You may be totally bought into trust-building as the ultimate differentiator for people in professional services but wishing for a way to convince others to see it that way. Or you may find yourself wishing for a refresher on why trust is so important to your work. Either way, this week’s tip will help.

Consider the following scenario, a variation of which was offered in The Trusted Advisor.

I recently got to be on the receiving end of a poorly-delivered message, and in this case the likely impact for the bearer of the bad news is no future business with me. Read on to find out what he could have done (and what you can do) to be sure bad news doesn’t cost so dearly.

A few tips ago, I mentioned that I’ve always said the best litmus test for the true effectiveness of any sales training—or sales methodology or process or whatever—is to imagine your clients being privy to everything that’s communicated. E-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. Try this simple test to see how you fare.

Thanks to my mom, I developed a habit when I was young that serves me well to this day, especially when it comes to developing client relationships. According to a recent New York Times article reporting a study in the journal Psychological Science, we can all benefit from a variation of what Mom taught me—provided we can get past our misguided assumptions.