The glue that holds all relationships together ... is trust, and trust is based on integrity.
-Brian Tracy, motivational speaker and self-development author
A number of years ago, I served as a Scoutmaster of my son’s Boy Scout Troop. (And yes, he reached his Eagle rank!!) Each week for several years, the members of the troop recited the Boy Scout Law as an opening for the troop meetings. It was the guiding principles by which a scout was to live. (“A Scout is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent.”)
I believe it can and should serve as the guiding principles for a business owner, as well. There isn’t a point in the entire Scout Law that doesn’t serve an entrepreneur well, either as a business or as a person of integrity. Over the next several weeks, I would like to highlight each point of the Scout Law, applying it to the life of a business and its owner.
(I would like to acknowledge a colleague and fellow business coach and friend, Bruce “Captain” Kirk, with Competitive Edge Selling, as the creator of this series of articles. It’s his idea and his article; I’ve just made some adaptations, and I’m doing so with his permission.)
I’ve seldom met a business owner who didn’t want to serve in the role as someone their clients/ customers could completely trust. They would love for their customers to want to depend on them for advice on how to solve the problem that the business owner’s product is addressing, whether that product is a food item, a surveying service, or a plumbing challenge.
Trustworthiness – it's easy to say, much harder to do. Just wanting to be doesn't get you there. It takes deliberate action, perseverance, and endurance.
You must first demonstrate that you’re worthy of being trusted, that you are guided by a strong inner sense of honor and integrity, that character is important to you, that you have respect for that customer for who he or she is, that serving that customer is more important that selling to that customer.
It’s hard. It means:
·Doing what you say you’re going to do.
· Telling the truth, even when the truth hurts.
· Keeping your promises, even when it’s hard.
· Being dependable, even when it’s inconvenient.
· Showing up on time.
· Being responsible.
· Admitting mistakes, and learning from them.
· Giving due where due is due.
· Seeing things through to completion.
· Keeping confidential matters confidential.
· Being authentic, being the same person in private as you are in public.
It means doing these things, not just when it’s easy, but also when it's not expedient to do so. Even if this means eating crow and having egg on your face!
Even when it means losing a deal.
A business owner is Trustworthy.
Our FREE book will help you build the business the way you want it to be, to help you live that principle of trustworthiness. Go to https://www.swbizcoaching.com/ and enter your email to get you on your way to heightened success.
-Again, adapted from a LinkedIn post by Bruce Kirk, https://www.competitiveedgeselling.com/
