Guest post by Marcel Oudejans.

One of the key elements of delivering fantastic customer service is to prove that you are consistently trust-worthy. Recent events have caused many people to question the level of trust that they have put into banks, consultants, salespeople & even politicians!  It’s understandable that customers get so irate when they do not receive the level of service or commitment that they expected; when this happens frequently, or the incident is particularly negative, customers also feel that sense that they cannot trust you.  John Jantsch , author of ‘Duct Tape Marketing‘ says that you should get your customers to “know, like & trust you”.  As consumers, we are (or should be) particularly aware of ‘phishing’ websites, email scams & online identity theft. Yet due to our human nature, we tend to automatically trust a product or service provider’s promises. When the results don’t meet our expectations, we are disappointed that our trust has been misplaced.

Unfortunately, when the manufacturer or service provider is at fault, they often don’t understand that resolving the actual problem is less about delivering what the customer expected & more about rebuilding the relationship.  A customer & a supplier may even have a serious disagreement; however, as long as they are still able to trust each other, they can continue to do business! Even personal friendships can survive without love, but certainly not without trust.

When companies like getclosure! are requested to resolve complaints, they mediate in a way that trust can be re-established & the original problem can be solved. Since they have nothing to gain from the consumer’s frustration, the aggrieved customer has the advantage of being represented by a reasonable person who can be trusted to listen & identify the problem.  Similarly, a company who has been approached by getclosure! not has only the opportunity to ‘win back’ the customer, but also to show their future customers that they will respect their relationship with them.

This week, ask yourself the question: “Can my customers trust me?”

Marcel Oudejans is a Corporate Infotainer who is passionate about inspiring his audiences to deliver more “magic moments” to their customers in their customer service, sales & marketing.  Marcel is the author of “The Serious Business Owner’s Guide To Creating Customers For Life” & provides more tricks, techniques & strategies on his blog, http://www.performmarketing.co.za