Why trust is the finest asset a business can build

The more experientially enhanced (older) you become, the more you are prone to disillusionment. These days, I will be looking at many a politician for a long time before the words trust, honesty and integrity spring to mind. And don’t get me started on TV presenters.

When I started out in business, respect for the client was a keystone of professional practice. Honesty, fair dealing, integrity – these were values to uphold if for no other reason than that the client expected it and they are the ones paying the bills. And if a customer trusts you, chances are they will be back.

Today, not only do many businesses seem to reject the idea that they need to play fair with the customer – give a decent price on the house insurance renewal first time not when someone proposes to shop around, say, or drop the food delivery in a safe place rather than throwing it over the gate – but careless practice seems to be their default.

Meanwhile, customers have become so jaded and cynical they suspect every business from banks to milkpersons is taking them for a ride.

(Sadly, this cynicism extends to attitudes to the public sector, too. A friend has recently retired as a doctor, fed up with management but equally tired of pacifying patients’ families who arrive expecting the worst rather than the best and are primed to argue about it.)

Put the client first

Here, our ethos has always been to put the client first: serve them by listening, assessing the case realistically, doing the due diligence, keeping them informed and, ideally, delivering a result. It’s very important not to over-promise: if there’s no solution possible we tell people so.

To act otherwise – to keep taking money from people whose cases are hopeless, to drag our feet on the paperwork in the hope of an extra day’s fees, to go halfway on the credit background checks rather than full throttle – would be unethical. And it would also do us no good professionally once people thought we, too, were short-changing them and metaphorically throwing the shopping over the gate.

Someone who thinks the same, and has equal longevity in business, is our friend Paul Humphreys, a highly successful credit insurance broker for more than three decades (www.phcredit.co.uk). We have worked with Paul many times over the years, valuing his expertise and insight and also his moral stance of doing the right thing by a client in what can be a ruthless industry at times.

‘Repeat business’

Paul says: “Trust is a very precious asset both in life and in business; it is fragile but hard won, very easily broken and all but impossible to repair.

“To build and retain trust in practice we should avoid seeking short-term gains, treat people as we would hope to be treated and end the day being able to look in the mirror and like what we see staring back.

“If people trust you, they come back to you, and repeat business is the most valuable return on investment that you can achieve.”

In an era when it’s in short supply, building and retaining trust as a company should be a key part of everybody’s business plan.

The TV presenters and politicians can race to the bottom. We’ll stick with the moral high ground, thanks.