• The Link Between Trust and Revenue

In order to establish the link between revenue and trust, let’s first walk through the general process of how organizations generate revenue:

  1. An organization establishes the products/services it will offer.
  2. Salespeople present these products/services to potential clients.
  3. Potential clients purchase the products/services if the offer is beneficial ("Revenue In").
  4. The organization delivers the products/services to its clients.
  5. Client calls Customer Service when a perceived issue occurs with his or her purchase.
  6. Customer Service tries to rectify the client’s perceived challenge with the products/services.
    • Client’s dissatisfaction with the resolution may lead to a refund to him/her ("Revenue Out").
    • Client is satisfied with the resolution ("Revenue Stays").
  7. Client experiences the envisioned benefit; purchases products/services again ("Revenue In").


When you look at these steps more closely, there are 4 emerging relationships in which a level of trust must exist for the revenue generation to occur:

Sales & Client
In this relationship, the burden of proving trustworthiness is on sales. The client says, “Prove to me that your organization’s products/services will provide my organization with the optimum benefit.”

Sales & Operations
In this relationship, the burden of proving trustworthiness is on operations. The sales entity says “I have done my job and made the sale; now it is your turn to do your job and deliver.”

Operations & Customer Service
The dynamics of this relationship is different from the first two, in that an unexpected event has occurred to bring this relationship to the forefront;it will be the nature of this event that will determine where the burden lies or if it is evenly distributed between both entities.

Customer Service & Client
In this relationship, the burden of proving trustworthiness is on Customer Service. The client says, “Something has occurred to make me doubt that these products/services are best for me; I am giving you this opportunity to renew my trust.”

Next Page