Face-to-face Networking: 60-second Solutions – – Build Trust to Build Relationships

We like to do business with people we know and trust. Face-to-face networking helps get you known. Here are some hints to help you build trust with potential and current customers, employees and peers.

• Be trustworthy. Do what you say you will do when you promise it to be done. Keep confidences. Refrain from gossip; don’t give or get.
• Show integrity. Be honest and exhibit strong morals and ethics in your personal and professional lives. Reality is that one affects the other even if they “shouldn’t.”
• Treat others respectfully. Trust them until they show you otherwise.
• Give honest feedback. People – whether they are your peers, employees, associates or friends – deserve to know how you feel or think about their behavior, performance, etc., when asked. Be careful about sharing unsought opinions.
• Listen with your ears and eyes, i.e., listen four times more than you speak … in the proportion in which you were gifted.
• Support those who work with/for you whether it is as a volunteer or paid relationship. Be a team player vs. an individual standout.
• Recognize/acknowledge when someone does a good job.
• Empower others to make decisions, and give them authority along with responsibility.
• Walk your talk. Be sure your words and deeds match.

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