We are all looking for someone to trust. People and institutions that will do what they say and say what they mean.

Doctors put diplomas on the wall and wear white coats to say that you can trust them. We trust that the plane will land safely at our destination and that our laguage is untempered with, that the chair you sit on will hold you, that the light will come on when you press the switch, that the engine will switch on when you turn the ignition.

Institutions and relationships don’t work without trust.

Trust is the foundation of any relationship.

It is not an accident that a gold standard in business is being able to do business on a handshake.

Today, though, it is easier than ever to build a facade of trust but not actually deliver. It is difficult to confidently trust that the insurance company will payout your claim without giving you hassles, the next thing you are told you should have “read the fine print.”

It is incredibly difficult to build anything on the back of “read the fine print” or “watch your back.”

When we have to spend all our time watching our back, it is far more challenging to get anything done and it makes building a business, a brand or relationship more difficult.

Are you doing what you are doing to create the appearance of trust, or is this actually something trustworthy, something you are proud to do?

Building trust is expensive. You can call it an expense or an investment, or merely cut corners and work on trustiness instead.

Trust is built when no one is looking, when you think you have the option of cutting corners and when you find a loophole but you don’t accede to it. 

Opportunity may knock only once, but temptation leans on the doorbell.

It is easy to trust when there is no temptation, real trust is built when temptation is leaning on that doorbell and no one is looking and you are able to walk away with your head held high.

Trustiness is what happens when you use trust as a PR tool.

The difference should be obvious:

Trust experienced is remarkable, trustiness once discovered leaves a bad taste for even your most valued customers.

The perverse irony is this: the more you work on your trustiness, the harder you fall once people discover that they were tricked.

Build trust, not the appearance of trust. Build it when no one else is watching.

Like you trust that the sun will rise in the morning and set in the afternoon, build trust that will deliver like the sun, even when the clouds are out, you know that it is there, you don’t have to go search for it.

Build trust before you need it.