By Shelley Polansky, President/CEO 

Customer experiences can make or break a business. Good experiences build loyalty, lead to repeat revenue, and generate positive word-of-mouth. Bad experiences, on the other hand, create unhappy customers who take their business elsewhere and share their disappointment with friends, family, and anyone else who will listen. 

Of course, no company is perfect. Mistakes happen from time to time. Customers are often willing to overlook the occasional hiccup in product or service experiences when they have a relationship with the business. And just like the lasting relationships we have built with friends, colleagues, and other people, these business-customer relationships must be built on trust. People want to know that the companies with which they do business are going to operate with honesty, integrity, and ethics. They want companies that have built solid reputations over time and are known to provide good service and/or high-quality products. 

Unfortunately, society is facing a substantial lapse in trust. People are looking upon institutions, governments, media, and even each other skeptically. Companies can help break this cycle of distrust by becoming better businesses – and that starts by demonstrating the Five Gestures of Trust. 

The five gestures of trust

Better Business Bureau strives to build ethical marketplaces where buyers and sellers trust each other. To learn what builds trust, respect, and loyalty between companies and their customers, BBB conducted research with North American consumers and businesses. The findings uncovered that there were five factors that people use to determine whether they like or trust a company. When all five factors exist, customers have positive experiences. When customers have negative experiences, one or more of these five actions were missing. 

These 5 Gestures of Trust provide the foundation for a positive customer-business relationship. By making these gestures a part of your company’s values and culture and living them daily, you can signal to customers that your business is respectful and, even more importantly, respects and values them. Keep in mind that one gesture may depend on another, or one gesture may inspire another. 

Honest

Perhaps the most fundamental of the gestures, honesty means doing exactly what you say you’ll do, and it also means helping customers understand what they need to know. Point out all the risks of a purchase before the transaction happens. Tell the truth if a mistake is made as soon as you learn about it. Adhere to the BBB Code of Advertising to help ensure ethical and truthful advertising and sales processes.  

Transparent

Being transparent means that you’re willing to disclose information that is important to customers, even if it makes your company vulnerable. Share processes and explain how decisions were made. Admit to mistakes when they happen and make amends to the customer and the public. Respond to negative reviews with the steps you’re taking to prevent issues from happening again. By applying to have the  BBB independently vet and monitor your business, you could earn BBB Accreditation and further demonstrate your commitment to operating ethically and honestly. 

Proactive

The key to being proactive is to always focus on finding ways to improve the customer experience. This means training your employees to take initiative, prevent customer issues, and make customer service an everyday goal. Respond to customer questions, requests, and complaints quickly and with sincerity. Anticipate customer needs and provide solutions that will deliver value and help them save money. Correct mistakes, even if the customer doesn’t notice, because that’s the right thing to do. 

Humble

Part of being humble means believing that your success is due in large part to your customers and the community. Prioritize customer service. Treat customers as partners by looking for ways to deliver them value and genuinely demonstrate your appreciation for them. Respect your employees and work to develop them as people and professionals.   

Equitable 

As with any relationship, power should not reside solely on one side. Equitable companies believe sharing power in relationships and/or transactions is the right thing to do, and not just something that happens as a result of competitive pressure or customer threats. Perhaps the easiest way to understand this gesture is by using the Golden Rule as your guide: Make policies and decisions that you would want a company to make if you were the customer. That means eradicating fine-print contracts, bait-and-switch sales tactics, and confusing return policies. 

Become a Better Business

By demonstrating the 5 Gestures of Trust, you can help customers trust and connect with your business. These gestures also give people the confidence to choose to do business with you, even in cases of those occasional service hiccups. 

Businesses today have the power to show the world that people can trust each other again. When you do the right things for the right reasons – and you live your values by putting them into action daily – you will win prospects and keep customers. And in turn, the marketplace will have something that is truly special: trust. 

Shelley Polansky is president/CEO of BBB Serving Northern Colorado and Wyoming.