if you failed to make a deadline or delivered a product that didn’t do what you promised.
ESPN builds trust … defining trust
Trust, in a customer or consumer behavior context, is defined here as the attainment of a level of satisfaction and resulting loyalty. Loyalty at which customers are comfortable forgoing problem-solving behavior.
Rather, they repurchase a particular product or set of products in a routinized or habitual fashion.
Why customer trust?
The reason customer trust is so critical today is that we’re no longer thinking just in terms of transactions. ESPN is thinking in terms of relationships
Business is a people activity, people like to do business with people they know, like, and trust. Ones with whom they have relationships are at the top of the desirable business option list.
The stronger the relationships with your customers, the greater will be their trust and loyalty in your business. So it is very logical for businesses to put a priority on building customer relationships.
ESPN builds trust … how to build trust
Every organization looking for a sustainable competitive advantage needs one thing: customer trust.
Here are six ways ESPN gains it, builds it, and retains it.
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Customer engagement
Companies should provide customers with online forums or other means for interacting with their firm, as well as with each other.
This is another way for companies to demonstrate their transparency with customers.
In addition to gathering solicited customer feedback, it’s also important to analyze customer sentiment about a company and its products that are delivered via interactions across all channels and touchpoints.
This includes mining customer sentiments that can be gleaned in a multitude of ways.
Better customer retention … deliver on what you say
Doing what you say you are going to do when you say you’re going to do it is crucial to building trust. Famous entrepreneur and motivational speaker Jim Rohn said,
One customer well taken care of could be more valuable than $10,000 worth of advertising.
Consistent service
Consistency goes hand in hand with providing great service build on solid trust. Internal expectations lead to external results. From a business perspective, consistency applies to every aspect of who you are and what you do.
Ensure a quality product or service, delivered on time, well executed, and reasonably priced. This is imperative for business survival. Demanding customers expect nothing less.
Communicate effectively
Effective communication is the cornerstone of any successful company, especially a media one.
In today’s fast-paced business world, having a range of communication channels available such as phone, e-mail, instant messaging, fax, etc. is key to maximizing your ability to communicate effectively with customers.
Build a solid reputation
Potential customers and business partners will search for information about you and your business online. According to a survey conducted by Dimensional Research, 90 percent of respondents who recalled reading online reviews claimed that positive online reviews influenced buying decisions.
Only 86 percent said buying decisions were influenced by negative online reviews.
It’s crucial to manage your online reputation and establish an active social media presence, website and blog.
Keep customers returning … use transparency
Transparency is another competency that should come naturally. Yet so many businesses have trouble coming to terms with what it really means.
Customers and clients are smart. They know when you’re being up front or when they are told a mistruth.
If honesty is the best policy, they’ll appreciate and admire you more when you admit to a mistake, rather than playing games or even worse, avoiding the topic altogether.
Don’t try to hide or cover up your errors. Address the issue directly, explain how you will handle it.
Share what steps are being taken to prevent the errors from occurring in the future.
Related: Whole Food’s Customer Engagement Using Social Media
Studies show time and again, loyal customers are the aptest to tell their friends about your business, creating strong word of mouth marketing.
And as we have said many times … word of mouth marketing is the most important element of any marketing campaign.
So there are many important reasons to focus on building strong customer relationships.
We highlight three critical enablers of trust within employee intent and employee competence that can be operationalized without great difficulty.
Let’s examine these important enablers:
ESPN builds trust … employee intent
Empathy, transparency, and accountability are three enablers of employee intent. Having empathy for customers, and treating them the way you would want to be treated, is one of the most important elements of goodwill.
Empathy requires firms to proactively anticipate customer needs and reach out to them to offer relevant products and services, even if it means losing money in the short term.
One way to operationalize empathy is to communicate all the best options to customers without being asked. It is always good to empower employees to take such actions.
For example, customer care from a cable provider may mean adjusting a customer’s rate plan to a new plan that best suits their needs and is $20 cheaper. This may mean losing $120 in the short term. But it can lead to the customer renewing or keeping his contract.
Transparency meanwhile sounds simple enough, but can in practice be difficult. Some firms equate transparency with giving up control.
That’s simply not the case. It can come down to simple activities like clarifying the language of your policies, actively using external social media channels to communicate with customers, and being open to feedback and criticism from customers.
And accountability is about taking responsibility when customers go through any negative experiences. This may involve compensating customers for the inconvenience and correcting any mistakes even at increased costs.
Employee competence
We consider that employee competence is made up of the customer experience, employee empowerment, and employee recognition.
Customer experience is about being consistent and credible to customers.
It goes beyond delivering high-quality products and services and involves building relationships with customers that will encourage positive word-of-mouth and referrals.
As an example, for a telecom operator whose has received large amounts of calls due to network issues, this might mean sending a simple text message to customers who experience dropped calls with an offer of free minutes or other credits as a compensation.
Or it could also mean letting customers know that the operator is aware of the network problem and is proactively working to resolve it.
Employee empowerment requires firms to train and authorize employees to take necessary actions to earn customer’s trust.
Building customer influence and trust is not a simple action. It takes consistent effort by the employees on all these enablers. Over time.
It requires a fact-based analysis of customers and their needs, understanding the firm’s competitive position, and performing in-depth capability assessment.
But trust-based initiatives such as these have a real business impact. Trust makes customers less price sensitive and less interested in competitive offers.
It creates a sustainable competitive advantage by directly lead to the acquisition, retention, and growth of the firm’s customer base. They have great payoffs.
Here are 14 tips to help you assure customers and forge new, and strengthen existing, relationships and trust, just like ESPN does it:
People all have something to say
… offer vehicles for your community to express themselves and tell their story.
See the article: A Story of Amazon and Listening to Customer Input.
Be friendly and genuine
… focus on making friends.
The need for a trust-based relationship can’t be denied. But marketing executives who want to build customer trust have one question: How?
People seek out the comfort of human relationships
… provide them with clear access to a community (it may even be their own).
See the article: How to Build Better Customer Relationships.
Smile and be pleasant to be around
… Smiling is not rocket science and makes a BIG difference.
Be specific
… For example: “Mr. Smith your car will be ready at 4:15 pm today” is much more specific (and believable) than “Mr. Smith, your car will be ready later today”. Details tell them you know what you’re doing and that you have the situation under control.
Be a good listener
… Hear and remember the ‘remarkable’ for the next visit.
Tell the truth, ALWAYS
… with no hidden agendas and ulterior motives. Marketing puffery is not the truth, consumers are very educated on products and services.
Make notes
… As you talk with them, take time to write down details of the situation. Even if you’re talking over the phone, ask them to pause for a moment so you can take notes. This tells them you are serious about helping them and you want to get all the information you can.
Make customers feel important
… Be authentic at all costs, however.
Retention strategies … create conversation
… Seek out common interests by asking effective questions.
Make a promise to them
… A great way to assure people is to make a promise. Commit to something and give them your word. Then you are honor-bound to get it done. People respect others who make a promise and then keep it. It builds great credibility and loyalty.
Use multiple ways to connect and close
… Always do what you say.
People need to feel valued
… offer tokens of appreciation and recognition which may include badges, rewards, exclusive access, and the like.
People crave discovery
… help them learn about new things such as ideas, places, music, food, destinations and what be it. We all want to feel like we’re among the first few to know about something.
Customers come to us for one of two reasons. They want our help to accomplish something or to avoid something. They know the outcome they want. They engage our expertise and resources to get there.
And when customers choose us, they do so with a certain amount of risk. They risk their time and money. But, most importantly, they risk not getting what they came to us for.
Example of customer trust to illustrate
Trust is something you need to work on when it comes to keeping good relationship with your customer. It’s something that must not taken for granted by any kind of business because they are the people who can help you grow your business and make it really successful. Thanks for sharing some good tips. Personally, I have a good read here and I’ll definitely consider your ideas and advices.