Have your computer completely crash just once and you realize the pain involved in the resuscitation of the unit. Sometimes it can take hundreds of dollars to get the computer operational again, but that doesn't touch on the problem of lost data and the need to reinstall and update every program you will continue to need on the computer.

A friend of mine recently contended with this exact situation. He perused forum boards and conducted searches (on a separate computer) looking for answers to his problem. None addressed it perfectly so he looked for a company that could talk him through the restoration process. One company never answered while another company simply guessed at his need and ended up further damaging his unit.

Desperate for answers my friend called another pay-by-the-minute computer help line. He spent thirty dollars listening to a lot of technospeak that did nothing to help him find answers.

After doing some additional research he took his tower to a highly recommended tech that was able to fix all the problems, reinstall the operating system and rescue his data.

What does this have to do with your online business? Actually it has a lot to do with your business. People want to trust you, but you need to make sure that whoever is answering your phones has adequate skills to answer the questions of customers and deal with problems that may come up.

You could be like the first company in our story who never answered the phone. If you're going to provide a phone number make sure there are clear hours displayed online and an answering mechanism that can, at the very least, allow consumers and potential customers the opportunity to connect with you.

You could be like the second company that simply guesses at a solution. This will do nothing to instill confidence in the consumer, but at least you answered the phone. Still, feel free to honestly say, “I'm not sure” – if you're not sure (then find an answer and get back to them).

You could be like the third company who provided superb customer support, comprehensive answers and very little guesswork. The truth is consumers will often pay more if they know they will receive impeccable customer service and support.

I once heard an old radio slogan that said, “Shop the rest and then come back to the best.” The idea was that the business was so confident that what they offered was of superb quality they felt confident in encouraging potential customers to go elsewhere first and then come back and give their business a try. That's a lot of confidence and it could be that if a business like that lives up to the hype customers will not only come back, they will buy.

Trust is an earned commodity and that commodity either expires or is damaged when customer service is poorly executed or non-existent.

Forget the idea that your business is all about selling. Without the trust of consumers you will have a difficult time trying to sell your products and/or services.