ReportWire

Tag: customer relationships

  • Three Ways to Build Client Trust, According to Celebrity Photographer Michael Muller

    On a recent episode of The Big Idea from Yahoo Finance, I sat down with Michael Muller, the award-winning Hollywood and environmental photographer behind some of the most recognizable celebrity portraits and Marvel movie campaigns. His work has also taken him into refugee camps and shark-filled oceans, giving him a rare perspective on what it takes to connect with people in every situation. I first met my lifelong friend on Mt. Kilimanjaro, and he later joined me to document refugee stories for the United Nations Foundation. 

    Our conversation on The Big Idea centered on one question every entrepreneur faces: How do you build client trust? According to PwC’s Trust in US Business Survey, 90% of business executives think customers highly trust their companies while only 30% of consumers actually do.  

    The foundation of trust 

    Muller explained that trust often begins before the first project even starts. “I am a vault,” he explained. “I have to earn someone’s trust in 30 seconds or they’re not going to give me the photo I want to get.” 

    For entrepreneurs, those early moments with a client can determine whether it becomes a one-off engagement or develops into something long term. Muller is not intimidated by celebrities and says he treats everyone equally regardless of their job. Building trust, he added, means showing respect, making eye contact, and avoiding starting off with excuses about your business.  

    Avoiding missteps 

    Over the years, Muller has had opportunities to sell photos or salacious stories to make a quick buck, but that isn’t his style. Trust can take years to build and seconds to lose. Muller said the fastest way to lose trust is to lie. “I hate liars and I hate lying,” he said. If you make a mistake, then fess up and move forward with honesty.  

    Muller warned against making assumptions and reminded entrepreneurs that communication is key. He also emphasized the importance of respect. 

    Taking care of yourself 

    You can’t build strong relationships if you don’t have a healthy one with yourself. Muller has a holistic approach to avoid burnout. His self-care toolkit includes ice baths, sauna sessions, meditation, breathwork, and gratitude. He avoids gossip and encourages listening more than talking. 

    Whether you are running a small service business or managing global clients, the fundamentals of trust remain the same: deliver promises, communicate clearly, and show respect for the client’s perspective. Muller’s career proves that when trust is at the center, relationships can grow into something far bigger than a single project, as evidenced by our friendship that has lasted more than 15 years. 

    Elizabeth Gore

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  • Post-merger balance sheet to enable HDFC Bank to invest more in infra

    Post-merger balance sheet to enable HDFC Bank to invest more in infra

    The merger of parent HDFC with HDFC Bank will allow the larger merged entity invest more in infrastructure and mortgage projects, MD and CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan said in the bank’s annual report for FY23.

    He said, “A bigger balance sheet post-merger will enable HDFC Bank to take a larger exposure in infrastructure projects. This means we can participate more meaningfully in India’s growth story and contribute to nation-building. In light of all this, the pace at which we aim to grow – we could be creating a new HDFC Bank every 4 years”.

    Lifelong bond

    Saying that the merger perhaps could not have been timed better, Jagdishan said that the emotion linked to home buying gets transferred to the home loan service provider and helps build lifelong bonds with customers. Further, only 2 per cent of HDFC Bank’s customers currently source their loans from the bank while 5 per cent take it from other institutions, which in “itself is a huge opportunity”.

    HDFC Bank will build these customer relationships by offering a bouquet of the bank’s and subsidiaries’ products and services across saving and current accounts, personal loans, insurance, investments and home loans.

    “A compelling value proposition to the customer, that probably does not exist in the market at the scale at which this is envisaged. Going forward this is clearly going to be a game changer,” he said.

    Growth engines for the bank will be corporate banking, commercial (MSME) and rural banking, government and institutional business, wealth management, and retail assets and payments, Jagdishan said, adding that the bank is currently the largest SME bank in the country.

    Digital transformation

    Focus will be on digital transformation through new platforms and customer experiences, and more efficiency by reinforcing core technologies with enhanced performance and resilience at scale.

    While the bank has seen a significant improvement in resilience and uptime (basis both internal and external public sources) metrics, it is “not perfect”, Jagdishan said, adding that the bank will continue to strengthen its core IT infrastructure.

    In the last few years, HDFC Bank has often faced flak for it customer-servicing technology issues and frequent tech outages, prompting RBI to temporarily bar the bank from issuing new credit cards and launching digital products in FY21. The curbs on credit cards were lifted eight months later and those on new digital launches over a year later.

    “This journey has to be accelerated every year. More remains to be done and I am fully committed to improving our customer centricity further,” he said.

    The bank will look to add 1,500-2,000 branches in FY24, of which 675 will be in semi-urban and rural (SURU) locations. In FY23, the bank added a record 1,479 branches, a majority of which were SURU branches.

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