How Trust Is Built

I’ve spent too much time lately in my office. So, when the opportunity came along to take a short trip with some customers, I jumped at it. I can’t tell you how great it was to get out of the office and be around people.

Not that I don’t love the people who work near me. Indeed, I do. We’re close and all have great relationships. But spending time with the people that put food on our table is just … different.

There’s a dynamic that happens around regular customers. And let me be completely honest. When I was younger, I did not understand it. I would generally put on a smiley face and spend my time and energy trying to impress the customer or show them how wonderful we are here at Wilson Lumber. It’s embarrassing really. We should, of course, be nice to customers. But frankly, I was being fake.

I think I wrote a few months back "Suppliers are people too." Well, I suppose this may be obvious (it wasn’t to younger Robb) but, customers are people too.

Perhaps I’ve realized it as I’ve gotten older, but me being able to charm you with my amazing personality is not a good foundation for doing business together. The customer/supplier relationship is one that should be built on trust, not personality, and not even price.

Trust means more than we like each other; it means that we know that we can depend on each other to do what we say. Oh, it certainly helps if we actually like each other. In fact, life is too short to do business with people you don’t like. But do you know who I like? People I can trust.

In fact, there’s a benefit here. When we take our guard down, stop being fake, and just be real with one another, you know what happens? Trust is built. It’s a positive cycle.

So, if you knew fake Robb when I started in 1993, sorry about that. And if you know real Robb that is writing this, well, I hope you like me, but I assure you that you can trust me. Based on that, if you want to do business together, give us a call.