If you follow the news in professional services, you will understand just how dangerous losing clients’ trust is for business.
Losing trust can have catastrophic consequences for brand reputation, client loyalty and revenue. Beaton Benchmarks research has found almost half of clients (45 per cent) in the legal services market would not consider using a firm they trust only marginally (0-5 trust rating out of 10).
Beaton Benchmarks research shows that companies who lose trust also see a dramatic decline in their Net Promoter Score (NPS), a key measure of client loyalty. The close relationship between reported trust levels based on client feedback, and a firm’s NPS score, is illustrated in the chart below. The likelihood of clients recommending a firm they don’t trust drops, reducing new client acquisition and long-term growth.
Losing clients due to trust issues is more common than many firms realise. This article highlights the warning signs you need to look out for before it’s too late.
The warning signs that a client doesn’t trust you
When clients start to lose faith in your firm, the indicators may be subtle but significant. Recognising these early signs of diminishing trust is critical. Remaining alert and addressing issues quickly, for example by using an NPS tracking tool, can prevent further erosion of trust, ensuring that your business and reputation remains in good standing with clients.
Here are some red flags to look out for.
1. Clients start to question your advice
When clients start to question the validity or motivation behind your advice, it could be a symptom of declining trust. This can happen when they suspect recommendations are driven by a firm’s commercial interests rather than their needs. Firms that do not display cost-conscious behaviours risk creating this kind of mistrust. When clients begin to ask, “Is this for my benefit or yours?” it’s a sign the relationship may be in jeopardy.
2. Requests to work with a different team
When a client asks to work with a different professional, it may reflect a loss of confidence in the current team. This could stem from a communication breakdown or unmet expectations. Such requests should be treated as an urgent opportunity to win client trust back by addressing any underlying concerns before the client considers switching to a different firm altogether.
3. Focus shifts from client needs to transactional goals
Another precursor to lost trust is when clients feel your firm is focused more on transactional goals than on their long-term success. Trust-building hinges on showing clients that you are genuinely invested in solving their unique problems, rather than just offering generic solutions. Demonstrating trust to your clients involves taking the time to understand their specific needs and ensuring that your approach is tailored to them. As the Trust Formula articulates, trust is a combination of expertise, reliability, care for clients but most importantly a specific needs focus for clients.
4. NPS scores dropping
NPS measures customer loyalty by asking how likely clients are to recommend a firm’s services. A declining score signals growing dissatisfaction, which can often stem from eroded trust. When clients lose confidence in the firm’s ability to deliver reliable, high-quality service, they become less likely to promote the business, and more likely to seek alternatives. This trend directly impacts client retention and signals a weakening in the firm’s business reputation, which is essential for long-term success.
How to monitor for declining client trust
Effectively measuring customer trust in professional services requires more than irregular or anecdotal feedback. Understanding whether and how much clients trust your firm involves systematic tracking and brand reputation monitoring.
“Firms should measure trust regularly because there is a very clear link between trust and good commercial outcomes,” says Shanan Kan, Operations Lead and Senior Researcher at Beaton.
“If clients trust your firm, you will have a larger pipeline of work because research shows more clients will consider using you again. Those people who do use you will consider using you for the majority of their work. And they’re prepared to pay more for your work in the future. There is also the positive word-of-mouth impact on your reputation.”
1. Measuring customer trust using NPS
Monitoring NPS using a platform like Debrief is an effective way to be alert to the above warning signs and react before the client relationship breaks down. Given the major potential impacts of trust on reputation, measuring customer trust and taking early action when it starts to wane is critical.
“If we take a look at Net Promoter Score among firms where we measure trust, you can see there is a very high correlation between trust and NPS,” says Kan.
“It’s near perfect correlation. The higher the trust, the higher the NPS.”
2. Benchmarking client trust
Beaton Benchmarks is the only source of client feedback on professional services firms that has benchmarked firms and their competitors for the past 20 years. Our trust reports measure the elements of trust that are necessary in client relationships, expressed in the Trust Formula explained in this article.
Trust reports provide a comprehensive view of how clients perceive your firm’s performance across the four key measures of the Trust Formula: reliability, expertise, care and focus on clients’ needs. By examining these elements individually and comparing your firm’s performance to competitors in the market, your firm can build a more actionable picture of how to make clients trust you more.
"While building and nurturing of trust is crucial for all organisations, trust can often be viewed as an abstract or intangible quality. This report’s ability to measure the dimensions of trust will help our people to quantify our performance against each of these drivers and provide practical and actionable insights to what the continual building of trust looks like in action."
By tracking trust scores across multiple years, Beaton Benchmarks can see whether trust is increasing or declining. Revisiting past scores in this way can help firms identify long-term trends in client satisfaction and loyalty. Such longitudinal analysis is also invaluable if you are committing to a strategy to build or rebuild clients’ trust and would like to measure the success of that strategy.
How to rebuild clients’ trust
When trust has been damaged, whether across the firm or at the individual client level, rebuilding it is difficult but not impossible. With the right tracking to inform your strategy, firms can restore client confidence and foster stronger, more resilient relationships.
Here are some actions you can take today.
1. Prioritise client needs over expertise
While the expertise and reliability of your firm are important, our research into trust shows that focusing on client needs is crucial to regaining lost trust. When attempting to win client trust, firms must go beyond demonstrating their technical competence. Instead, they should concentrate on showing empathy, listening to client concerns, and actively seeking solutions tailored to the client’s specific circumstances. Introducing a client listening program or offering regular opportunities for feedback through an NPS survey system are good ways to ensure you are meeting their needs.
2. Become more cost conscious
Demonstrating cost consciousness involves showing you care about how your clients’ money is spent. Diligently and transparently communicating about the action you’re taking, informing clients of potential costs and communicating when there are variations or overruns to a project are examples of cost-conscious behaviours. This is a powerful way to show clients you care and build back trust.
3. Engage in proactive and transparent communication
Related to cost consciousness is the importance of open and regular communication with clients. Clients are more likely to trust firms that keep them informed and involved throughout a project. Demonstrating trust means offering full transparency in your dealings and ensuring they never feel out of the loop. Even when there is no active work with a client, show you are still thinking about their needs by proactively sending valuable ideas and information that is relevant to them.
4. Deliver consistent value
Once trust has been damaged, consistent follow-through is key. Clients need to see that their service provider can deliver on promises and is providing value. This may require analysis of whether you are pricing your services fairly according to the value you are offering. (This does not mean reducing prices – but more effectively positioning your value offering compared to the market.) The more a firm can reliably meet client needs and offer value, the stronger its business reputation will become.
Conclusion
Trust is a valuable commodity in professional services, and firms that manage it well can sustain long-term success and client loyalty. Monitoring trust levels and identifying areas for improvement will be a key differentiator for thriving firms. Firms that make trust a priority not only protect their brand reputation but ensure that they remain competitive and relevant in an increasingly distrustful world.
Improve your trust and reputation with Beaton Benchmarks
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