A few words about TRUST.

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Posted on: Wednesday, May 14th, 2025

A few words about TRUST.

I was talking to a friend who was trying to help a contact of his who was a professional athlete. The athlete needed some professional financial help but didn’t know who to trust.

Indeed, professional athletes have lost between five hundred thousand and a billion dollars having hired financial managers who turned out to be criminal. And the media makes sure you know every dirty detail. Big names. Big money. It makes the press orgasmic.

So, this athlete didn’t know where to turn because the profession had such a bad name.

But then, it’s not just professional athletes.

Big name entertainment celebrities are a prime target. Here are some examples from just the last year.

Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber: $100,000

Liv Tyler: $214,000

Ben Stiller: $250,000

Kiefer Sutherland: $869,000

Uma Thurman: $1 million.

Sting: $9.8 million over 15 years

Elton John: $29 million

Robert De Niro: $88 million

Billy Joel: $90 million

If you are interested the details, they can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/2we5fkcz ,

And here’s a headline from just a couple of days ago:

“Lawyer Sentenced For Blowing Millions Of Clients’ Money On Vegas Gambling Spree.” https://tinyurl.com/ywzf63vj

This is a subject I know well having founded and run a financial management company for entertainers in Los Angeles for years with my partner Kevin Burke. (We also handled a couple of pro athletes). In fact, I did a number of interviews for LA radio stations when Kareem Abdul Jabbar sued his business manager for $50+ million for mishandling his money.

Both publics (professional athletes and entertainers) need to have someone they can trust handling their money and other financial affairs while they are off shooting a film or TV show or traveling from city to city for a sports event. Also, many of these folks are professionals at what they do, but are not familiar with the world of taxes, investments and financial management.

These high-profile publics bring their (substantial) financial affairs to those they TRUST.

Caring for someone else’s money and other assets is a deeply important responsibility and violating that trust, as in the examples above, is a treasonous betrayal. But if you do a good job, you solidify that TRUST and news spreads?

Now, let me switch gears a moment and share some additional information about TRUST that I have gleaned from many years owning and managing a market research and survey company.

Money managers, of course, are not the only profession from which customers seek trust. In fact, it is the most important quality that shoppers look for when buying a product or service – everything from a BMW to new false teeth. This is validated in survey after survey. The buyer wants to know, wants to trust, that the business will deliver what’s promised.

And, let’s face it, this is not headline news in the New York Times.

Of course, some CEOs know to promote this fact. That’s why testimonials are so important, and why companies seek online reviews. If others bought your product and they trust you, then….

It was marketing great Al Ries who clarified the point in an essay about why PR should precede marketing.

“To get something from nothing, you need the validity that only third-party endorsements can bring.”

This, of course, is the purpose of online reviews and the speaks to the tremendous value of customer testimonials. Indeed, Eyewear Digital claims that using video testimonials on landing pages can increase conversions by up to 80%, especially when they include customer voices.

Eighty percent!

Corral one of your best customers. Film him or her talking about how you delivered a great product just as you promised. Place it on your website so visitors see (and hear) it immediately. And get it out broadly and watch your sales flourish.

Promoting price can be effective but is sometimes overdone. I have had clients that focused their marketing materials almost exclusively on price until they saw the results of surveys that showed what their clients considered the most important reasonFor shopping with them. Price can be important, depending on the product or service. No question. But believe it or not, based on having conducted thousands of surveys, price is often the third or fourth most important attribute of what is being sold.

So, whether you are a butcher, a baker or candle stick maker or care for the financial affairs of the rich and famous, use third party endorsement to let your prospects know you deliver a great product just as promised.

Trust is earned. Once you have it, make sure it’s known and promoted.

I wrote this article because a friend who was trying to help another reminded me of what happens when trust is gone. The examples are from the two areas of my business life where trust has been a cornerstone (financial/investment consulting and surveys as the foundation of marketing.)

Since I promoted using third party endorsement, here are a few comments from people who use my financial services or read my writing on such or have used my survey company.

“Your observations are so refreshing (to the point of chilling) in correctly targeting the key elements and developments! What a bracing antidote to the murky misdirection’s of the news media”

Tom H Business owner

“Scary and frankly shocking… but this is the first time that I got a full understanding of what is going on in the “underworld” of finances.”

Patrick V Business owner

Bruce,

I want to thank you and your team for the amazing survey On Target performed for Energy Professionals.

We have been using your survey results for our website, all of our marketing materials, our training for our sales reps and for the foundation of all our company communications. One of the results we have achieved using this information was our highest ever sales last month.

Your services are very valuable, and we will be back for more surveys.

Sincerely yours,