Martha had her wedding coming up in a few weeks; she decided to get across to her friend, a baker and discussed with her if she could get the wedding cake ready before the wedding day.

Her friend assured her that the cake would be ready before the wedding day, but she would have to make a full payment to avoid any unexpected delay. Martha wasted no time as she made payments immediately. Days went by, and it turned into weeks; Martha decided to visit her friend two days before the wedding so that she could pick up the cake. 

To her greatest surprise, when she got there, she discovered her friend had disregarded her cake and was working on the cake of another customer due to the reason that she had been paid twice the money she was to make from baking Martha’s cake.

Just two days before the wedding, Martha was devasted as her friend had broken the trust she had in her and had not committed to carrying out the job she had promised to execute on time. She was left without a choice but to collect a refund and search for a baker that would be able to deliver within a twenty-four-hour time frame.

For a business relationship to succeed, two key aspects, trust, and commitment must be present. Trust is the belief shared by both sides in a relationship that the other will not act in a damaging or unsafe manner. On the other hand, a commitment involves a long-term intention to uphold a respected relationship.

You must continually invest in trust and commitment to create and preserve your relationships, especially with clients and business partners. This produces a mutually beneficial relationship between both parties. Their trust in you attracts continued patronage, and your commitment helps you get better at what you do – this means you can serve these important relationships even better.

Everyone loves to work with someone they can rely on, and this will make you an easy choice for others when partnerships and other business opportunities open up. It’s also important to remember that consumers today seek deeper connections with their favorite brands rather than distant profit-based relationships.

The ability to build trust and remain committed to your business relationships makes the other party feel valued and appreciated. This raises their perception of you and often causes them to treat you with the same high regard. Leaders must always understand that substance trumps appearances. 

No matter how many marketing strategies and personal branding techniques you deploy, if people feel that they cannot trust you to deliver excellently or keep your word, those efforts will be ineffective in the long run.

Like in our opening story, Martha’s friend failed to understand that trust and commitment are necessary elements in a successful business relationship.