We live in an era when building trust in business is increasingly difficult.
Misinformation, artificial intelligence or AI, politics, and the media all contribute to an environment of mistrust. In recent times, the reputations of professional services firms, the advisors on whom clients most depend for their most important decisions, have also been scarred by stories of firms prioritising profits over their clients’ needs.
Building trust and authenticity in this context requires firms to make considered and consistent efforts to build (or re-build) relationships with clients. A high level of trust creates better outcomes for the client and, over time, secures more profitable work for the firm.
This article explains why trust matters in B2B relationships and explores the research-backed actions firms may take to improve it.
Defining trust and authenticity in professional services
When a client trusts a firm, they are confident in the firm’s ability to consistently deliver reliable, competent, and ethical advice or solutions. They likely feel the firm is authentic in business and operates with genuine care, aligning its actions with its values, promises, and expertise.
But what specifically gives a client confidence to feel this way, to trust a professional services firm? What attributes do firms that enjoy a high level of trust display? Beaton undertook research to discover exactly that.
When you break down trust in the formula, the process of building trust actually becomes quite actionable by focusing on those particular variables.
What builds trust for clients in professional services – according to research
We have collected and benchmarked client feedback on a myriad of firm attributes in our annual Beaton Benchmarks research over the past two decades. For the past four years, we added questions to measure how clients felt about specific attributes relating to trust in firms, attributes that now make up the trust formula, based on Maister, Green and Galford’s seminal 2001 work in The Trusted Advisor (explained in the graphic below).
Using the data we have collected over the past four years, Beaton has been able to validate Maister’s trust formula empirically. There is a very high correlation between the level of trust clients stated they have with a firm and the trust scores that can be computed from the attributes in the trust formula.
“When you break down trust in the formula, the process of building trust actually becomes quite actionable by focusing on those particular variables,” explains Shanan Kan, Operations Lead and Senior Researcher at Beaton.
“Firms can see their results on each attribute and think about what that means and to correct it with very clear, goal-oriented plans.”
The Trust Formula
Expertise in your area of need is when a firm demonstrates relevant expertise and experience in the client’s specific area of need.
Reliability is when a firm fulfils promises and obligations and meets expectations.
Caring about their clients is when clients feel safe because a firm sees things from their side of the desk and they can share and communicate openly. Plus clients feel a firm understands and genuinely cares about their business, relationship and service needs.
Needs focus when a firm puts its own needs ahead of those of its clients (note: this is the inverse of how the question is asked in the survey).
Why is trust important in professional services?
Trust and authenticity are essential business ingredients for building strong client or customer relationships, increasing loyalty and enhancing performance. Indeed, the 2022 Edelman Trust barometer found 88 per cent of consumers say trust is a deciding factor when choosing between brands. This research relates to trust in all kinds of businesses.
Crucially, a higher level of trust is required for B2B relationships in professional services. Clients are essentially handing over important decisions to experts on complex matters. They rely upon professional services firms to offer specific and deep knowledge on those complex matters—the kind of expertise the clients alone do not have.
This requires a high level of trust built over time through actions demonstrating credibility, transparency, mutual respect and an authentic voice of advice. However, it can swiftly be destroyed by deceit, greed, negligence, or failure to meet expectations.
Why it matters that clients trust your firm
Beaton Benchmarks 2024 research found that when a firm receives high client scores on trust attributes, alongside showing a strong client-needs focus, it tends to outperform other firms on important business metrics. The research found clients are far more likely to choose trustworthy firms over others.
Once chosen, a trusted firm is also more likely to have a “sticky” relationship with the client – that is, one that endures for a long time. Such relationships go a long way to making firms more profitable as operational costs and acquisition costs for new clients decrease. In the highly competitive and crowded market of professional services, trust therefore becomes an important differentiator.
Beaton Benchmarks 2024 found when clients trust a firm they use, they are:
- Almost certain to consider using the firm again in the future
- Two and a half times as likely to use that firm the most and
- More than twice as likely to be prepared to pay higher fees to use the same firm.
This data is for the legal services market, but the same trend applies across all the professions we measure.
“Trust creates shared value both for the firm, but also for the client,” says Kan.
“This is because the best professional services relationships are collaborative, they focus on your business, and they’re bringing ideas proactively when you’re working together. Clients won’t just use a lawyer for a cookie-cutter solution. They work together to arrive at a solution that fits the exact situation and scenario for that client. It’s a tailored solution, and that engenders a high level of trust.”
Ways to improve trust in professional services
Using the trust formula, we can break down trust into concrete, actionable areas of service that link to clear commercial benefits for firms. As the formula above shows, there are four areas that firms can improve on to build better trust with their clients:
- Expertise in the area of need
- Reliability
- Care for their clients
- Focus on client needs when creating solutions.
The chart below shows how trust scores change when a firm concentrates on each attribute. If you concentrate on improving only one numerator, such as expertise, improving it by 10 points but leaving all others at 0 gives you a trust score of 0.4 If you concentrate instead on improving needs focus, you get a top trust score of 1.
But if you concentrate on needs focus and one numerator, trust grows faster to a score of 4. And if you concentrate on all the variables, you hit the maximum of 10 out of 10.
That is, when done right, trust grows exponentially!
This illustrates that expertise, care and reliability alone have a relatively minimal impact on whether clients trust professional services firms. Combining reliability and expertise with specific focus on client needs and care for clients is what distinguishes the rare, highly trusted firms.
How to become more customer needs-focused and earn clients’ trust
Kan says there is a “very clear link” between firms that have a strong client needs focus and receive high trust scores in Beaton Benchmarks research. Therefore, any actions firms can take to improve their client communication, understanding, and deepen customer relationships are incredibly useful for building trust.
Evidence-based ways to do this include:
- improving cost-consciousness
- cross-selling different services to assist clients across their business in a more holistic manner
- offering regular opportunities for feedback (assisted through a platform like Beaton Debrief)
- understanding broader market feedback and ensuring you are doing enough to offer clients the best service, compared to your competitors.
Contrary to what many may think, Beaton research has found clients don’t mind cross-selling. They in fact find it beneficial and prefer sourcing services from one provider who they trust and who knows their business inside and out. For instance, see the growing trend of governments adopting whole-of-government panels, where there are fewer firms who work on more projects.
“Improving the focus on clients’ needs means offering proactive client care. It’s the idea of bringing ideas proactively to clients and prospective clients, demonstrating that you are thinking about them, thinking about their needs, thinking about their business,” says Kan
With the huge focus on trust in our profession, Beaton’s new benchmarking report provides Grant Thornton invaluable insights into our trust and reputation.
Becoming a trusted advisor with Beaton Benchmarks trust reports
In an era when trust is becoming harder than ever to earn and maintain, Beaton’s latest research shows trust is becoming one of the most commercial assets. It is not simply a nebulous feeling – but a measurable, actionable indicator that can be improved upon. Firms that prioritise client needs and earn trust not only outperform their competitors, but also enjoy increased client loyalty and long-term profitability.
To truly understand whether and to what extent clients trust your firm compared to industry standards and your closest competitors, participate in Beaton Benchmarks and we can provide your firm a tailored trust report. These reports analyse client feedback from thousands of clients annually to understand trust levels on your firm and compare that to hundreds of other professional services firms. The benefit of measuring this feedback annually for your firm is we can track and measure your progress if you decide to embark on a trust-boosting strategy.
“With the huge focus on trust in our profession, Beaton’s new benchmarking report provides Grant Thornton invaluable insights into our trust and reputation,” says Fraser McNaughton, Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Industry at Grant Thornton.
“This data, where we can compare to competitors, helps us understand how we most effectively deepen our clients’ trust in us. The clear presentation and analysis make the report easy to understand. We use this actionable data to train our people and inform our strategy.”
Now is the time to invest in trust-building strategies that will set your firm apart from the competition.
Improve your trust and reputation with Beaton Benchmarks
Registration for Beaton Benchmarks is now open for a limited time. Participate for free in the largest, most comprehensive client sentiment industry benchmarking study in professional services.
