Business people around the world spend countless hours and dollars trying to get our attention so we’ll buy their product or service. Now more than ever I believe we are in a time when consumers choose to do business with people and companies they feel they can trust.
I find that when people don’t know someone they trust who can provide a product or service they need, they are willing to work with someone based on transferred trust. Transferred trust is where you trust someone because someone you trust told you you could. It’s like having a friend give you the answer to the bonus question on your final test.
In a business like real estate there are opportunities to connect consumers with other business professionals every day. We recommend home inspectors, lenders, insurance providers, moving companies, storage companies, hotels, restaurants, and so on.
My clients, family, and friends are happy when I can make their problems go away by giving them a name and number to call. Once they’ve made the decision to use the information I’ve given them, they know they can sit back while their problem goes away.
I don’t recommend people I don’t trust or haven’t had a positive personal experience with, unless someone I trust has said it’s okay to do so. In the world we live in it’s so easy to get tangled up with the wrong people. Doing so can have a small impact on us, such as paying a few extra dollars we didn’t need to pay, or a huge impact, such as losing an opportunity to achieve our dreams.
Successful business people realize products don’t attract sales. Service does. If I recommend someone who fails to increase the trust between me and the person I told to call them, I stop recommending that person. For a list of my most trusted resources, please click here.
