Start With A Win - 3 Ways to Build Trust

Episode Date: March 9, 2022

According to a study done by Newsweek and Brand Spark a couple years ago, RE/MAX agents are the most trusted by Americans. Based on the data, consumers want trust, safety and inclusion in the companies they do business with—in that order. In this episode of Start With A Win, Adam unpacks three ways you can build trust with people and in business.1. Build Positive RelationshipsWe all have those people in our lives who we call friends, but every time we talk to them, they're gossiping about other people. Which can make you feel like you wouldn’t want to share anything really personal with them because you don’t necessarily trust the communication that occurs in that relationship. Instead, when you have really trustworthy friends, those friends also typically have trustworthy friends. This develops a web of trust going through those relationships.  Positive relationships also come from learning how to resolve conflict in a positive, reciprocal manner. 2. Develop Good Judgement & ExpertiseWhen people trust you, they're trusting that you make decisions that are mutually in the best interest of the situation. So you can’t one-sided, selfish or an egomaniac. And this doesn’t just affect you; it impacts other people, businesses, employees, your family, your reputation. You have to use good judgment in order to create trust. You're determining what is best for this situation. And often what's best for our situation is an everybody wins outcome.And then when you've done that, you build expertise, and people trust expertise. Expertise is the culmination of your perspective, your opinions and your ideas based upon past experience. It’s important to develop your expertise by seeking it out—seeking the experience and the knowledge necessary to make you an expert on something.3. Be Consistent If you're an executive in a company, one of the key aspects that your employees seek out is consistency. Why? Because they know what you expect from them. And they know what to do in the company. There's clarity in consistency, and both of those things create trust. It’s also about consistently honoring your commitments and promises. And being willing to go above and beyond for people by giving them more than they expect on a consistent basis.Episode Links:Order your copy of Start With A Win: Tools and Lessons to Create Personal and Business Success:https://www.startwithawin.com/bookConnect with Adam:https://www.startwithawin.com/https://www.facebook.com/REMAXAdamContoshttps://twitter.com/REMAXAdamContoshttps://www.instagram.com/REMAXadamcontos/ Leave us a voicemail:888-581-4430

Welcome to Start With A Win, where we give you the tools and lessons you need to create business and personal success. Are you ready? Let's do this. And coming to you from Denver, Colorado, home of Remax World Headquarters, it's Adam Canto, CEO of Remax with Start With a Win. I see producer Mark here. How you doing, buddy? That's right. Here I am on the other side of this camera. I'm doing so good. Whoa, what's going on with that voice, buddy? Yeah, I got one of those traditional things they used to call a cold back in the day. Oh, wow. Yeah, I got a cold over this past weekend, and it's just those residuals. You know, they just hang on forever. So now I got this

sweet little bit of a, in a world only one man can survive. Are you doing, uh, are you doing like a radio commercials now? Well, actually it's funny. Cause I noticed on our, the intro recording, I, you know, I kind of dug deep on that VO on that one. And I, I kind of looking back, I'm like, I think I was getting over a cold and that one too. Well, I'll tell you what, it sounds good. I, you know, you, you can keep it if you want, or I don't know. It might be hard to sing with that. I'm not sure. Yeah. And it's just like having your nose drained sucks. And that's no fun. I don't want to keep it. I don't want to keep it. Well, we like the temporary stand in radio voice of Mark Labriola. Exactly. Exactly. How have you been? I've been really good. You know,

we're, uh, this is March now. Um, you know, a couple of months ago I announced that I'll be retired from ringbacks come the end of this month. So, um, it's, it's kind of cool. A lot of, a lot of warm, uh, you know, conversations and, and a lot of high fives as well as a lot of well wishing going on. But it's really cool because I've been expanding out in the coaching and doing some public speaking as well as helping people who have gone. And one of the things I really like is building executives, so helping people that have been in an MBA program or executive MBA program.

I went through one of those several years ago. Helping everybody really build a great leadership presence in their company based upon the knowledge that they've gained. Maybe they didn't go through an MBA program, but they just want to build that. So we've been working on that a little bit, but overall, just love the company Remax and how everybody's treating me with this. Yeah, that's awesome. And man, Remax is on fire. I mean, if ever was a time to leave, it's bittersweet, right? Because in one way, they're just crushing it. And it and man, Remax is on fire. I mean, if, if ever was a time to leave, it's bittersweet, right? Because in one way they're just crushing it and it's like, man, might as well stay around for this amazing thing. But in the, on the other hand, it's like, well,

you know, there's other things you want to do and it's a great time to, to leave on top, you know? Oh, totally. I mean, there's so much, so much going on, you know we've already released all of our 2021 numbers and things like that. It was a huge year for Remax. Remax did over 2 million transaction sites. Nobody in the world did more than 2. I mean, it's never been done before. So in 2021, over 2 million transaction sites and just a banner year. So you're right. I'm leaving at the top, as well as something I want to talk about today, which is trust. In fact, Newsweek and BrandSpark did a big survey of shoppers, and it reveals that REMAX agents are the most trusted by Americans. Interesting. Interesting.

I wonder if that has any correlation to doing the most transactions as well as being the most trusted. Hey, you never know. So I mean, let's take a step back into 2020 when COVID was starting. And I was on this Forrester panel with some other CEOs. And we all were going through data about what the consumer wants. And the consumer really wants, in this order and heavily weighted to the front end of this, they want trust, safety, and inclusion in the companies that they do business with. So it was really cool to see

the survey by Newsweek and BrandSpark and just how they went out and unpacked that to determine who's the most trusted. Because truly, that makes a difference in business. It makes a difference in your life. I mean, don't you want to be trusted by people for crying out loud? And there are some ways to do that. So I want to unpack basically kind of three categories of how you can build trust today. What do you think? Yeah, this is, I think it's awesome. I mean, I think trust is, it's interesting and you're probably familiar with this, right? It's, I tell my teenager kids like, hey, trust is the one thing that you can give me and is the most valuable thing, you know, because when I trust you, I can give you more privileges. I can, uh, you know, know that you're

doing the right thing when I'm not around. And so you want to make sure to hold on to that. And even if telling the truth or, you know, fessing up to something where, where, you know, you did something wrong. As long as you fess up, that's going to be less of a punishment than, you know, if I find out that you lied and then I can't trust you because that trust is so valuable. Yeah, exactly. Oh, it's 100% correct. I mean, we always talked about it in our house about, you know, you have a trust account and you make all these deposits with trust bucket. We need a big bucket says trust on the side and you just fill that bucket up. That's right. Yeah. So I mean, the reality is it's, it is a bank account or it's, it's a bucket or whatever. And as soon as you, you empty that thing out, uh,

life becomes a little more challenging. Right. So we have to continue to make deposits in that trust account. And there are some ways we can do that. And there's three ways that you've identified to build this trust. Three ways. And this is not my original work. However, I've been reinforcing this over quite a bit of time. This also comes back to several psychology studies and things like that. And Harvard Business Review has done some articles on this. And people have written books about trust and things like that. But the reality is, yes, it functionally can be done in three categories. So category number one. Hey, Mark, can you give us a- Category number one. There we go. Awesome. All right. Well, this is kind of a no-brainer. So when you think about it, trust, for the most

part, is built by building relationships. So the category number one is you have to build positive relationships. And I say positive relationships because we have all sorts of relationships in our lives. And those relationships can be just remote relationships. They can be sporadic. They can be sporadic. They can be a relationship of distrust. So think about that, people, if you have distrust. Well, I think we all have those people in our life that we would say that they're a friend, but every time we talk to them, they're gossiping or talking about how terrible things

are. And it's like, man, I don't know if I'd ever share anything really personal with this person because every time I talk to them, they're talking about somebody else's business and it's like, yeah, we're friends, but I don't necessarily trust you, you know? Exactly. Yeah. I mean, do you, do you trust that relationship and in the, the communication that occurs in that relationship? And like you said, if they're talking trash about other people, uh, when you're around, when you're not around, they're talking trash about you. Right. So red flag. Yeah, exactly. There's, and I was listening to the radio this

morning and they were talking about there's yellow flags and there's red flags. And when you see somebody doing something around you, just know that they're doing it about you when you're not around. That's a red flag to me. So, you know, positive relationships and you have to look at the positive relationships that you have and the relationships that you have with others and that those others have with others when it comes to that. So you're generating this cooperation and this interaction between everybody. And a relationship is not just a two-way street here.

It's kind of a web of different intermingling relationships of all sorts of different people. And when you have really, really trustworthy friends, those friends have really trustworthy friends. And then you get this web of trust going on amongst these people through those relationships. So that's really key is how you build that. Yeah. And here's one of the, the key aspects to that Mark is how do you resolve conflict in those relationships? Do you ignore it? Do you argue about it? Are you, uh, you know, humble about it? Do you have humility and things like that? And the reality is we're going to have conflict in life. Right, right. And the most trustworthy relationships will go into that conflict and say,

hey, Mark, I know we disagree about this. And we can respectfully disagree with each other. But let's figure out this conflict here. The tension's there. I love you, man. Let's figure this out so that we can move on with our relationship in a trustworthy manner. Yeah. And I think too, even when it comes to businesses, I'm a huge, I love Bonvoy Marriott

and I got the rewards card, all these other kinds of things. And I give them my business exclusively because I'm a big fan of their properties. And every time I go, I have a good experience. And this past year we were on a road trip and we had a terrible experience. And when they send you that email, like, hey, how was your stay? I just spoke my mind a little bit and just said, hey, I was really disappointed in this. And amazingly, instead of them just ignoring it of thousands you know, thousands and thousands of people putting this in the manager of that, of that property got back to me and then like comped our stay. And I was like, oh, okay. You, you, you instilled that trust again, you know, in the property and the brand and it even drove it deeper, you know, where it's like, oh man, if they're

going to do something like this, then I'm going to be even that much more loyal. Oh, totally. And you know, you're going to have bad experiences places that nothing is always perfect 100% of the time. But the reality is you were honest with them about it. You didn't lose your mind or, you know, blow up at them or be condescending or insulting or anything like that. You just said, Hey, this, this just wasn't what I believe your standards, what I trust your brand to deliver. And they said, well, let's make it right. Yeah. And it's, I I've experienced that as well. I mean, we've, um, I've, I've experienced it in Marriott's and I'll tell you what it's again, you, you have to expect I was on the road in 2019. I was on the road like 200 days. So I've got well over like 1,000 or 1,100 nights, room nights in Marriott. And why so many in Marriott? Because I trust their brand. I trust their hoteliers

no matter where I go to deliver a certain quality. And not just the quality, but the caring behind it. So it's a reciprocal relationship. And that's a big part of having positive relationships is there's a reciprocal aspect where I use their business, their service, and I respect them. And I have a smile on my face. And I treat their employees with dignity and respect like I would treat anybody.

But it's amazing. Some people don't treat others this way when it comes to that. So they treat me the same way and we've had this lifelong relationship. I've given them a ton of money and they've given me a ton of room nights in hotels. Good experiences. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So, you know, you, you, you build trust in a brand with that relationship you have with the consumer. So super important. So how about number two? All right, number two.

Give me number two, Mark. Number two. Number two is judgment and expertise. So particularly good judgment and expertise. You don't want poor judgment. Not poor judgment. But when people trust a brand, a leader, a human being, they're trusting that you make decisions that are mutually in the best interest of the situation. So you're not one-sided. You're not selfish. You're not

self-centered. You're not egomaniac. You're none of those things. But you have good judgment when you're making decisions that, because let's face it, and there are a lot of people who need to listen to this. Judgments don't just affect you. They affect other people. They affect businesses. They affect employees. They affect your family. They affect your reputation, which is how other people are judging you. So the reality is you have to use good judgment in order to create trust. And sometimes good judgment means, you know, and just to take a little bit of a sidestep here, it does overlap with that relationship aspect. You're not flying off to handle it, people. You're taking a deep breath and you're determining what is best for this situation. And a lot of times what's best for a situation is an everybody wins outcome. So the judgment can be not, how can I take advantage of that person? And that, that

situation, it can be, how can we all win together? Right. Right. And then when you've done that, you build expertise and people trust expertise. So what is expertise? Expertise is the culmination of your perspective, your opinions, your ideas based upon past experience. Right. And it could be based upon education. The heart doctor did a heart surgery for the first time at some point. Right. Okay. And they probably had somebody else there that had done many, many, many before that was an expert on it, but there's a transference of expertise that goes on in life. And people trust it when you seek that expertise by seeking experience, by seeking knowledge. And the reality is a lot of times that expertise and knowledge comes from bad judgment every now and then. Right. Yeah. And falling and then picking yourself back up and dusting yourself off and moving

forward and not letting it set you back. And then, you know, I think this goes back to, you know, one of your, your big, you know, you're a big proponent of making videos. And so I think it's that idea, right, of gaining that knowledge and then putting a video out there so that your sphere of influence can see that and know that you're actually working on yourself, that you're putting in work and effort. You're learning new things and you're sharing that knowledge with people because then I think, again, right, that comes back to that building trust aspect where they see you doing what you said is important. And then they're maybe learning from you. And then that is kind of instilling that, filling up that bank account of trust. Like, oh, look at this person gave me some valuable information on their YouTube channel or their social media page. And that maybe even subconsciously is building that trust with

you, even though they don't know that that's happening. Huge point, Mark. And let me frame that by saying, what do people do when they don't know the answer to something? And ultimately, when they don't know the answer to something, there's a fear response. There's an unknown that's going on. And I'm not saying they're afraid of saying something, doing something, whatever, but they question whether or not that's the way they should do it. Do they have the confidence, things like that? They research it. They Bing it. Just kidding. Bing. Google. They go to Yahoo and type it in. That's right. Or the Bing. Is Bing the dog? No, Bing's Microsoft search engine. Oh, is there like a little icon?

I don't know. I've never Binged anything in my life. I'm sorry. I don't know. I thought it was like Bing. And then it was like Lycos. Remember that one? Oh, yeah.

Yep, Lycos. And I remember the dog one you're talking about from back in the day, the search engine. There was one called like Spider Search or something like that, too. It was like a, you know. I think we in the day, the search engine. There was one called like spider search or something like that too. It was like, uh, you know, I think we just lost everybody. Yeah. Like what are you talking about?

We're talking about search engines from like the nineties and early two thousands before you could just search and Google things. Hang on. Let me pull up my pager and check and see if anybody's. That's right. My Tivo or Tiva. I don't remember. Treo.

My Treo. Hang on. I got to write this down in my palm pilot. Yeah. All right. So let's, all right, come on everybody back in the bus. So we're talking about trust here. The first thing that we talked about was relationships. The second thing was judgment and expertise. So, you know, your, your quality of making decisions of solving problems, the speed to do that. And do you learn from those things? You humble during those processes. So people look for that judgment and expertise. Third component.

The third component of trust. Thank you. That was perfect. All right, this one's pretty simple. But this is also a problem that a lot of people have is consistency. Preach. Preach. Preach. Oh, yes. So I mean, really, what creates success in life? What builds trust in life? What builds a bank account for crying out loud? Consistency. So if you think about the trust account that we talked about earlier in this show,

if you make deposits in that trust account all the time, every single day, maybe you pick up the phone and call somebody every single day just to say, Mark, how you doing? We're great friends. I just want to check in on you. Just do that to somebody different every single day. And you'll be like, wow, I just built this massive network of trustworthy people that have great relationships with me. But it's consistent. And role models, leaders, if you're an executive in a company, one of the key aspects that your employees seek out is consistency. Why? Because they know what you expect from them and they know what to do in the company. There's clarity and consistency. So that clarity and consistency creates trust. That's a really important part of this. If you

do something different every day, nobody's going to trust you for anything because we're not going to know what to expect from you. And then the other part of this is consistently honoring your commitments and promises. It's like being on time for something. And let's say, I mean, one of the things my crew at Remax, like if I have for something. And let's say, I mean, one, one of the things, um, my, my crew at Remax, like if I have a, I have a video shoot or something like that, uh, I do a lot of teleprompter reads of sending out videos, announcing things you mentioned more on video a lot. I mean, the reality is I'm always a few minutes early to those videos. And I was like two minutes late one day and they're like, what's going on? You're always here on time. I was like two minutes late one day, and they're like, what's going on? You're always here on time.

I'm like, I just, you know, I missed it. I'm sorry. I had this other whatever it was, no excuses. They're like, okay, that's cool. But they got concerned. They didn't like distrust me over the whole thing. They were concerned because it was not how I normally do it. Same thing with your health.

Same thing with your relationships. Same thing with your relationships. I mean, do you, and I know you do this. You have a great relationship with your family. Do you tell them so many times a day you love them? Do you spend dedicated time with them? Do you get rid of the electronics to spend your attention with them? Things like that. I mean, you even go camping and go out in the woods with them and stuff like that.

Road trips and all sorts of stuff. Yeah, you're a great dad. Thanks trips and all sorts of stuff. Yeah. You got, you, you're a great dad. Thanks Adam. You're welcome, Mark.

So, you know, it's, it's following through on these commitments and, and focusing. And here's the, here's the other thing, being willing to go above and beyond for people,

give them more than they expect consistently. And that massively builds trust in a relationship, in a business setting, things like that. And everybody says under promise, over deliver. Well, just promise and deliver. How's that? Yeah, exactly. Let's start there. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So give your brand promise and stick to it. What is the brand promise of Mark? What is the brand promise of Adam? What is the brand promise of listener?

And think about that. So, I mean, that's the takeaway that I want everybody to go away from this podcast with is sit down and say, what is my brand promise? Do I do it consistently? Do I work on my relationships? And do I exercise good judgment and expertise in this? That's awesome. Yeah. And I think these three simple ways to build trust are something that will also build your business, that will build your network.

I've been in business with Brand Viva now for six years. And I started off with nothing. And then here I am six years later, and business has been great. And I look at how I've grown my network, and it has just been doing these three things. I've grown relationship by being trustworthy and consistent. And then that person then refers me to somebody else. I've grown relationship by being trustworthy and consistent. And then that person then refers me to somebody else. And it just has grown organically like that over the past years.

So for anyone who's looking of how do I grow my business or get more contacts? Well, start by building trust. That's right. Thanks for being on today, everybody. We appreciate you. Mark has some closing words to say in that amazing voice. If you're ready to create personal and business success, make sure to subscribe to this podcast and head over to wherever you get your books and order Start With A Win, the book. For more great content, you can go to startwithawin.com. And until next time, start with a win.