I’ve heard the philosophy behind what Chris Brogan and Julien Smith write about in their new book Trust Agents at least twice – one after reading the book and the second time at the most recent edition of Gnomedex in Seattle. If you don’t know what a Trust Agent is, it’s a person within a company that has helped to create a productive relationship with current and prospective customers. Simply put, it’s the individual who you believe in that you think is most genuine that you trust their opinion for help to solve a problem.
According to Brogan & Smith, there are six parts to becoming a Trust Agent:
Make Your Own Game: This is the first step. Sure, it’s great to follow the same process that everyone else is, but in order for someone to really consider you as trustworthy, you’re going to need to stand out. What are you doing that makes you unique from everyone else? In order to create a value differential, you’re going to need to find a way to be different. Brogan and Smith suggests that it’s best to take advantage of areas in the existing system that no one has chosen to exploit.
Become “One of Us”: An example most commonly cited in this part is Greg Cangialosi, founder of a successful email marketing service companies, Blue Sky Factory. There’s a reason why people have flocked to Cangialosi and his company for email marketing assistance. It’s because he’s one of us. He understands the industry and he’s also there for us when we need him. He’s become a trusted source. I particularly like this quote from Trust Agents which explains why Cangialosi first this mold:
We tend to buy from people who are like us. Becoming One of Us means being dedicated to nurturing a relationship. It means being the customer advocate, and sometimes the advocate before someone is even a customer. Greg Cangialosi…was a friend long before Chris was his client and long before Chris passed on two more sales to him. He was there, and he was One of Us. Cangialosi’s company is successful…because he is always around, being friendly.
In being One of Us, you’re an insider. It’s perfectly acceptable for those on the inside to make mistakes – you’re forgiven because you’re in the “circle of trust”. For those not One of Us, you’re an outsider and it’s harder for people to accept your insights.
Brogan & Smith suggest that you find what they term as “Agent Zero” – a person who can connect you with other insiders – a professional matchmaker of sorts. They also think that in order to be considered One of Us, you need to be everywhere and work on creating & maintaining the bonds of professional friendship.
Understanding Archimedes Principle: This is all about leverage. Find some way to leverage your existing networks and programs so that they’re not all operating in their own silos. It’s all about integration. As Brogan said at Gnomedex: “Don’t ever rest on your ass.” Always find a way to build off previous success. An analogy would be like gambling: the winnings you make at one table are going towards the next game for you to play.
Agent Zero: As alluded in being “One of Us”, this is where the idea of building a relationship is where it truly matters. Become the relationship before the sale.
Human Artists: In order for you to be a trust agent, Brogan & Smith says that you need to have the skill of being a human artist – someone who they say understands how to communicate with people in “a real and thoughtful way”. By this they mean that stop treating people as niches. If you think of people as “out of the ordinary”, then they too will think of themselves as being “out of the ordinary”. It’s all about the new form of customer service – answer the phones, acknowledge, apologize and act on problems, and understand that customers now have a voice to complain about your product. Practice simple touch points of loyalty.
Build An Army: You can build relationships and gain influence just by yourself. In order to truly have influence online, you’re going to need to learn how to create a group – this is where you build yourself an army. It’s the step where you try and find evangelists who will help spread the word and tell people how good you are and that you’re trustworthy. Brogan and Smith both think that one person can’t scale beyond certain limits. An example that they give is the recent presidential election with Barack Obama and John McCain. One candidate chose to reach out to their supporters with traditional means (e.g. phone, mail, etc.) while another chose to use more social forms – reaching out to where the voters were and as a result helped win him the election. What’s most important in this step is that you need to not help the clients/army. Rather, it’s the old adage “give a man a fish and he eats for a day, but teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.”
When it’s all said and done, these are some really important steps that you need to take in order for you to be considered a trusted source. From carving out a niche for yourself to building that image into something where you can have an army of evangelists promoting your good name, there’s a lot to be said about Brogan and Smith’s philosophy of trust agents. More information can be found about these individual parts in their new book Trust Agents out in stores now.
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