What Research Tells Us About Trust

Trust researchers (yes, they exist) have studied what makes people trust professionals across industries—doctors, lawyers, financial advisors, teachers, and yes, agricultural advisors.

The consistent finding: Trust requires three distinct components.

Miss any one of them, and trust collapses—no matter how strong the other two are.

The Three Pillars

Pillar 1: COMPETENCE

• "Can they do the job?"
• Do they have the knowledge, skills, and experience?
• Are they technically sound?
• Do they get results?

Pillar 2: INTEGRITY

• "Do they do what they say they'll do?"
• Are they consistent and reliable?
• Do they follow through on commitments?
• Is their word trustworthy?

Pillar 3: BENEVOLENCE

• "Do they care about me?"
• Are they here for MY benefit or theirs?
• Will they have my back when things go wrong?
• Do they genuinely want me to succeed?

Why All Three Matter

Think of trust like a three-legged stool. Remove any leg, and it collapses.

High competence + Low integrity = "They know their stuff, but I can't count on them" Result: Farmers listen but don't implement

High competence + Low benevolence = "They're smart, but they're here for the sale, not for me" Result: Farmers stay guarded, never move past thin trust

High integrity + Low competence = "They're reliable, but I'm not sure they know enough" Result: Farmers like you but don't seek your advice

You need all three.

The Surprising Finding

When researchers ask professionals "Which pillar do you struggle with most?"—they almost always say competence.

"I need to learn more. I need to stay current. I need more training."

But when researchers ask CLIENTS "Why don't you trust this professional?"—they rarely cite competence.

They cite integrity failures:

• "They said they'd call me back, but they didn't"
• "They forgot what we talked about last time"
• "They don't seem to remember me"
• "Their follow-through is inconsistent"

And benevolence failures:

• "I feel like just another number"
• "They're pushing what THEY want to sell"
• "They don't really understand my situation"
• "I'm not sure they'd help if things went wrong"

The gap: Advisors focus on the pillar they're already strong in (competence) and neglect the pillars that actually matter more to farmers (integrity and benevolence).

What Competence Means

Competence is about capability:

• Do you have the technical knowledge?
• Can you diagnose problems accurately?
• Do your recommendations work?
• Do you stay current on research and best practices?
• Can you explain complex concepts clearly?

The Good News: You Probably Have This

If you're reading this course, you likely have strong technical competence. You've been trained. You have experience. You know your stuff.

Farmers generally assume advisors are competent—at least at the thin trust stage. Your credentials, your organization, your presentation—these signal competence.

Competence gets you in the door. It doesn't get farmers to act on your advice.

How Farmers Assess Competence

Farmers evaluate your competence through:

1. Credentials and affiliation

   • Where do you work?
   • What's your background?
   • Who vouches for you?

2. How you talk about problems

   • Do you ask good questions?
   • Do you understand nuances?
   • Can you explain things clearly?

3. Whether your advice works

   • When they DO implement, what happens?
   • Are you right more often than wrong?
   • Do you understand local conditions?

4. How you handle uncertainty

   • Do you BS when you don't know?
   • Or do you admit limitations and find answers?
   • Can you say "I don't know, but I'll find out"?

Where Competence Can Slip

Even strong advisors can erode perceived competence by:

• Overpromising results: "This will definitely increase yields by 15%"
• Speaking outside expertise: Offering advice on topics you don't know well
• Not staying current: Still recommending practices that have been superseded
• Generic advice: Not adapting recommendations to specific farm contexts
• Bluffing: Faking knowledge when you're not sure

How to Maintain Strong Competence

Do:

• Stay current on research and best practices
• Ask questions before recommending
• Tailor advice to specific farm contexts
• Admit when something is outside your expertise
• Follow up when recommendations don't work as expected
• Explain the "why" behind recommendations, not just the "what"

Don't:

• Pretend to know things you don't
• Offer one-size-fits-all solutions
• Blame farmers when your advice doesn't work
• Speak with false certainty
• Recommend outside your area of expertise to seem helpful

The Competence Paradox

Here's the paradox: The more competent you are, the more comfortable you should be saying "I don't know."

True experts know the limits of their knowledge. They know when to say "Good question—I'm not sure. Let me check and get back to you."

Farmers trust that MORE than someone who has an answer for everything.

Admitting uncertainty is a sign of competence, not weakness.

What Integrity Means

Integrity is about consistency and follow-through:

• Do you do what you say you'll do?
• Are you reliable and predictable?
• Do you remember commitments?
• Is your word trustworthy?
• Do you show up prepared?

This is the pillar where most advisors fail—not because they're bad people, but because advisory work makes integrity failures easy.

Why Integrity Is Hard for Advisors

Think about a typical week:

• 20+ farm visits
• Dozens of conversations
• Multiple commitments: "I'll send you that article," "I'll check on that," "Let me get back to you"
• No systematic way to track them all
• Competing priorities
• Urgent issues that push follow-through to the side

Result: Integrity failures are almost inevitable without systems.

You INTEND to follow through. You're not lazy or dishonest. But intentions don't build trust—behavior does.

And behavior without systems is unreliable.

How Farmers Assess Integrity

Farmers evaluate your integrity through:

1. Follow-through on small commitments

   • "They said they'd email me that article"
   • Did they?

2. Preparation for visits

   • "Do they remember what we talked about last time?"
   • Did they review their notes before coming?

3. Consistency over time

   • "Do they show up when they say they will?"
   • Is their advice consistent, or does it shift with the wind?

4. Response time

   • "How long does it take them to get back to me?"
   • Do they respond to texts/calls promptly?

5. Documentation and records

   • "Do they have notes from our last conversation?"
   • Or do they ask the same questions every time?

The Integrity Failure Cycle

Here's how integrity erodes, one small failure at a time:

Visit 1: "Can you send me that research article you mentioned?" "Absolutely, I'll send it this afternoon." (You get busy. You forget. You don't send it.)

Farmer's thought: "Hmm, they forgot. Not a big deal."

Visit 2: "Can you check whether that product is registered for my crop?" "Sure, I'll find out and let you know." (You get busy. You forget. You don't follow up.)

Farmer's thought: "They forgot again. Maybe they don't really care."

Visit 3: "Remember you said you'd look into that issue with my soil test?" "Oh right—sorry, I've been swamped. I'll get on that." (You still don't.)

Farmer's thought: "Their word doesn't mean much. I better not count on them."

Each small failure compounds. Trust erodes.

And here's the worst part: You might not even know it's happening. The farmer won't tell you. They'll just stop trusting you with important decisions.

Common Integrity Failures

The most common ways advisors accidentally erode integrity:

1. "I'll send you that"—and don't

   • Articles, links, contact info, reports
   • Seems small. Signals unreliability.

2. "I'll check on that"—and forget

   • Questions, product availability, pricing, timing
   • Farmer is left waiting, unsure if you forgot or found nothing

3. "I'll get back to you"—and don't

   • Promises to follow up with answers
   • Silence signals you don't prioritize them

4. Showing up unprepared

   • Asking questions you asked last time
   • Not remembering previous recommendations
   • Treating every visit like the first visit

5. Inconsistent advice

   • Recommending X one month, contradicting it the next
   • Without explaining why your thinking changed

6. Late or no-show without communication

   • Arriving late without heads-up
   • Missing scheduled visits
   • Not respecting their time

The Cost of Integrity Failures

Each integrity failure costs you trust:

• One failure: "They forgot. No big deal."
• Two failures: "They're unreliable."
• Three failures: "I can't count on them."
• Four+ failures: "I won't ask them for anything important."

And here's the hard truth: Rebuilding integrity trust is MUCH harder than maintaining it.

One integrity failure can undo months of competence and benevolence.

How to Build Strong Integrity

The solution isn't willpower. It's systems.

Immediate capture:

• Capture commitments when you make them (voice memo, notes app, text to yourself)
• Don't trust memory for follow-through

Written follow-up:

• After every visit, document commitments made
• Set reminders for follow-through
• Use tools (PropelMapper, CRM, task apps)

Preparation systems:

• Review notes before every visit
• Know what you discussed last time
• Show up briefed, not starting fresh

Communication when things slip:

• If you can't follow through on time, communicate
• "I said I'd get back to you today—I need two more days" beats silence

Underpromise, overdeliver:

• Only commit to what you can actually do
• Better to deliver unexpectedly than to fail a promise

Close the loop:

• When you follow through, confirm: "Here's that article I mentioned"
• Farmers notice when you complete commitments

The Integrity Challenge

Here's the test: Could a farmer pull up your documented history and see every commitment you made and completed?

If not, you're relying on memory and luck—and eventually, you'll fail.

Integrity without systems is unsustainable.

What Benevolence Means

Benevolence is about care and intent:

• Do you genuinely want the farmer to succeed?
• Are you here for THEIR benefit or yours?
• Will you have their back when things go wrong?
• Do you care about them as a person, not just a client?

This is the hardest pillar to fake—and the most powerful when genuine.

Why Benevolence Matters

Farmers face advisors who:

• Are paid on commission (incentive misalignment)
• Represent product companies (conflict of interest)
• Have sales targets (pressure to push products)
• Are measured on volume, not outcomes (quantity over quality)

So when farmers meet you, they're asking: "Whose side are you on?"

If the answer is unclear, you'll never move past thin trust—no matter how competent or reliable you are.

How Farmers Assess Benevolence

Farmers evaluate your benevolence through:

1. Listening vs. talking ratio

   • Do you listen to understand, or listen to respond?
   • Do you ask about THEIR priorities, or push YOUR solutions?

2. Recommendation against your own interest

   • "You know what? I don't think you should buy this right now. Wait until next year."
   • = Instant benevolence signal

3. How you handle problems

   • When your advice doesn't work out, do you:
     • Take responsibility and help fix it?
     • Or deflect blame?

4. Personal investment

   • Do you care about them as people, or just as clients?
   • Do you remember personal details (kids, health, challenges)?
   • Do you celebrate their wins?

5. Advice tailored to THEIR context

   • Generic recommendations signal "you're one of many"
   • Customized advice signals "I see YOUR situation"

Benevolence Red Flags (What Erodes It)

Farmers quickly spot signals that you're NOT on their side:

Red Flag #1: Pushing a solution before understanding the problem

• "I've got just the thing for you"
• Before asking questions

Red Flag #2: Sales pressure

• "This deal ends Friday"
• "You really need to decide now"
• Urgency tactics

Red Flag #3: Defensiveness when advice doesn't work

• "Well, you must have applied it wrong"
• Blaming them for implementation

Red Flag #4: Not remembering them

• Asking the same questions every visit
• Treating them like a new client every time

Red Flag #5: Only showing up when you want something

• Disappearing between sales cycles
• Only visiting when you have a product to push

Red Flag #6: Ignoring their constraints

• Recommending things they can't afford
• Ignoring labor, timing, or equipment constraints
• "Just do this" without considering their reality

How to Build Strong Benevolence

Genuine care can't be faked—but it CAN be demonstrated through behavior:

Listen first:

• Start visits with questions, not recommendations
• Understand their priorities before offering solutions
• Ask "What's keeping you up at night?" and actually listen

Recommend against your interest sometimes:

• "You know what? Don't buy this. Here's why."
• One moment of that builds years of trust

Care about them as people:

• Remember personal details (family, health, interests)
• Ask about things that matter to them beyond farming
• Celebrate wins, empathize with losses

Be honest about trade-offs:

• "Here are the pros and cons"
• "This will cost you X but save you Y"
• Let THEM decide, don't push

Show up when there's nothing to sell:

• Visit just to check in
• Call when you see weather that might affect them
• Be present in hard times, not just good times

Take ownership when things go wrong:

• "I recommended this. It didn't work out. Let's figure out what happened and fix it."
• Don't deflect. Don't blame.

Tailor advice to THEIR context:

• Consider their constraints (cash flow, labor, equipment, risk tolerance)
• What works for Farm A might not work for Farm B
• Demonstrate you see them as individuals

The Benevolence Test

Ask yourself:

"If I were paid exactly the same whether this farmer bought from me or not—would my advice change?"

If yes → Farmers can sense that. Benevolence is compromised.

If no → You're genuinely advising for their benefit. That's benevolence.

Why Benevolence Is the Differentiator

Competence and integrity are table stakes. Many advisors have both.

But genuine benevolence—true care for the farmer's success—is rare.

It's what moves farmers from "This person knows their stuff" to "This person is on my team."

And that's when trust becomes unshakeable.