The Networking Community Radio Show Presents "A Year in the Life of a Networker"

Friday, May 18, 2007

Building Trust - "Time Takes Time"

This segment is taken from TNC's five step process for networking, Step 3, which is the Trust step and is entitled; Building Trust - "Time Takes Time."

The power of the networking step process is that it allows you to take baby steps which gradually builds trust over time. And time takes time. Consider this metric in this 21st century economy of marketing clutter, as but one example: Because we are only paying attention 20% of the time, it takes 45 impressions just to create awareness (Step 1). This is why frequency and consistency rule if you want to build trusted relationships.

When there is interest expressed (Step 2) you can then advance to the next stage and begin to build trust (Step 3). Trust begins with doing what you say you will do. If you say you will follow-up and don’t, how can anyone trust that your promise of delivering services will be any different? To build trust you need to demonstrate consistently that you are capable and competent.

In networking you develop a reputation for being trustworthy or untrustworthy through your actions. Trust is established over time based how dependable we are. Do our actions match our words? When the need arises, you can then deepen the trust, perhaps through a proposal that includes your company background, testimonials, case studies, and value-based services delivered at competitive rates.

A trusted referral through networking is so powerful because you are borrowing the trust that your referral source has taken THEIR time to build. This will then allow you to drastically collapse the time to build YOUR trust. Building trust is a necessary step and networking through trusted referrals will allow you to more quickly achieve your desired goal.

It’s not entirely true that people do business with people they like. People do business with people they like and trust.