THE TRUST EQUATION Ok, lets go through the trust equation piece by piece and then look at the

best way to quantify the formula. T = C + R + I / S, where T = Trust, C = Credibility, R = Reliability, I = Intim acy, S = Self-orientation

Credibility = Words = Credentials plus honesty Reliability = Actions = Promises kept Intimacy = Emotions = Feel comfortable talking to you about the sensitive, pers onal issues connected to the surface issue Self-orientation = Motives = Know that you care about serving our interests If fail to be: Credible Reliable Intimate Unselfish Youll be seen as: A windbag Irresponsible Vendors Manipulative

CREDIBILITY Credibility is the area most commonly achieved. It focuses on technical experti se...plus presence. Presence refers to how we look, act, react, and talk about o ur technical expertise. You must illustrate not just assert. It takes a modera te amount of time to establish compared to the other components of trust. The r ational part of credibility (believability - not telling lies) can be examined o r checked pretty quickly (i.e., references). The emotional side of credibility (honesty - telling the complete truth) takes longer to evaluate because honesty has to do with being comfortable with you. You must allay any unconscious suspi cions of incompleteness. Two things do this quicker than anything else: 1). anticipating needs and 2). speaking about needs that are not commonly talked about (best to do this in the form of a question). A few ways to enhance Credibility: 1. Tell the truth. 2. Dont over exaggerate. 3. Avoid saying things that others may construe as lies. (e.g., "Well put our b est people on it.") 4. When you dont know, say so quickly and directly. 5. If you dont really belong there, dont put yourself there in the first place . 6. Do your homework. 7. Love what you do. RELIABILITY Reliability is about whether clients think you are dependable and can be trusted to behave in consistent ways. It is determined mostly by the number of times t he client has interacted with you. We trust those we know the best and assign l ess trust to those whom we have not interacted. Judgments about reliability can be borrowed by checking experiences others have had with you but these are esti mates that can be quickly revised by direct client experience. Reliability link s words and deeds, intention and action. This action orientation distinguishes reliability from credibility. The rational part of reliability is the repeated experience of links between promises and action (you do what you say). This is d one formally by meeting due dates, increased quality levels, increased sales, et c. but also seen less formally in how long it takes someone to return a phone ca ll, whether meetings are cancelled or kept, quality and timeliness of day-to-day communications, etc. The emotional side of reliability is revealed when things

are done in a way the client prefers, or to which they are accustomed. We unco nsciously form opinions about someones reliability by the extent to which they seem to anticipate our own habits, expectations, routines, and quirks. Thus, re liability in an emotional sense is the repeated experience of expectations fulfi lled (see the importance of personality profiling in quickly revealing someones personality expectations?). Consistency (rational reliability) in terms of the clients preferences (emotional reliability) A few ways to enhance Reliability: 1. Make specific commitments to your client around small things (e.g. finding in formation on topic discussed by Monday) and delivering on it, quietly and on-tim e. 2. Send meeting materials in advance. 3. Make sure meetings have clear goals, not just agendas, and ensure goals are m et. 4. Use the clients terminology. 5. Review agendas with client before meetings. They should have a say in how th e time will be spent. 6. Reconfirm scheduled events before they happen. INTIMACY Intimacy and self-orientation are the most effective source of differentiation i n trustworthiness. People trust those with whom they are willing to talk about difficult agendas (intimacy), and those who demonstrate that they care (low self -orientation). Intimacy is needed to make a connection to the interior, emotional state of the client. It does not mean that private lives necessarily get shared. What it do es mean is that things personal, related to the issues at hand, get shared. Int imacy is about emotional closeness concerning the issues at hand. Its a game o f mutually increasing risk. One party offers a piece of himself or herself and the other party either responds (deepening intimacy) or they dont (drawing an i ntimacy line). Trying to establish intimacy too soon in the client relationship can backfire. It is the scariest part of trust because it is about who we are more than any other aspect of trust. It requires courage. Many assume intimacy takes the longest to develop but when done well, it is potentially the least tim e dependent. A few ways to enhance Intimacy: 1. Ask questions they havent previously heard from an integrated marketing firm . 2. When step out to create intimacy, make sure you give the client a way not to answer. 3. Practice phrasing. Think or even write down 2 or 3 ways to ask a difficult q uestion. 4. Dont overrate the downside risk. Is saying something going to risk the busi ness or just put us in a place of personal discomfort? 5. One of you has to make the first move. It should be you! SELF-ORIENTATION There is no greater source of distrust than account service people who appear to be more interested in themselves than in trying to be of service to the client. Self-orientation covers anything that keeps us from focusing on our client. Th ings like a desire to jump to the solution, a desire to always be right, fear of not knowing what to do or say next, fear of rejection, etc. can keep us preoccu pied with our own agenda and it will directly reduce trust. Clients recognize excessive self-orientation through such things as: 1. A tendency to relate stories to ourselves 2. A need to finish the clients sentences for them

3. A need to fill empty spaces in conversations 4. An inability to provide a direct answer to a direct question. 5. An unwillingness to say we dont know 6. Name dropping 7. Always wanting to have the last word. 8. Putting forth ideas on solutions before fully understanding the clients situ ation. A few ways to demonstrate low self-orientation: 1. Let the client fill the empty spaces in conversations. 2. Ask the client to talk about whats behind an issue. 3. Use open-ended questions. 4. Focus on defining the problem, not guessing the solution. 5. Reflective listening, summarizing what weve heard to make sure we heard corr ectly what was said and intended. 6. Saying you dont know when you dont know. 7. Taking most of the responsibility for failed communications. 8. Think about how you would help your client if you were completely responsible for this persons future success. Make their concerns your concerns. 9. Be honest with yourself. If you have little interest in the work, it is almo st inevitable that you will focus more on yourself. Low self-orientation is all about the intensity of your commitment to help your client. QUANTIFYING TRUST Ok, now for the numbers: Stating the obvious, new clients should have lower numbers than existing clients . In the new client case we might rate the clients initial perception of your cre dibility as a 6 (above average) on a scale of 1 to 10, probably based on reputat ion and the slight experience with Jennifer. Reliability, which typically takes longer to establish might be somewhere around 3, and intimacy, which would not be far along at this point might be a 3. Self-orientation would be high since i n sales situations we typically believe the other party is looking after #1. So the self-orientation score might be an 8. Low self-orientation is very rarely t he starting assumption. 6+3+3=12 12/8 = 1.5 So with most new clients we have lots of work to do in the trust area. With existing clients the score usually looks more like this: Credibility = 7 Reliability = 8 Intimacy = 5 Self-orientation = 4 7+8+5=20 20/4=5 Perfection would be a score of 30. Youll never get there though you should try.

A more realistic goal is between 12 and 20. Remember the score changes as the relationship and the type of projects change. Also, remember that with intimacy, the client may limit how close you get so your score may never be above average . The most important area to focus on is self-orientation. For example, lets say you have a good client and you see the opportunity to pit ch a new project to the client. This new project would involve new people in an area you havent worked in before with that client. You boldly ask for the new project without setting the stage in terms of the clients best interest. The t rust equation of the existing relationship is a 10 but lets look at how pitchin g this new project this way would affect the relationship. Credibility: 4 The current account service persons credibility is low beca use she has to bring someone new into the relationship. The new persons credib ility is only gotten from the current account service persons testimonial, whos e motives may seem mixed. Reliability: 2 No track record regarding new area or new person

Intimacy: 3 Broadened agenda without involving the client. No questions a sked, no real discussion of the issue, just a big pitch. Self-orientation: 8 All the talk is about what we can do for the client, no in dication of a focus on the clients perspective or personal issues. Trust score = 1.13 So you can see how quickly a good client can be lost if you take your eye off th e trust ball. On the other hand if trust is well built... 1. The client comes to rely on you for advice in broader areas beyond your base technical expertise 2. The client understands the value you provide and doesnt focus as much on pri ce (trust and profitability go hand in hand) 3. You are given greater leeway to make mistakes (not careless errors but honest mistakes) 4. The client will give you a more complete picture of their true situation 5. The client will refer you to other potential clients

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