Amanda McVicker (00:00)
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the OBM Educator. Today we are going to be talking about one of the fundamental pillars that is so needed in a client OBM relationship and that is trust.
When you've been in a long-term client relationship, like for example, the clients that I have, I've been with them for four or five years. At this point, the trust is kind of given, right? Like at this point, I trust them, they trust me, it is understood, don't really have to work too hard to maintain that trust just because we've been going at it for so long, right?
But how do you build trust with a new client when you're first starting to work with someone? Because trust is such a crucial thing to have in the OBM relationship. I mean, definitely for like any type of service provider, but especially for OBM, just because you are working at that higher level and you are so involved and in depth in your client's business.
there definitely needs to be trust, you know, from client trusting you, you trusting the client in order for the relationship to work. So today we're gonna talk about, you know, first why that trust is important, kind of dive deeper into that, but then how do you build that trust? Because it's not just a given, you know, that someone hires you, they automatically trust you.
So how can you be building that trust from day one, square one, so that you can develop the long-term relationship that really can define your OVM business and make it a sustainable
thing for you.
And then we're gonna talk about how to maintain that trust, right? So we wanna build the trust, but then we wanna maintain it. We don't wanna just kinda leave it hanging out there and hope for the best, right? Like I said, I'm on years four and five with my long-term clients, and I do still maintain that trust. They still maintain that trust with me as well. We don't have to work as hard on it.
but there are still things that we do. And so we're gonna talk a little bit about like what you can be doing once you've built that trust, how you can maintain it. And then we're gonna talk just a little bit about what happens if that trust is broken. What happens if, you know, a mistake happened that really shook the trust that your client has in you?
Can it be resolved? Are you still able to work with each other? So we're gonna talk a little bit about that.
and how to kind of reinstate that trust.
So let's dive into it.
So let's talk about why is trust so crucial to a working relationship? And you can think about it with any type of relationship. Why do you need trust? Because you need to know that the person that you are relying on for something is going to provide that for you. And so in the working relationship of,
OBM and client, your client trusting you means that they know that you are going to follow through on what it is that they hired you for.
It really is going to build a stronger working relationship. going to less micromanaging. get to have or you will have more autonomy in the work that you're doing. And honestly, it's going to get you better results for your client because they get to focus on what it is that they want to be focusing on. They get a focus on their zone of genius.
because they're not worrying that you're not going to follow through, right? Even if, you say like, take, there's no trust. You know that you're gonna do what you're gonna do, but they don't have trust in you yet. They're gonna be spending that, all that time wondering they gonna be getting me what I need them to get me?
Right? And so that's why we need to build the trust. for you, even though you're like, well, of course I'm going to get them, you know, what it is I said I would get them. If they don't have trust in you yet, they are going to micromanaging you because they don't believe that you will follow through with it.
Another thing that I think is important to think about is that having trust, like your client having trust in you doesn't mean that they think you'll never mess up, right? It's more that in the case that you do mess up, their trust in you is that they know that you'll fix it, right? There is a piece coming from that, that yes, mistakes happen, but the trust that they have in you,
tells them even if a mistake happens, they will fix it. They will make it right. I know with my clients and I make mistakes all the time, you know, I try not to repeat them and try to get better, but I make mistakes and my clients know that I will make them right because I have proven time and time again that that's what I And so,
your client gets better results just in the sense that are able to focus thing. They're able to focus on what's gonna make them money because with trust, they know that no matter what happens, whether everything goes perfectly or mistakes happen, that you have it, you got And that is what is going to help them stay out of the weeds.
and keep delegating things to you.
So how do we build trust? Where does that start? And it really starts from the very first interaction that you have with your potential client before they're even clients. And so this could be a discovery call, it could be a conversation, emails back and forth, whatever it is that that's like that first interaction that you have with
is going to leave that first impression.
And this is gonna continue, you know, throughout all the interactions that you have through onboarding. This is why it's so important to have a, you know, robust onboarding system because your client is going to see how much information you're getting from them so that you are, you know, knowledgeable about their business, knowledgeable about their systems and their processes. And that knowledge is gonna help them
gain trust in you mean, you're gonna look professional and that automatically kind of garners trust, you are going to look like you truly care about their business because you are wanting to all of that information on them, right? This is why it's so important to have a good onboarding system. And as a small plug, gonna put the link in my bio. I do have my ultimate client onboarding system you can grab that has templates and emails.
for how to onboard a client a pro that your client can have all this trust in It's in the link in the show notes. It's $7. It really is.
everything that you need to truly onboard a client well.
But all of those things, the discovery called the onboarding, the first 90 days that you're working with a client, putting together a 90 day plan so that there is a plan in place that they can see and that they can give feedback on, that's going to kind of build that trust with you.
And then you wanna start having some small wins early on. When you first start with an OBM client, a lot of the projects that you do are gonna be big, It's gonna be setting up systems and getting courses out and all of that. But you wanna start getting some small wins in there too. And so that can be, you know, as little as celebrating getting some automated email set up, getting an email so you can put out.
handling something with a team member. Whatever you can find that are kind of like small wins to just reinforce the fact that you were the right choice. work that you're doing is making a difference.
and that they didn't have to micromanage you into getting those results.
So that's gonna be what kind of like starts to build the trust and that it's gonna be a process, right? It's gonna be, in that first maybe like three, six months that you're working with a client, just building that trust, right? And then once you get to probably, I would say three to six months in, that's when it's gonna be more working on that maintaining trust. And so what does that look like?
it's going to be a lot of communication and check-ins, right? And you do this early on as well, but giving your client a check-in every week of, this is what I worked on last week, this is what I'm planning on working on this week, let me know if anything needs to shift. If you're on an hourly retainer, this is a great time to let them know of where you stand in your hours.
If there are projects that are going on that, you know, it's just kind of multi-week without too much to kind of show for it, just give check-ins so that your client knows where you're at
with those projects so that they have a better understanding of what it is that you're doing.
Another thing that you can do maintaining that trust is make sure you're staying in a proactive mindset, right? I've had a previous episode on this on stepping into the OBM mindset of being proactive versus reactive.
and you wanna make sure that you're staying proactive. You're looking ahead. You're looking to see what is coming up for that client. What is it that you can start working on? What is it that you can bring up of, I know that you have this coming up. What can we be doing to get started on this to make it easier?
Now this next one probably seems pretty obvious, but make sure you're following through on commitments, doing things when you say that you're gonna do them. Like there's no quicker way to break trust than promising that you will get something by a deadline and that deadline coming and going, and there being no update, right? Obviously life happens, things can get moved around. We like to stay flexible like that.
But when a deadline comes and you haven't followed through on your commitment and there's no communication about it, that is really gonna be breaking trust with your client. They're gonna start to wonder, do I have to stay on top of this? Do I have to be following up with them all the time? So you wanna make sure that you're following through on your commitments and then communicating if things need to change.
And the last thing that you can be doing to kind of maintaining that trust is ask for feedback. You know, see if the way that you're doing things is what your client wants.
ask them, can I be doing something differently? Would you like me to provide communication in a different manner? When you're getting feedback from them, it's showing that you really do care working relationship. You care about their business and you care about the way that you guys work together. And so when you ask for feedback,
they're able to vocalize any changes that they wanna make and you can work together to create a better working relationship.
So then what do do if something happens and that trust is broken?
say it's not following through on commitments and not communicating things, right? Like I said, that's a surefire way to break trust. What can you do? Is the relationship ruined? And obviously not, it can be salvageable, but you do have to work towards it, I think the main thing that you do is acknowledge what it was that...
broke the trust, you know, and if it was something on you, take responsibility for it. Apologize, let them know, you know, that it won't happen again and the steps that you can put in place make sure it won't happen again. biggest thing is acknowledging it, not letting it kind of stay a secret or be in the dark or then start
back at square one of what I was talking about in this episode of...
how you can build and then maintain that trust.
I hope this episode was helpful for you as you are building your client relationships.
Trust is so important.
and can really make or break OBM client relationships. So I hope this was helpful.
and I will talk with you guys next week. Bye.
