Wouldn’t it be great if your clients told you exactly how much they trust you? What would you do with that information? How would it help you help your clients? Would they be more likely to follow your advice? How would that impact their success and yours?

I believe your clients are telling you how much they trust you with the most effective and predictable communication method that exists: behavior. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s famous quote applies here, “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.” What your clients do, or do not do, is speaking loudly about trust. Are you listening?

I call these the “metrics” of trust and they are:

1. How receptive to comprehensive financial services and advice are each of your clients?
2. Have they consolidated all of their business with you?
3. Do they act on your advice with relatively little “selling” or the need to use “persuasion” or “closing” techniques?
4. Are they more influenced by your advice than the negative emotions related to market, economic, political or world events?
5. Do they pay your fee without quibbling or haggling?
6. To what degree do they either offer unsolicited referrals or respond positively when you ask them to introduce you to their friends, family and colleagues?

If your clients have an imaginary trust dial embedded in their subconscious, and they do, where does the needle on that trust dial have to be so your clients trust you completely? And if you are dealing with spouses or partners, keep in mind that there are two separate trust dials at work.

Would you like to have clients who are fully comprehensive, consolidate all of their business with you, act on your advice, are more influenced by your advice than negative world events, happily pay your fee and consistently introduce you to their friends, family and colleagues? The key is trust.