Sir Richard Branson, the billionaire founder of Virgin Group, once observed that “Building trust in your brand isn’t easy to achieve and it may take time, but it doesn’t have to come at a high cost”. Making your business a reliable and trustworthy source of health and fitness services isn’t difficult. Just like the path to greater health, it requires ambition, hard work, and integrity to see it through.

To build the sort of trust and good standing that will make customers happy and keep your business thriving, follow these easy but often-overlooked qualities.

Keep Your Promises

In both your personal and professional life, you should always deliver on the promises you offer others. From clients to loved ones, maintaining a consistent ability to follow through on your word is a surefire way to build your reputation, gain more customers, and help other people. This is especially true with respect to trainers, coaches, and instructors who are helping to impart skills or improve others: your customers are depending on you to help them succeed. Do not fail them.

Encourage Reviews

According to various polls and studies, the overwhelming majority of consumers are influenced by reviews, whether negative or positive. If you want to build your reputation, you want to encourage customers to leave feedback and hold you accountable. That means actively managing a website, blog, and reviews on online listings. Engage your followers and network contacts, whether they are current or potential customers to leave reviews and be open to whatever reviews or direct feedback they offer. Not only will you learn to manage and improve your reputation, but you will show how much your care.

Be an Effective Communicator

This goes hand-in-hand with the previous two points. In the busy and dynamic world of health and fitness, it is easy to get swept up in your work and forget to keep the channels open with both partners and customers. Do not neglect opening as many avenues to communication as possible: not just phone and email, but social media, instant messaging, and even fax – show your network you are receptive to a conversation. Whether it is reaffirming company values and goals with your employees, or reaching out to the community with events and special services, you can build a lot of goodwill by taking a proactive approach.

Comply With Regulations

This may not be the most glamorous or interesting strategy, but it is nonetheless incredibly important. Like any industry, health and fitness businesses must be compliant with a range of federal, state, and local regulations, not to mention relevant professional qualifications and licenses. Not only would failing to do so mean hefty fines and even a closing of your business, but it would erode trust among your clients. Formal certifications show you are an honest and well-vouched professional. Stay on top of updating them as often as possible to keep your reputation and operations intact.

These are just some of the ways you can both build and maintain trust with your customers and partners.