Trust, respect and ‘customer whisperers’
The other day, I read an article about horse whispering and the absolutely necessity to gain the trust and respect of horses in equine psychology. This is obviously not only true for horses. Trust and respect are extremely important for human beings as well.
Just compile a list with your relatives, friends, acquaintances, colleagues, doctors, lawyers, bankers and other people you do business with. Then cancel those you don't really trust and respect. If you're like me, the list just shrunk considerably.
Now compile a list with the names of the brands whose products and/or services you use. Again, cancel those you don't really trust and respect. How long is your list now?
Why do we use products and/or services, even though we neither trust nor respect them?
- Don't we care enough?
- Are we too lazy to look for alternatives?
- Are we prisoners of our habits?
- Are we lulled by the marketing?
Each time we use a product and/or service, we implicitly endorse the brand behind it. As long as we keep on doing that, the brands have no major incentive to change their offer. Instead of literally giving our trust and respect away, we should force brands to work hard to earn it. We do have the power to turn brands into 'customer whisperers'.
Keeping a list and continuously reviewing it helps.