Want to know the three most important things that will give credibility, growth, and success to your business or ministry? Here they are:

1. Build trust
2. Create value
3. Be Concerned about People

Build Trust

Dr. Gordon Anderson, who served as president of North Central University completed a well-documented study on the subject of trust. In it, he noted that it typically takes five years to establish the first level of trust with others. Violate trust in the first five years, and you start all over again.

The stakes are high when it comes to the trust issue.

Some business people have no idea why others hold no real confidence in their business. But stop and think. If you advertise the sale of a product for $8.00, but when people visit your store and discover that it’s marked $10.00, they lose trust. If a contractor agrees to a project for $1000, then bills the customer for $1100, they’ve violated a trust. Even if there were unforeseen expenses, the perception is that the contractor is undependable.

Trust is lost, and eventually, business dwindles. People want to be certain they can count on your word. They need to believe in you, and to have confidence in your words.

The worst thing for a business is to conjure distrust, apprehension, and suspicions in your community.

One of the biggest keys to building trust is to keep your word and follow through on it with positive actions. People need to believe you when you say you’re going to do something. And this begins with your family.

Let’s say you promise your wife an evening out for dinner together. She’s looking forward to it and planning the night. But you call and say, “I have to cancel our date because a client needs to talk with me.” You’ve just violated a trust. You have communicated to your wife that your client is more important than she is to you.

There are emergency exceptions, I know. But generally speaking, if you can’t keep a commitment with your wife or family, then you cannot be trusted in the business. All you have to say to a client is, “I’m sorry, I have another commitment at that time. Could we possibly look at another time to meet?” I believe if you keep your commitments, even though it may appear that you are losing some business, God will see to it that you’ll get quadruple the business in the ensuing days.

Reliability, dependability, and faithfulness are all high values that God rewards. Jesus said, “Many are called, but few are chosen.”  I believe many are called to be millionaire businessmen, but never make it because of their unreliability. And it always begins with your family. You must value those relationships and not take them for granted.

Create Value

Whether it’s a product, service, or sermon, it must add value to people’s lives. You cannot create wealth, but you can create value, which in turn will bring you wealth.

What are some ways of adding value?

First, you can add value to a person’s life by expanding his or her knowledge base. I think of Dr. Don Colbert, Dr. Joseph Mercola, and Dr. Josh Axe. They all produce blogs and books that contain practical and helpful medical and health knowledge to tens of thousands. Newsletters, blogs, and advantageous reports, when done with excellence, can create great value for customers, clients, and prospects.

Another way to add value is to solve somebody’s problem.  I would encourage you to read the book, UPWARD, by John and Judy O’Leary. John is the president of O’Leary Paint Company and is a master problem-solver. The bigger the problem you can solve, the larger your pay will end up being.

To add value, make sure you always stand by your service or product, back it all the way, and make good and secure guarantees. If a competitor guarantees a product for five years, and you guarantee a similar product for seven years, you have added an attractive value to your business.

Do Whatever You Can to Help Others Whenever You Can

St. Paul said it this way: “Let no one seek [only] his own good, but [also] that of the other person.”  1 Corinthians 10:24 (AMP)

And again in Philippians 2:4, Paul said, “Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.”

Kindness goes a long way. Treat your customers and clients well and thank them often for their business and support.

Why not sit down tonight with your family or your team, and begin making a list of ways you can build trust, create value, and help others?