When Amazon announced its return-to-office mandate, CEO Andy Jassy explained it as a way to boost creativity, collaboration, and culture. When Chipotle customers accused the chain of skimping on portions, CEO Brian Nichols said it was a training issue at a handful of stores.
In both cases, the public’s reaction was the same: we don’t believe you.
People don’t judge your business based on what you say and do. They judge you based on the story they tell themselves about what you’re doing and why.
Many assumed Amazon’s real motive was forcing employees to quit without formal layoffs because we’ve been conditioned to expect the worst from corporations.
Chipotle customers suspected “shrinkflation”—deliberately serving less without lowering prices —because they’ve seen it in the grocery store for years. Why wouldn’t a restaurant try it, too?
The human brain makes sense of the world by creating stories to explain things we see, hear, and feel. If the story we’re told doesn’t ring true, we make up our own explanation that does. This constructed story becomes our reality, independent of a person or company’s actual motivation.
This sense-making phenomenon is why trust has such power to shape an organization’s growth. Every action you take, every announcement you make passes through a filter in people’s minds based on the kind of business they currently think you are. Those who think you’re competent, honest, and well-meaning tend to give the benefit of the doubt: “They’ve always been transparent about costs, so if they’re raising prices, it must be necessary.” Those who doubt your trustworthiness assume the worst. To them, “digital transformation” is just an excuse to keep them from talking to a human. “Supply chain optimization” is interpreted as a euphemism for less choice or lower quality. The overarching story in a skeptic’s mind is “they don’t care about me, they just want to sell more.”
Hopefully, your existing customers fall into that first group. Prospects are more likely to be on the skeptical side of this spectrum; overall trust in business is at its lowest level in decades. The good news is that the same set of steps can help preserve trust you’ve built and establish trust with those you’re just getting to know. Keep reading to learn what these steps are.
You Have To Earn the Right to Have Your Story Believed
Getting started on trust may feel tricky – it’s a “chicken-and-egg” proposition. If people don’t trust you now, they’ll view your actions through a skeptical lens. How do you prove their initial opinion is wrong? My research revealed four strategies that are particularly effective:
- Lead with customer impact, not company products. Customers don’t care about your internal operations—they care about solving their problems. Instead of saying “We’ve upgraded our data analytics platform,” explain “Your monthly reports will now include predictive insights that help you spot trends three months earlier.” When raising prices, connect the increase to customer pain points that the extra money helps you address: “This investment will fund our new 2-hour response guarantee and weekend support coverage—the two improvements you’ve requested most.” Struggling to show how a given move will benefit customers? That’s a sign you might want to rethink the decision.
- Explain your logic, not just your decision. Every company makes unpopular choices—it’s inevitable. People are less likely to lose faith when they understand and appreciate your reasoning. Share the alternatives you considered—staying the course, partial measures, compromise solutions—before explaining your final choice. Explain the broader context driving your decision and why it’s critical for you to take the long-term view. Some may still disagree with your conclusion, but this “show your work” approach demonstrates thoughtful leadership, not arbitrary (or incompetent) decision-making.
- Own your part and share what you learned. Great companies don’t get defensive or make excuses when things go wrong. They acknowledge their part in the situation–and its impact–and demonstrate how they’ll do better. Delta Airlines exemplified this in 2023 after backlash over changes to its frequent flyer program SkyMiles. Within weeks, CEO Ed Bastian thanked customers for their candid feedback, admitted the company “went too far,” and adjusted the program to strike a more palatable balance between the important but inherently conflicting factors that drove the first decision.
- Build relationship capital before you need it. The ultimate key to preserving trust is consistency. Stakeholders need to feel confident that you’ll act the same way–the right way–in bad times as well as good. One CMO told me “I’m thrilled if an account manager just checks in to see how things are going once in a while, beyond just renewal time.” Of the 50 vendor relationships she managed in one role, only a handful of contacts even did that. She interpreted their inattention as a sign that the company didn’t care about her and her team as much as they claimed in the sales process. When it came time to renew or expand relationships, she based decisions on what the organization actually did.
Anticipate and Counter Skepticism Before It Hits
While you can’t fully control the story people tell about your business, you have more influence than you might think. Every decision and communication either reinforces trust or chips away at it. Before your next major announcement, step into the cynic’s shoes: What interpretation could they have of this move? What ulterior motives might they assume? Design your messaging to directly address those concerns. When you consistently demonstrate competence, caring, and character, you make it increasingly hard for people to believe a negative story regardless of where it comes from.
