At no other time in history is ‘trust’ more important for business than today. Trust fuels businesses, helps them not just survive the many onslaughts of a competitive global economy, but sustain and thrive. And I speak from experience.
The fifth branch of Golden Square that is getting ready to welcome customers at Bangalore CBD South is a direct result of Trust built over the years and I am both proud and humbled to share this story with you.
First, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Narendra Bhatta for referring me to the owners of the building. Narendra Bhatta is the Founder Partner and CEO of Intellocopia a leading consulting firm in the area of Intellectual Property, which helps small and medium businesses realize value through effective protection, management and enforcement of various IPRs, namely, Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, and Design.
Now let me share how the referral came to be.
Speed of Trust:
I was at a networking meeting at BNI Inspire chapter, when Narendra Bhatta introduced me glowingly to a lady and told her: “You have to meet Balaji he has the solution you need.” The lady had a bunch of pamphlets with her. She was trying to find the right tenant for a building she owned. Since I was surrounded by people all I said was, "Madam, we can help you get double the return from your building if we can manage your building as a Golden Square Business Centre. Let me know if you would be interested," and I gave her my card. I thanked Narendra for introducing us.
A few weeks later I got a call from the lady's husband, he said he was interested in taking this further.
This demonstrated to me the speed of trust. If it wasn’t for the confidence with which Narendra introduced me at the networking event which gave me visibility, I doubt this opportunity would have ever happened and that too, with such speed. Do compare this with a typical sales process.
Trust takes time:
So I asked Narendra, “Why did you refer me?” and he said, "When I spoke to the lady regarding her property, during networking, she expressed a desire for letting out the entire property to someone trusted and wanted to build value to the property. The words ‘TRUST’ and ‘VALUE’ although they appear distinct are related and symbiotic. While I knew a person who was into property rentals, only one person I knew of, who could link trust and value, seamlessly was YOU. I, personally Trust you, since I know you for long and have seen how properties and businesses increase value when they get on to Golden Square, so I told her I know the ONLY person who can help you do this and connected her to you.”
Frankly, I am humbled by what Narendra shared with me, I do pray I live up to the expectations he has of me. I wondered how it was that Narendra got so much confidence in me.
I got to know Narendra when I was helping him and some other entrepreneurs set up their networking group BNI Inspire, about five years back. I never really talked about Golden Square, but focused on helping him build their network. Narendra and I got along well, I understood his business and over the years have passed on a few referrals to him. So the relationship did take some time to develop and over time we got to know each other better. My learning from this: To build trust, people need to see us delivering on our promises over time. Trust happens because of several well-done interactions.
Cannot Happen without Trust:-
We have a revenue share arrangement with the building owners, there is a lot of investment that the owners need to bring in, both in the building and the interiors to meet the specifications of Golden Square. That is the reason why Golden Square’s expansion cannot happen without trust. And trust can only happen over time with our business network. How the trust translates to business is random, there is no linearity to this. However trust does translate to business, I can say this with confidence because 3 out of our 5 branches till date has happened because of a referral. One from a customer and two from the BNI Business Network.
So what do you think is the most valuable business commodity? I haven’t an iota of doubt on this question. My answer is “Trust”. What’s yours?
This demonstrated to me the speed of trust. If it wasn’t for the confidence with which Narendra introduced me at the networking event which gave me visibility, I doubt this opportunity would have ever happened and that too, with such speed. Do compare this with a typical sales process.
Trust takes time:
So I asked Narendra, “Why did you refer me?” and he said, "When I spoke to the lady regarding her property, during networking, she expressed a desire for letting out the entire property to someone trusted and wanted to build value to the property. The words ‘TRUST’ and ‘VALUE’ although they appear distinct are related and symbiotic. While I knew a person who was into property rentals, only one person I knew of, who could link trust and value, seamlessly was YOU. I, personally Trust you, since I know you for long and have seen how properties and businesses increase value when they get on to Golden Square, so I told her I know the ONLY person who can help you do this and connected her to you.”
Frankly, I am humbled by what Narendra shared with me, I do pray I live up to the expectations he has of me. I wondered how it was that Narendra got so much confidence in me.
I got to know Narendra when I was helping him and some other entrepreneurs set up their networking group BNI Inspire, about five years back. I never really talked about Golden Square, but focused on helping him build their network. Narendra and I got along well, I understood his business and over the years have passed on a few referrals to him. So the relationship did take some time to develop and over time we got to know each other better. My learning from this: To build trust, people need to see us delivering on our promises over time. Trust happens because of several well-done interactions.
Cannot Happen without Trust:-
We have a revenue share arrangement with the building owners, there is a lot of investment that the owners need to bring in, both in the building and the interiors to meet the specifications of Golden Square. That is the reason why Golden Square’s expansion cannot happen without trust. And trust can only happen over time with our business network. How the trust translates to business is random, there is no linearity to this. However trust does translate to business, I can say this with confidence because 3 out of our 5 branches till date has happened because of a referral. One from a customer and two from the BNI Business Network.
So what do you think is the most valuable business commodity? I haven’t an iota of doubt on this question. My answer is “Trust”. What’s yours?
Comments
Way to go Narendra & Balaji.
All the Best.
Regards,
KCN Reddy
Chinthala Group