Richard Branson on how to build trust

By Richard Branson

There are few things more important in business than trust. If potential customers do not have faith in your product or service, then your business will never get off the ground. From manufacturers to distributors, everyone will need convincing.

Stand out from the crowd
It’s vital that you show people from the start that you are different from the competition. I learned this when we were signing acts to Virgin Records and we needed to gain the trust of the musicians. When The Rolling Stones were looking for a label, we needed to convince them that Virgin was the place for them. I knew that we were getting somewhere when Mick Jagger commented that I was more like him than the “suits” from the other labels who had been courting the band.

That was, I thought, a fair reflection of my approach to business. I was being honest about who we were and what we could do. That honesty allowed us all to treat the artists more like friends than clients. Our team did not present a buttoned-up, united front when we were working with them; instead, everyone in the team pitched in and did their very best.

Do the unexpected
When we were looking to sign Janet Jackson and negotiations weren’t going as smoothly as I had hoped, I used humor to persuade her. So one day I arranged for us to take a trip in one of the Virgin hot air balloons, where we continued our talks. As we returned to the launch site, I decided to play a joke on her, and quite cheekily said that we wouldn’t land until she signed with Virgin! She laughed, and did. As we entered other industries, some of our team members from Virgin Records joined those new businesses, and honesty and humor became part of our company’s DNA. This approach became our calling card as we started businesses in sectors that needed shaking up.

People who are thinking about investing in Virgin companies need to only look at our track record: We run good businesses and make fair profits. To reach this point, a company first has to do the hard work of laying down the foundations that will enable a business to flourish. At the same time, you must make room for new developments along the way. Keep your customers surprised by occasionally doing the unexpected.

Walk that extra mile
When you are trying to persuade partners and suppliers to work with you, throwing yourself wholeheartedly into finding solutions is a great way to demonstrate how serious you are.

In 1997 after the British radio host Chris Evans had just quit Radio One, I decided that he would be perfect for Virgin Radio, so I phoned his agent to arrange a meeting. His agent told me that Evans was about to depart for New York on a British Airways Concorde flight, and if I wanted to meet him I would have to get on the plane. Earlier, the idea of getting onto a British Airways plane was almost anathema to me, after they had tried to put Virgin Atlantic out of business, using all sorts of underhanded tactics. When I hotfooted it over to Heathrow and walked onto the plane, Evans knew that I was serious about doing business with him. (Later, he bought Virgin Radio from my team.) Building trust in your brand may take time, but it doesn’t have to come at a high cost. With honesty, ambition, hard work and attention to detail you can instill a level of trust that will enable you to move forward.

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