Will “Trust” Be the Go-To Strategy for the ‘20’s?

Trust.

Security. Reliability. Predictability.

Will Trust be the new “gold standard” in companies for the next few years as we slowly emerge from the chaos of COVID?

In my opinion, there’s a strong possibility that it will be as we seek solid ground in a changed world.

You don’t have to go far these days to discover how big a problem Trust really is in the world at large. For example, fewer than half of us – 42 % to be exact – have trust in our public institutions like say Congress, reports Pew Research in a recent study ( and that’s a decline of some 12 to 13 percentage points in just the last 12 months ).

Heck, less than 2/3’s of us – just 64 % - say we trust each other. Again, Pew Research.

Technology consulting company Sitepoint, for example, maintains that attributes like competence, reliability and integrity are the key traits of Trust. LifeSkills, another research organization, says expertise and consistency are the key building blocks here.

You get the picture, right? Solid. Reliable. Believable. We know it when we see it kind-of-thing. Yep.

Global organizations like PwC or say Accenture, position themselves squarely in the middle of the Trust Factor today when it comes to a brand promise.

PwC’s strategy is to provide accurate, airtight accounting and tax services to its customers. Customer confidence – Trust – in their results is paramount!

Accounting firms. Attorneys. Physicians. Architects. Engineers. Consultants. All fall under the professional services category and the Trust Factor is a huge issue with all of them.

In future years, these organizations will evolve quickly as technologies like Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) and 5 G start taking over some of the most basic and labor-intensive aspects of their professions even as they maintain their brand promise of Trust.

In banking – another professional services industry – longtime CEO Jamie Dimon at global bank J P Morgan Chase regularly plays the Trust card. It’s in their DNA. Always.

So I ask you: does your company have a Trust Play? If you do, you could be a strong player in the Impact Economy currently bearing down on us, a phenomenon I discuss in great detail in my upcoming book, The Coming New Impact Economy ( www.portercustomerinstitute.com ) which will be available on Amazon and on the Kindle.

As I usually do here, let me offer you a few Business Tips on this Trust Factor phenomenon:

Business Tip # 1. Recognize Your Culture by determining how your Customers see you related to “Trust”. Consult your top revenue-producing Customers on how they perceive you and include “Trust” in group rankings to uncover how they score you.

Tip # 2. Profile Your best Sales Prospects if Trust is part of your Brand Play and qualify those prospects as it relates to their interest in Trust Aspects.

So good luck! And I hope you’ll join me next time in our continuing discussions about delivering a first-class customer experience in the “20’s!

Until then.

Ciao.