Promoting Trust: Ways To Instill Transparency In Your Business

Whether you are running a service-oriented business or a product-oriented one, a key factor to growing a stable company is building internal and external trust.

Today’s post is by Robert J. Hall.

Employees want assurance that leadership will make the right decisions to foster a productive work environment. Customers give their trust to a company that provides superior customer service, accountability, and competitive prices. To develop trust in your business, you need to be truthful. Integrating candor in business activities can provide the solid foundation that strengthens business relationships with customers while helping employees reach professional success.

Here are several ways to bring internal and external transparency into your business.

Focus on Honesty

It’s easy to fudge the truth in certain areas of your business. You may promote features that your product doesn’t provide to gain more sales. You might also pretend that you have a large budget for a project when money is tight. Instead, be sincere about your company’s strengths, weaknesses and business knowledge. Customers and employees will appreciate this candidness as they can fully understand the company’s motives.

Internal transparency: If you don’t know an answer or if you make a mistake, be honest about it to your employees. Most employees want leaders who are accountable for their actions and will take the steps to remediate any issue. You also promote healthier communication while clearing any misconceptions regarding work processes or projects.

External transparency: If your company doesn’t provide the product or service, don’t pretend that you can offer it to customers. Be direct regarding your business limitations, and then offer advice that is valuable to the person. You can help your company and your brand by being frank with customers regarding the aspects of your operations.

Promote Open Communication

Open communication requires you to be thoughtful, concise and attentive with your words and actions. You want people to feel that they can come to you with a question, idea, or concern — as you will provide the best advice and solutions for their needs.

Internal transparency: Let employees know that you have an open-door policy where they can share their input with you. Also, be clear about your expectations and work roles. When employees know what they need to do, they can improve their productivity.

External transparency: Always keep customers in the loop regarding any changes to their product or service. For example, one way a trucking company can promote open communication is to inform their customers of any delays via GPS vehicle tracking systems. Then, you can relay this information to the customer to avoid problems.

Be Responsive

Nobody likes waiting for a response to an important question or concern. Responsiveness can eliminate small problems quickly and limit the damage that large issues might create. In addition, you show that your company cares about customers and employees.

Internal transparency: Respond to employees ASAP, whether through email, phone, or in-person. Even if you don’t have an immediate answer, acknowledging that you received their message can relieve workplace tensions and won’t leave the person waiting for a response.

External transparency: Don’t force customers to track you down when you don’t respond to their first attempt at contact. When you wait too long, customers may start to leave bad reviews online. Always be quick in your responses to customers to show them how much you care about doing business with them.

Be Straightforward With Information

Customers don’t want hidden fees, and employees want to avoid surprises regarding their salaries and work roles. To avoid this issue, be more forthcoming about your processes. You don’t have to tell them everything, especially when it involves sensitive information. Yet you shouldn’t hide details that can anger people.

Internal transparency: Improve workplace morale by sharing pertinent information that enables employees to make productive decisions. You can offer software to provide real-time data to employees or encourage them to give their opinions during meetings. With this information, team members can determine what they need to do to make the company successful.

External transparency: Spell out fees and procedures to customers. Clients desire clarity in business processes, especially when it comes to supply chains and products, since they want to know more about the items they will use in their daily lives. This approach allows customers to know that they are working with a business that aligns to their needs.

Building trust and promoting openness isn’t a one-step process. It requires having a realistic picture regarding the company’s inner workings and using strategies to grow customer and employee satisfaction. These effective strategies can be used in many business areas, from accounting to marketing, to build a strong and reliable brand.

Robert J. Hall is President of Track Your Truck, a leader in GPS vehicle tracking systems and software for small and mid-size companies.

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