Many of our clients have experienced seismic changes in the ways their customers do business with them. The old avenues of trust that served for many years as the basis of their businesses are changed, blocked, or, in some cases, gone. Since many of our clients are grappling with this particular challenge, we decided to devote an issue of Insights to it. We believe that when you look from the perspective of avenues of trust, it can help you position your business advantageously for the future.

What Is an Avenue of Trust?
We use the term "Avenues of Trust" to refer to consumers' natural ways of relating to the firms with which they do business, ways in which they are comfortable in their business dealings. They are often ways that consumers have learned to rely on over the years.

For example, in the traditional mold, people tended to do business with a local expert or agent – their insurance agent, their financial advisor, and their travel agent. That person would evaluate their situation and make recommendations. The consumer generally deferred to the expertise of the trusted advisor and followed their advice. No surprise, since the advisors were known to be reliable and had a proven record of delivering.  Additionally, there weren’t many viable alternatives.

Many businesses were built on this model. The big financial and investment advisors, for example, designed a business approach that assumed that consumers would work with the company's network of trusted advisors. The growth strategy was simple: more advisors, more clients, and more product pushed through the advisors to the consumers.

The model worked for decades. Many factors contributed to its erosion, but two of the more powerful ones are the Internet and, more recently, the collapse of the economy. These two together created a third factor – an independent spirit among consumers that has far-reaching ramifications.

Impact of the Internet
The Internet provides fast, often free access to information about almost anything.  The various types of social networking have enabled the building of communities within which consumers can discuss their needs and share their experiences. This access to information and advice has undermined the value of the old information brokers and possibly masked the value of the information processing that they delivered.  Of course, there are still issues of accuracy and reliability but, whether right or wrong, consumers have as much faith in these new networks of advisors as they had in the old avenues of trust.

Let's look at a few examples:

• If you have an appointment in a few days with your doctor over something semi-serious, you're likely to hit WebMD or a similar site to see what they think about your symptoms. You might pose your question to a chat room devoted to your specific ailment. You might find out what other members of your various virtual communities advise. By the time you get to the doctor's office, you're armed with information. And the discussion you have isn't going to be you listening meekly to the doctor – it’s going to be a discussion in which you have a significant role.  You've got avenues of trust in parallel.
  
  
• If you have an appointment with your financial advisor, you're likely to do some research on your own before going to the meeting. And you're likely to wonder whether you might do better with Charles Schwab or E*TRADE. These new potential avenues of trust have turned the investment business on its head.
  
  
• If you're thinking about your life insurance, you have an agent, but aren't you likely to visit a web site that will "evaluate quotes from 100 companies"? And if you want to buy a car, won't you likely visit a site that "solicits offers from 20 local dealers"?

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