Tree stumps peak through the top of the grass and weeds. Small craters of hard dirt and stones and pebbles dot the landscape. The terrain is uneven which can cause a lawnmower blade to catch if the human steering the machine isn’t paying attention. It shouldn’t be this way.

We gave a guy a shot. He was a veteran trying to start his own business. We trusted his promises. We gave him the benefit of the doubt because he was a veteran. That means something in our family.

The project did not turn out the way it was supposed to. The way that the contractor promised it would. He promised that, while he was working on our project, he would not wander off and work on other projects that were in progress or new projects that might present themselves because of the work he was doing at our home. He promised that once he was complete with our project, no one would ever know he’d been there.

In a blog post from the Medill School of Journalism, Media, and Integrated Marketing Communications (Northwestern University), associate dean Don Schultz said, “We, as humans, tend to trust what other humans say and do, so trust is easy to develop but extremely difficult to maintain – and ridiculously easy to lose.”

I’ve discussed the significance of trust previously.

We had three extremely tall trees in our side yard, one that was leaning at our home like the infamous tower in Italy. We had just avoided major damage when a thick tree fell on the roof of our sunroom in the back of the house. These three trees had to go.

Simple enough job, but the fees charged by good tree service companies are, to be generous, outrageous. We asked around for recommendations from neighbors about independent tree contractors (who might be equally effective and significantly less expensive). We landed on the man we hired.

First sign of faulty promises… halfway through the first day, work stopped because the contractor claimed he needed to rent some equipment because he, essentially, bit off more than he was capable of. What he promised he could accomplish.

Second sign of faulty promises…when the rented equipment arrived (a cherry picker for him to be able to reach the high branches of these tall trees) he no sooner finished the high tops on our three trees and then maneuvered the machinery into our neighbor’s backyard and began cutting their treetops. Before he finished our project. Like he promised.

Finally, when he had the trees to the ground and all remnants hauled away, there was the matter of the stumps that needed to be ground so that we could landscape and plant grass where these three large trees had been. We called and called and called but our inquiries were essentially ignored.

We reported him to the local Better Business Bureau. We told all our neighbors. We went onto the social media site for our neighborhood to warn our neighbors who were not on our street.

In that same blog post from the Medill School, the top four factors that influence brand trust are:

  1. Quality of Products or Services
  2. Public Perception (ratings, reviews, etc.)
  3. Customer Service Experience
  4. Brand mission, values and reputation

Obviously, this contractor failed on all four of those metrics. Research indicates that 40% of Americans will NEVER return to a brand once they’ve lost trust in it.

What did this contractor lose in this engagement? He lost the opportunity to solicit our neighbors and friends for similar work. He lost the opportunity for us to provide him a great review or testimonial that he could use in his marketing materials. He lost the opportunity for us to provide him referrals. His reputation was so damaged by our experience with him, that he needed to completely relocate to another area to find other work because we made certain that he would not get any more work anywhere in our neighborhood.

If you are a small business owner, here’s five things you should do to ensure that your brand is Trustworthy:

  • Focus on the experience your customers have with your product or service.
  • Don’t overpromise and under-deliver.
  • Measure your Brand Trust and reward faithful customers.
  • Be mindful of creating a strategy for building and maintaining trust.
  • NEVER FORGET: According to a Consumer Research report from Salsify, 87% of respondents said they’d pay MORE for products and services from brands they trust.

Bottom line… don’t break your promises.

If you’re attempting to create a trustworthy brand, give me a shout. I’d be happy to work with you to accomplish that goal.

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