The Importance of Trust in a Business Relationship

By Charles Moffat - January 2010.

When meeting your clients you need to convey a sense of professionalism and trust. You certainly don't want to come across as a "untrustworthy scumbag with a big sales pitch".

The most important aspect in any relationship is trust. If you can't trust your business partner you're probably not going to do business with them. Thus its important that if you're going to be successful (and not end up in prison like Bernie Madoff) you want to keep your business honest and on the proverbial up-and-up.

15 Ways to Build Trust

#1. Keep Your Promises & Contracts.
#2. Never Tell Lies or Stretch the Truth.
#3. Keep Confidences.
#4. Communicate as Fully as Possible, the Whole Truth.
#5. Have No Favorites, Treat People Equally.
#6. Forgive Mistakes, People are only Human.
#7. Follow Through on Agreements.
#8. Listen Attentively.
#9. Lead by Example.
#10. Don't Talk Behind Backs.
#11. Pay your Bills Promptly and in Full.
#12. Keep Records of EVERYTHING.
#13. Remember your Body Language & a Firm Handshake.
#14. Don't Mix Business & Pleasure.
#15. Don't Give Excuses, Give Apologies.

Once lost you can never get trust back. By behaving honestly in your business practices your business partners will give you references to other people who may need your help.

There are a lot of books on the topic of Trust within business practices:

Building Trust: In Business, Politics, Relationships, and Life
By Robert C. Solomon & Fernando Flores

The Truth About Trust in Business: How to Enrich the Bottom Line, Improve Retention, and Build Valuable Relationships
By Vanessa Hall

Inter-Organizational Trust for Business-to-Business E-commerce
By Pauline Ratnasingam

Do Business with People You Can Trust: Balancing Profits and Principles
By L.J. Rittenhouse

The Workplace Revolution: Restoring Trust In Business And Bringing Meaning To Our Work
By Matthew Gilbert

For those of you who are more visual there is also quite a few YouTube Videos on the topic of Trust in Business.

Email Tips for the Workplace

The following is a list of articles by Christina Cavanagh which details advice and tips for managing your email at the workplace.

• E-mail: Don't be a sender offender
• An Email Evolution
• Is your e-mail safe?
• Time is money - and so is e-mail
• E-mail abuse fit for The King
• Aristotle's rules can help your e-mail
• Easy doesn’t equal effective
• Resist the seduction of e-mail
• E-mail overload: 7 deadly spams at work
• Are you a habitual e-mail 'sender offender'?

For more advice about managing your email check out Christina Cavanagh's book "Managing Your Email: Thinking Outside the Inbox" on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble or Chapters.

Seven Blunders of the World

"1. Wealth without work

2. Pleasure without conscience

3. Knowledge without character

4. Commerce without morality

5. Science without humanity

6. Worship without sacrifice

7. Politics without principle"

— Mahatma Gandhi

What exactly is SEO?

If you've been wondering what SEO is its because you haven't caught onto the internet lingo: It stands for Search Engine Optimization.

SEO is a process & a set of methods by which businesses online can market themselves by increasing their visibility on search engines.

So for example lets say you were in the sofa business. You would want to market yourself using the following keywords: Sofa, couch, chesterfield, chaise longue, convertible couch, davenport, daybed, divan, futon, love seat, ottoman, settee, sofa bed, window seat, furniture, furnishing, decor, etc.

Then what you need to do is place those keywords on various websites (the more on topic the better) with a link going back to your sofa business.

You will likely want to seek out the advice of a professional who deals with SEO daily because they will know all the White Hat tricks of the trade. Avoid using Black Hat techniques like link spamming and link farming.

It will take awhile to take effect, but the end result will eventually be a high search ranking in popular search engines like Google. So for example if you type in Bicycle Mechanic Toronto one of the top listings will be The Bicycle Mechanic blog, which operates out of Toronto.

20 SEO TIPS

1. Newsletters
2. Include Text Links with your images
3. Multiple domains or sub-domains for specific topics
4. Exchange articles/links with colleagues
5. Include titles on your links (time consuming but it helps a little)
6. Use a variety of link anchor text
7. Include a sitemap on your website
8. Don't use Black Hat techniques or you will get banned by search engines
9. Social bookmarking helps
10. The more links the better
11. The more on topic the pages are linking to you the better
12. The higher the linking pages' PageRank the better
13. Keep track of your progress by periodically checking your keywords once/week
14. Track your PageRank
15. Get listed in Search Directories & Business Directories
16. Keep making more content
17. Remember to update old content
18. Update your website regularly with more recent info
19. Avoid pushy SEO salespeople (they're sham artists)

20. Lastly, SEO is an ongoing process. You have to keep working on it to stay ahead of the competition.

10 Business Tips Everyone Should Know

#1. Follow-up new Leads

#2. Stick to the Plan + the Budget

#3. Capture All Leads (ie. Don't lose track of clients' contact info.)

#4. Set Goals for the Future

#5. Hold Monthly Events or Sales

#6. Maximize Your Website (ie. Search Engine Optimization)

#7. Time Yourself to meet Market Demand (ie. If your clients all call after 6 PM, your work schedule is going to be late nights.)

#8. Distribute Online Newsletters, Blog Postings, Local Forums

#9. Market with Repeat & Referrals

#10. Prioritize Your Time

36 Sambir - What we do.

This is the blog for 36 Sambir, a business consulting company in Toronto, Canada.

If you are you looking for a business analyst, a business development consultant, a management consultant or advice for improving your business strategy or marketing we can help.

This blog will feature free business tips and advice.