Trust - Zero to Zero in a Matter of Seconds

In a new relationship, trust starts at zero and needs to be built. Surprisingly, people often do things that damage trust before there's been any trust established. Zero trust to zero trust, creating zero chance of doing business.

A landlord that manages several hundred suites has some very good procedures for screening tenants, with strong rental applications, credit approvals, and reference checks, but he prides himself on his intuition and gut feel; on the feeling of trust that the tenants inspire. He's amazed at how little thought some applicants give to the ideas of trust and respect.

He had an appointment to show a vacant apartment to a prospective tenant at 6:15pm. The tenant didn't show up so at 6:30pm the landlord phoned the tenant's cell number to see what was happening. The tenant answered and said, "Oh, I thought our appointment was for 6:30". The landlord repeated that the appointment was for 6:15pm and mentioned that it was already 6:30. The tenant said, "I can be there in about 20 minutes." The landlord said, "Don't bother."

In his view, if the tenant thought the appointment was for 6:30, they should have already been there. And, "if they get our very first interaction wrong, don't apologize for the misunderstanding, don't take any responsibility for it, and aren't even on time for the appointment they thought they had, how can I trust that they will honor the lease, pay rent on time, or be true to their word. No, if they do [stuff] like this, I'm not going to rent to them."

If potential suppliers, customers, job applicants, investors or partners don't respect your time, or honor their word in the early stages of the relationship, how do you think they'll behave once the courtship is over? If they aren't trustworthy in the earliest stages, what makes you think they'll change later on. Trust starts at zero and needs to be built. Otherwise, it quickly falls back to zero (or below) and kills the deal.