Do your customers trust you?
For me, trust has always been one of the most, if not the most important factor in any relationship with clients. Whenever undertaking any sales training and running through the most important qualities of anyone working in sales, trust invariably comes out on top.
This time the issue is about the Charity sector and a Mr Rae who forgot to tick a box when he filled out a lifestyle survey in 1994. It seems that the company behind the survey sold his personal information to charities which then bombarded him with requests for donations and some then proceeded to pass on Mr Rae’s personal information to other charities, data brokers and companies – over 200 times in total and resulted in him being scammed as well. No-one deserves this and the Data Protection Act is very clear – the very first principle is that your data is only processed fairly and lawfully.
Again, it comes down to trust and expectation and not simply down to the fact that 20 years ago Mr Rae didn’t tick the box to say ‘don’t share my information with ‘like-minded’ companies’. An interesting discussion yesterday on R.4 commented that part of the issue was too much short term thinking and too high targets for the sales team on the phone and a lack of understanding that the charity/donor relationship is very much long term and very much dependent on trust. It is critical for donors not to feel bad if they can’t up their giving. Every donor should be encouraged to give to their comfort level but never beyond, they should never be made to feel guilty. This is a negative emotion and not at all productive.
So this then leads into emotion v logic not being understood, and perhaps processes in the business not being as robust as they might be. Are yours sound in your business? Are there any that could lead to customers or clients feeling that you are not being transparent and perhaps not worthy of their trust?
I love getting process right. Call me if I can help.
3rd September 2015
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