In fact, I’d argue it’s a red flag if they do. But let’s backup.

A trustworthy vendor is one that

1) Clients Trust

2) Clients’ Third Parties Trust

3) Suppliers and Partners Trust

4) Third Party Analysts and Consultancies Trust

… and all of these will imply trust in their recommendations and reviews, even if they don’t explicitly say it.

Digging in.

1) They treat you like a client from the first interaction.

The first interaction asks about your needs, not just what you are looking for.

They tailor the demo to your business and categories.

They answer your questions openly and honestly, don’t deflect from features they don’t have today, give you real timelines, and offer workarounds until they deliver.

Once you sign, they guide you through implementation and change management, work beside you to train you, and always respond beyond SLA requirements.

They don’t just focus on immediate results, but on ensuring you level up and could continue to get results without them. They act like a partner.

2) They treat your suppliers and partners like clients too.

They’re always there to help, they make it easier for the supplier than their competitors, and prove their value to the point the suppliers want to use them too.

3) They’re fair to their suppliers and partners. They pay on time. They work with them. They take blame when it’s their fault and not the supplier’s or partner’s … who like working with them more than other companies.

4) Analysts and consultancies happily recommend them even when they’re not (paying to be) on the Map or a preferred partner. Sometimes when they aren’t even the most appropriate solution just because their customers are so much happier.

It becomes so obvious that you don’t even have to ask the question (and you know that if you did, almost every client, supplier, and partner would say they trusted them).

Remember this because
1) if you start seeing too many posts on how a certain company is one you can trust or
2) you have to ask if you can trust the company
you probably can’t!

Companies generally start pushing “trust” when a major competitor does something particularly untrustworthy that becomes public, third party surveys paint them as trustworthy, or they need a new angle to boost sales.

Plus, f you need to ask, something is setting off your internal alarms and you won’t trust them until you figure out what that is (and they’re not going to tell you).

Either way, play it safe and look elsewhere.

You may still get burned (and I have the scars to prove it), because sh!t happens, boards make changes, investors get ruthless, and world class pathological liars could still slip through the cracks and fool everyone for years, but you decrease your chances of being burned significantly by just looking for vendors who continually do the right thing (instead of just saying they do).