Dave Stein's Blog for Sales Leaders

It’s funny how certain words you’ve always been familiar with take on new meanings as you wend your way through life.   The word “trust” is like that for me.

Now that I’m thinking back in time as I write this post, I remember the television show Who Do You Trust? Perhaps the show should have been entitled Who Is Lying and Who Is Not? That’s what I was left with each time I watched it. I never was entertained.  I always felt uncomfortable.  It was my own lack of confidence in being able to identify someone telling the truth from someone who lied.  I’ve gotten much better at that over the years.

I was a Boy Scout: “Trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrift, brave, clean, and reverent.”  At the time that Boy Scout Law gave us plenty of food for thought, discussion and learning—especially with respect to trust.  Things are different now with a lot of young people.

And, of course, there is a lifetime of personal relationships.  In some there was trust.  In others not.  On both sides.   Trust equaled comfort and security.  The lack thereof, hurt.   That hasn’t changed over the years for me.

I became an instrument-rated pilot 15 years ago.  I learned that the imperative “Always Trust Your Instruments” could save your life.  I think about that every time I fly, especially in foul weather when I can’t see anything out the window of the airplane.

So here I am hosting Carnival of Trust, and honored at being asked.  Thanks Charlie.

I met Charles Green a while back when we were both speaking at a conference.  From him and his writings, I learned what trust really means in business.  And since I’m on the sales side of things—where there is more often than not a trust vacuum—I’ve been especially attentive. It certainly has paid off for me.

With that quick history on the word trust as a backdrop, here are ten pieces on that subject for your consideration:

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Tessa Hood, writing for BNET UK, lists her Ten Steps to Building Trust in Business Relationships. How could you not trust Tessa herself with insights like, “Your own self-respect should be mirrored in your respect for your client,” and “Subtlety and authentic humility are key ways to gently building rapport with your marketplace.”

I think she has nailed the basics, hasn’t she?

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For the past several months at least, trust has been on holiday in the U.K.   The uncovering of creative expense account management on top of their own severe banking situation has members of Parliament and the Prime Minister in non-stop crisis management mode.

From the official website/blog of the UK Prime Minister’s Office, a five-minute video, PM focused on recession and restoring trust.  Speaking at a press conference in Downing Street, Prime Minister Brown said he had appointed a Cabinet of “character, strength, experience and resilience” that is committed to serving the nation.  Politicians have got a long way to go in the U.K.  As they do here in the U.S.

In my experience, rebuilding trust is so much harder than building it in the first place.

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Speaking of rebuilding trust, Helio Fred Garcia’s post of the same name, is worth the read.  ” … the Edelman Trust Barometer says that trustworthiness is tied for fourth (with value for money) as the most significant contributor to corporate reputation.  (The top three are quality of products and services, treatment of employees, and frequency and honesty of communication — which is itself an element of trustworthiness).”

The blogger includes a no-BS,  eight-step approach to creating a culture of candor created by James O’Toole and Warren Bennis.

Can you accept that challenge in your company?  Take a look.

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When it comes to trust—or rather the lack-of-same—the name Ted Stevens comes to mind, at least for me.  But perhaps not as you might think.  Unfortunately whether Stevens is really guilty or not isn’t the question anymore.  The question is, what are we going to do about this most serious kind of trust-breaking: prosecutorial misconduct?

Steven Andersen, blogging for Insight Counsel, wrote in Foul Play: After Ted Stevens Debacle, DOJ Sends Prosecutors a Sharp Message, “A certain segment of society turns a jaundiced eye toward government to begin with, so news about prosecutors willing to compromise rules and ethics to get a conviction merely confirms their darkest suspicions.  ‘When you can show that the government forgot the rules because it was so intent on winning, that’s a powerful defense before a jury,’ Collins [Patrick Collins, a partner at Perkins Coie and a former U.S. attorney in Chicago] says. ‘One of the easiest hats for me to wear is that of a righteously indignant lawyer who sees government misconduct.’”

Again, to me this flavor or breach of trust is nasty abuse of power.  There are no shortage of historical examples of where that can lead.

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I’m really troubled by the continual tricks and tactics that are being used by online criminals to extract private information from unsuspecting, trusting citizens. In Trust Caller ID, Become a Crime Victim, blogger Ed Dickson enlightens us a bit about this growing threat.  He’s got one solution: Visit the FTC’s online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357).

Personally, all ESR’s phone lines are on the appropriate Do Not Call Lists and we still get barraged with calls (with phony caller IDs) from “Shareholder Services” and fear-mongering car warranty companies.

Numbers of elderly people where I live were recently scammed as well.  I got the calls mentioned in the article.  Trust?  At your own peril!

Will we always have to look in our spam folders for the occasional real message rather than in our inbox for the occasional spam?

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I mentioned that sales is my business.  The significantly lower level of trust associated with sales people is something I’ve been dealing with for decades.  Apparently we’re not alone. Allison, from the American Marketing Association’s Marketing News blog posted Who Do You Trust? Apparently, Not Us yesterday.  “… professions in the bottom third of trust value included politicians (18%), banks (37%), trade union representatives (43%) and lawyers (47%).”  Firefighters were at the top with 92%.

I wonder where sales ranks in this study.  I know that I work very hard in earning my clients’ trust.  I also know that many salespeople don’t.

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When you have a health, issue what could be worse than a loss of trust in your doctor—or the system?   In Public Trust and Transparency: Keeping the Faith with Patients, Judith A Salerno, MD, writes about conflict of interest, biased judgment, and other present-day challenges that result from the always controversial mix of money and medicine. Dr. Salerno’s piece highlights some of what is needed in the area of regulation, because self-policing evidently isn’t getting the job done.

I’m lucky.  I’m healthy, I have a doctor, and I trust her.  I’m not sure of what I would do if I were not in this position.

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Chris MacDonald, who writes the Business Ethics Blog, posted Harvard Students Take Ethics Pledge.  From Chris’s post: From the NY Times: A Promise to Be Ethical in an Era of Immorality:

When a new crop of future business leaders graduates from the Harvard Business School next week, many of them will be taking a new oath that says, in effect, greed is not good.

Nearly 20 percent of the graduating class have signed “The M.B.A. Oath,” a voluntary student-led pledge that the goal of a business manager is to “serve the greater good.” It promises that Harvard M.B.A.’s will act responsibly, ethically and refrain from advancing their “own narrow ambitions” at the expense of others.

Chris had some good questions to ask, including, “Why have so few Harvard MBA students signed on?”  My question is what can we do to remedy the deeper problem for which we need a pledge in the first place?

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In Not A Journalist, blogger Chris Brogan discusses the difference between a blogger (him) and journalists.  Chris, one of the most widely-read bloggers on the subject of community and social media, took some heat last year for endorsing some products he was given.

Chris is a straight-up, honorable guy.  I really like this post, because it serves to alert all of us on the differences between bloggers and journalists with respect to earning our trust.

Is the difference between bloggers and journalists important to you?

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And, finally, my favorite Charlie Green post!  Great way to end this month’s Carnival of Trust!

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Charlie.  When it comes to being the voice of trust in business, you’ve got your work cut out for you.  But your  passion, insight, and intelligence uniquely qualifies you for the job.

Filed under: Professionalism, social media

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