Seth Godin today writes about trust: how individuals and companies get their customers to trust them — and do business with them. It’s not braggadocio, its not flash, it’s the old-fashioned say-what-you-do-then-do-it-well.
If everyone seeking a job or selling their services did this – we’d have a very different business world. But we don’t.
It’s not just the outright scammers…its the otherwise honest people who stop short of really delivering for the benefit of the customer or employer. Potential customers (or employers or clients) detect the self-centeredness and waver on whether to work with you.
In Seth’s words:
One reason that so many hard sell businesses fail is that they are neither… trustworthy institutions, nor are they trustworthy humans. So we move on. You do 95% of it right, then use cheesy fonts or lie a bit or try too hard and boom, that’s it.
When situations get competitive, trust becomes more, not less, important. So do values like courage, openness, diligence and virtues like faith and hope.
Yet if we let ourselves be beaten down, we cut corners. If fear overtakes us, we shrink from trusting ourselves. If we really believe everyone else is lying, or padding their qualifications, we play the game too. Elsewhere on this blog are guidelines to keep yourself emotionally strong during a crisis like this one. (Here too.)
Employers are using the recession to upgrade their staffs. Customers are demanding and getting better deals. The trustworthy and capable will rise…and lesser ones will be left shaking their heads and bemoaning their fate.
Don’t be one of them. Take the high road. There is a lot less traffic and the view is magnificent.
{ 1 comment }
I discovered your homepage by coincidence.
Very interesting posts and well written.
I will put your site on my blogroll.
Comments on this entry are closed.