Anytime you cross someone in a bad way they will remember. Your reputation is your business. We have the ability to communicate online with thousands of people instantly, it is what those people say about you that becomes your reputation.
Humans remember the bad things much longer than the good, if you have broken someone’s trust in the past I’d suggest working on making it better soon because it’s going to take a while. Think of the last person who broke your trust, have you worked with them since? How do you feel about him/her?
Trust is a peculiar trait, difficult to earn but once trust is established amazing feats can be achieved. On the contrary, if you lose someone’s trust it is extremely difficult to earn back and you probably ruined the relationship you had with that person. In the small business landscape that Saskatchewan is, you can’t afford to break someone’s trust, word spreads too quickly.
Remember:
- you can’t hide your reputation
- acquiring and keeping ones’ trust will be one of the most important things you ever do in business
- bad things spread much faster than good
- people who really do trust you will defend your reputation as if it were their own
- if your business is not based on integrity you will lose in the long run
Photo Credit: Kat Jackson
For the new up and coming generation (my generation) we don’t need to worry about information. Within a few clicks you can find pretty much anything on the internet today and it’s only going to get more cluttered with, non-other than, more information. When I was in high school we struggled to find information in the text books we were forced to read, that were outdated. If we had a question that wasn’t in the textbook we struggled to find answers because we didn’t have tools like Google, Wikipedia, and blogs filled with hyperlinked sources.
Today I’m not worried about lack of information, I’m worried about how we filter the information that make up our opinions and views. Many trusted news sources have been known to be wrong, more and more so-called news outlets have sprung-up online, and propaganda is thrown at us almost daily. How do you cut through the clutter? And who do you trust?
Doubt what you read, hear and watch.
Orville Wright once said; “If we all worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true were really true, there would be little hope of advance.“ The next time you read a stat that seems a little far fetched find the source, keep digging until you verify it’s origin. I listen to podcasts like RadioLab and Skeptoid because I trust their sources and I believe what they tell is the truth. I get a chuckle out of people who jump on the Zeitgeist band wagon without checking the sources to see if what Peter Joseph preaches is actually true. One I fell for was the Global Warming fan club, which after seeing Al Gore live is difficult not to support. I can now say I was completely wrong, want to know where I formed my opinion? Read SuperFreakonomics then tell me what you think of global warming.
Information is not what we’re worried about, it’s the opinions formed from the vast amount of information, when using the wrong filter. We’re all guilty of it, but we can improve, get smarter and research our opinions better. So what is your filter?
Transparency on the internet is becoming more and more important, if I can’t put a face to your company’s name the chances are I don’t trust you. It’s not difficult to write a little blurb about yourself and why you started the company in the first place, so why don’t you do it? To me it looks like your hiding something, you don’t want me to see who is behind this new company and therefore I don’t trust you.
Websites can be built within hours so how do I know this isn’t just another larger companies subsidiary entering the market? If you’re just a new company, great, tell me about yourself, tell me who works for you, tell me what they’re good at. The people working for you should be an asset, showcase what their strengths are. The more talent I see working for you the better chance you have to garner my business.
Gone are the days of phantom companies on the internet, we want to see who’s behind all your good ideas. Finally, if you don’t want to disclose who works for you because it might hurt your brand maybe they shouldn’t be working for you in the first place.
