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16 | 20th - 26th FEbRUARY 2015 | UtILItY WEEK There are two fundamen- tal factors in winning trust. First, do what you say you are going to do, when you say you are going to do it and do that consistently. The consist- ency element is particularly important. Keeping a promise once does not build trust. But keeping a promise 20 times over ten years, for instance, does. Beneath that primary prin- ciple lies the second funda- mental factor in winning trust: set clear expectations for your customers. Sometimes busi- nesses act in a way they believe fulfils a contract, but they never communicate what that agreement means clearly and pragmatically to their customers. Consequently, those custom- ers expect something different and are disappointed. Then a sense of mistrust develops even though the business thinks it is delivering. Ryanair is a fine example of the power to be gained from set- ting clear expectations. It by no means represents what I advo- cate from a customer service point of view, but I admire what Michael O'Leary has achieved through a very honest proposi- tion. Until recently, Ryanair never promised anything in terms of customer service – it was a bargain basement proposi- tion and there was a clear mes- sage that consumers could take it or leave it. The risks you are prepared to take to win trust depend on the philosophy of the business. One of the things I enjoyed immensely at John Lewis was that the philosophy was always to take a longer term view – not only of the business, but also of individual customers. Despite the drive towards faster and easier switching for energy customers, utili- ties should aspire to long-term relationships with customers. If they are honest about opera- tional issues, such as teething problems with billing systems, and then deliver on promises to fix those problems, it is pos- sible to turn frustration into patience and to grow trust. The key to this is to invest in frontline staff as brand representatives and ensure that they have faith in the integrity of the brand. If they do, they will be far more effective in winning customers over than any amount of propa- ganda you might send them. Building internal trust is equally important to building external trust, and requires leadership by example. Every organisation should set out its core principles and use them to underpin operations and drive behaviours. This does not just mean the way staff com- municate with external parties, but also how they act towards one another. An example of an organisation that has done this well is the Ritz Carlton hotel group, which works to the mantra – welcomed, wanted, remembered, cared for. The way they treat each other internally reflects this mantra – before they even think about guests. Leaders, at every level, need to walk the walk and uphold Andrew McMillan "Despite the drive towards more switching for energy customers, utilities should aspire to long-term relationships with customers." these kinds of principles. Too oen I see senior managers paying lip service to them. They say they understand them, then walk up to a junior member of staff and treat them in a way that undermines what is meant to be the foundation of the brand. This will only lead to a decay of employee trust in the organisation. If you lose trust, it is really hard to regain it. There's no timescale you can put on how long it will take. For the banks, for instance, it's going to take a really long time aer what happened in 2008. I work with some of the banks on a consultative basis and can say they are genuinely working very hard to rebuild their brands. But if you dam- age yourself really badly, and publicly, in customers' eyes, you then have to fight a default nega- tive response. It's worth remembering that perception can be stronger than reality. To change a widespread negative perception, you will have to communicate a positive action a disproportionately high number of times. The transparency that the internet and social media have brought mean that being honest and communicating pro actively – before people find out about a negative situation – is more important than ever before. If you don't, you will get found out. UtilityWeekLive www.utilityweek-keynote.com NEC, 21-23 April 2015 What I know about trust… Trust is on the agenda at the Utility Week Live keynote conference, the premier gather- ing for senior electricity, gas and water executives. Sitting alongside the free content on the exhibition floor at Utility Week Live, this exclusive VIP conference gives delegates the opportunity to review and discuss lessons learned from other sectors. " " UtilityWeek S P E C I A L R E P O RT: PA RT 2 / F e b ru a ry 2 0 1 5 Trust Andrew McMillan, former head of customer service, John Lewis, is speaking at: www.utilityweek-keynote.com