Building Trust To Minimize Customer Turnover

Your customers don’t trust you (yet)… here’s how to fix that. Earning trust isn’t about flashy marketing or big promises— it’s about what you do every single day. Here’s the thing: Without trust, your business is running on fumes. Customers are smarter than ever. They can spot insincerity from a mile away. And if they don’t trust you or worse, if they don’t feel valued they’ll go elsewhere. So how do you earn their trust, make them feel truly valued, and create engagement that keeps them coming back? Here’s what works: 1. Start by listening (and act on what you hear).   * Run surveys, host focus groups, or jump on 1:1 calls with your customers.   * Pay attention to their pain points, frustrations, and needs.   * Most importantly: Implement their feedback. Listening without action destroys trust faster than ignoring them altogether. 2. Personalize every interaction.   * Address your customers by name.   * Tailor your messaging, offers, or coaching to meet their unique needs.   * Remember: No one wants to feel like a number in your CRM. 3. Be transparent—even when it’s uncomfortable.   * Made a mistake? Own it immediately.   * Raising prices? Explain why.   * Customers value honesty, even when the truth is hard to hear. 4. Engage meaningfully by creating value.   * Share free resources, Q&As, or tips they can use immediately.   * Celebrate their wins—whether big or small.   * Build community spaces for connection (think LinkedIn groups, Slack, or live events). 5. Go above and beyond with small, thoughtful gestures.   * Send handwritten thank-you notes.   * Offer surprise perks, like early access or exclusive discounts.   * Follow up on personal details they’ve shared with you (yes, remembering their kid’s soccer game matters). 6. Stay consistent.   * Deliver on your promises every time.   * Focus on quality over quantity—customers will forgive a missed update, but not mediocrity.   * Regularly measure satisfaction and make improvements where needed. Building trust isn’t rocket science—but it does take effort. Focus on these six steps, and you won’t just earn trust. You’ll build relationships that last a lifetime. Which of these are you already doing?
 Let me know in the comments I’d love to hear how you earn your customers’ trust. ♻️ Share if you wan to build trust in your market 🔔 Follow Mike Hays for more trust tips.

⚠️ Hard Truth: Broken Promises Break Trust As a Chief Customer Officer, one reality keeps me up at night: 😵💫 The easiest way to lose a customer’s trust is to break a promise. Not the flashy commitments. Not the aspirational vision statements. But the everyday promises, the ones that say: “We’ll deliver this outcome.” “We’ll solve that pain point.” “We’ll be the partner you can count on.” 💡 Here’s the catch: Most broken promises don’t happen because the frontline team isn’t working hard enough. They happen because of the gaps between teams: • A handoff that misses critical context • A roadmap promise made without delivery confidence • A support process that wasn’t designed for scale • A revenue push that overrides customer readiness Those gaps become cracks. And cracks break trust. 🔑 My role as CCO isn’t just about customers. It’s about being a connector across the business, identifying gaps that could cause us to fall short, and fixing them before a customer feels the impact. Because customer trust is not a CS metric. It is a company-wide outcome. 🚀 The challenge for all of us: If you want to deliver real value, stop thinking about “your function” and start asking: ✅ Where could we unintentionally break a promise to the customer? ✅ What blind spot in my area could create pain downstream? ✅ How can we close this gap before it ever reaches the customer’s hands? That’s what it takes to win. That’s what it takes to build trust. That’s what it takes to create the future with our customers. 💬 What about you? Where do you see the most significant risk of broken promises in your organization, and what are you doing about it? #CustomerSuccess #NextSalesLeadership #ChiefCustomerOfficer #CustomerExperience #TrustAndValue #CrossFunctionalLeadership #CreateTheFuture

It's easy to rely solely on Zoom calls. It’s also ineffective. Call me traditional, but I believe in the power of face-to-face interactions. When I sit down with customers, looking them in the eye, it creates a connection I simply can’t replicate online. At LambdaTest, where our subscription model relies on long-term relationships, a personal touch keeps our customers feeling heard and seen. So, I go the extra mile. I’ll travel to meet clients for coffee, often in their own neighborhoods (since many don’t work in traditional office buildings). This approach isn’t a typical one - in fact, clients regularly tell me I’m the first person outside their family and friends they've met in months. But when I make the effort to meet them face-to-face, they can tell I really care about their problem. This intentionality builds loyalty and trust, which keeps them connected with LambdaTest. I also organize group events for customers, like baseball games or industry dinners. These aren’t sales pitches; they’re opportunities for genuine connection between my team and the people we serve. Plus, they create moments for clients to meet peers in their industry, forming a community that strengthens our business ties. In an age of convenience, investing time in personal relationships makes people sit up and take notice. By valuing and listening to our customers, we’re building trust for years to come. Building rapport needs intentionality. It’s not always easy, but it's worth investing in.

Have you ever had a customer tell you they’re going to cancel…   …so you pull reports that show real ROI, only to still lose them? At the surface, that play should work. They didn’t realize how much value they were getting. You showed them. Problem solved, right? But in practice, it almost always fails. Here’s why: By the time you’re trying to convince a customer not to churn, you’ve already lost the narrative. If you aren’t defining what success is, baselining where they started, and showing progress toward a target…  …then whatever value you throw in front of them at the end won’t matter. The key is simple: 𝗢𝘄𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴.  • 𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 their performance as early as possible  • Set a clear 𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 together  • 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 against that target, every step of the way That way, even if there are bumps, product issues, or delays, you can frame it in context:  “𝘠𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘨 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘵.” The opposite? Waiting until renewal to try to “convince” them that they’re wrong. That’s a losing battle every time. Your job isn’t just to deliver value. Your job is to make sure the customer sees and believes the value, from day one. How are you making sure you own the success narrative with your customers? #customersuccess