Trust is the New Money

Author: John Bostick

Instead, we also have to add intelligent service design into the mix if we are going to secure the trust of our customers. Service design must be driven by customer and user feedback, which is very different than process-driven feedback.

Process is not enough. The synergy of process and service is what’s required to be successful. Intelligent process design will get you in the game, but it won’t keep you there.

In order to build a trust network with your customers, process must be leveraged by the customer’s immediate experience—the benefits tied to the emotional rewards gained by those engaged in the service. Going forward, successful organizations need to place their limited resources against their service offerings (the core) in order to deliver a customer experience that meets or exceeds expectations. They will be wise to outsource the infrastructure and processes around those offerings (the context) to organizations that specialize in that area. The synthesis of the two is what will ultimately win the trust of customers and keep the organization within the circle of trust.

Today, trust is the new money. It is the commodity that fuels business and decides who wins and who loses. As Graham Greene said, we are predisposed to trust. We want to trust, we need to trust. Just as it has always been, however, if the buyers’ experience tells them they can’t trust a seller they will quickly steer their business elsewhere. And unlike money, once trust is lost it is extremely difficult—if not impossible—to recover. Place your focus on intelligent service design and, like the silk traders of old, you will be amply rewarded.

John Bostick is president and CEO of dbaDIRECT, which provides data infrastructure management services to Fortune 1000 and Private 500 firms.  He can be reached at john.bostick@dbadirect.com.