Originally published February 2022. Updated July 2026.
We’ve been exploring trust in our blog posts lately. Trust is a huge part of successful customer relationships, but what is it, exactly? What’s the science behind it? How do others judge whether we’re trustworthy? Building trust in any relationship takes time, but there are things you can start doing right away that will help to foster trust.
While these suggestions are meant to help you build trust with prospective clients, they can be applied to any relationship. Whether you’re trying to build trust within your sales team or with your partner, these tips will come in handy.
Respect Others’ Time
Our most precious commodity is time. That’s why it’s important to show others that you respect their time. This can be done in a number of ways:
- Be on time. In fact, be early to any meetings with your prospect.
- Come to meetings prepared, having reviewed any relevant information beforehand. Statistics show that 91% of buyers are already familiar with a vendor before the first meeting. They’ve done their homework—be sure to do yours.
- Have an agenda that you share for any meeting. This shows you’ve put thought into how best to use the time your attendee has set aside. Be sure to ask if they have anything they would like to add to the agenda. After all, it’s their time.
- End meetings when you say you will, or better yet, give them some time back. Don’t, however, do this by saying, “I’m giving you 10 minutes of your life back.” That makes it sound like their time meeting with you was not well spent.
- Return calls and emails promptly. If you can’t get them an answer right away, write them back to let them know you’re working on it.
- Ask good questions. In other words, don’t ask something that you could have easily looked up on your own time.
- Respect time zones. Don’t suggest meeting at a time that’s within your work hours but likely outside of someone else’s.
Do What You Said You Would
If you tell someone you’ll have something to them by the end of the day, then you need to have it to them by the end of the day. Do you remember the three traits people use to determine someone’s trustworthiness?
Ability, benevolence, and integrity. It doesn’t matter how skilled you are at your job if your clients can’t trust you to get things done when you said you would for the price you promised.
Make sure you’re realistic with your turnaround time. If you can’t get it done by the close of business today, then tell them you’ll have it by tomorrow morning. It’s always better to turn it in early than to turn it in late—underpromise and overdeliver, not the other way around.
Being able to deliver on your promises consistently means sometimes having to do something many of us hate—say “no.” You can’t do absolutely everything while maintaining your quality and promptness. It’s much better to be honest up front and say you don’t have the capacity to do something than to break your promise about when you would have it completed.
Admit Mistakes
It’s hard to have to tell a client something they don’t want to hear. It’s even harder when that thing they don’t want to hear about is your fault. It’s much better, however, to make a heartfelt apology, admit you screwed up, and fix it.
What is a heartfelt apology? It’s one that keeps the focus on what you did. I once worked with a woman who was famous for saying, “I’m so sorry you feel that way,” whenever there was an issue with something she had done. That is not a heartfelt apology.
Open and Frequent Communication
Open and frequent communication doesn’t mean only reaching out when something has been completed or when something goes wrong. It means that you regularly communicate progress. If anything, it’s always better to over-communicate than not do it enough.
Consistency is important in fostering trust, and communication is an easy way to show your prospects and clients that you’re consistent. After every meeting, email everyone who attended an overview of what was discussed and what actions anybody agreed to take. This is also a good way to ensure everyone is on the same page.
Lack of communication can cause a client to lose trust in you without either of you even realizing it. You might be working hard and expecting deliverables to be completed early, but your client might interpret a lack of communication to mean you’re not focused on their business.
If there’s any discrepancy between what your client expects in terms of communication and what you’re providing, be sure to own up to it and apologize. “I’m sorry that you feel I wasn’t communicating enough.” Right? Great apology! Just kidding! That was a test.
Be Personal
You’re a professional, and you’re working with other professionals, but you’re still human. It’s important to make personal connections with your prospects and clients. Connect on shared interests.
We’re naturally more attracted to others with whom we have common interests—it’s called the similarity attraction effect. Maybe you share a favorite team or a love of cooking. Find those common connections, just like you would in a new friendship.
It also helps to remember small details people share with you. Maybe they mentioned an event they plan on attending. Next week, ask them how it went. It shows that you’ve been listening to them and value what they have to say. Remembering these details can also be helpful for future gifting opportunities.
Some of these suggestions might sound odd, but it’s common for many of us to lose our human side in a business setting. Some people even think that’s more appropriate, but that attitude does not foster trust.
Watch Your Face
In previous blog posts, we’ve talked about some facial features that affect others’ trust in us that we can’t control. Luckily, there are some that we can. One suggestion is to make eye contact with others. Those who make eye contact when in conversation are seen as more trustworthy. It’s important to maintain eye contact to build trust and signal engagement and interest.
Smiling can also help increase trust. Research shows that people make assumptions about a person’s character based on their facial expression. Researchers noted in the above-linked study that “facial expressions predict character trait judgments, and happiness is particularly important here.”
Be careful, though, because studies also show that people can tell if your smile is fake.
Trust is not a constant. This is a good thing since it allows us to prove our trustworthiness (even if we have an untrustworthy face). It also allows us to repair trust in a relationship if we lose it.
If you look back through all of the suggestions we’ve shared about increasing trust, you’ll notice that they’re also good suggestions for being a good human in general.
Admit mistakes, smile, listen to others, and find commonalities.
Maybe we should all work on facilitating trust in all of our relationships, not just with clients and prospects. Does it sound like I’m saying you could improve the kind of boss/colleague/friend/partner you are? I’m so sorry you feel that way.
Contact us at mastery@maestrogroup.co to schedule workshops for your team or to learn more about our executive coaching programs.