BUILD TRUST

Resource – Tribes by Seth Godin (Amazon.com affiliate link – Thank you!)

Touch Points – Touch points are points in time where you make contact with your client, outside of normal business, on a personal basis.

The most obvious touch point is making contact on your clients birthday.  Sending a personalized birthday care is good but giving something that will make your client talk about your business to friends and family is even better.

Other touch points should be random.  When you make contact with your client JUST BECAUSE it will have an amazing impact.  These touch points can not be a form letter that goes to all your clients with just the name at the top updated.  Make it a point to show that this correspondence was for them only.  Depending on what type of clients you have you may be sending something in the mail, or, making a personal phone call.

Be  A Connector - Always, always be on the lookout for how you can help others.  Especially your current clients.  This means helping them outside of the capacity of your normal services.  One of the best ways you can help is by connecting your clients with others you know that can help them get what they want.

Quote – “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” – Zig Ziglar

Resource – Networking with Millionaires… and Their Advisors by Thomas Stanley (Amazon.com affiliate link.  Thank you!)

Ask For Feedback – Ask for feedback from your clients, however, be sure that you are asking for feedback from your ideal clients.  Your ideal clients are clients you’d like to have more of.  Since you’d like to attract more of these, finding out what they like most and what they like least about your business is very important.

Asking for feedback from your clients shows that you care.

Resource – SurveyMonkey.com

Be Consistent - People love consistency.  Consistency builds trust.   McDonald’s build their whole brand around being consistent. You know that you can go into any McDonald’s restaurant in the country and you’ll get the same exact product.  It will look the same, it will taste the same, it’s consistent with your expectations.

Practice this in your own business as well.  Whatever you do, do it the same every time.  This is where building systems into your business is essential.

It’s The Small Things – Loyal clients who promote your business to others most likely do so because of something small you do for them.  Remember the small things.  Do them often.

Building Trust With Prospective Clients:

Prospective clients are desperate to find businesses they can trust.  Clients want to lower their risk if they’ve never done business with you before.  Make this as easy as possible for them with the suggestions listed below.

Get On-line Reviews – Ask your current clients to post positive reviews for your business on-line.  Google is a great place to send them since it’s the most used search engine.  Potential clients are just looking for a reason to choose your business when searching on the internet.  Make it an easy choice for them.  On-line reviews that seem credible will get your business chosen even if you don’t show up in the number one position in the listings.

Add Video Testimonials To Your Website – Some businesses have written testimonials on their websites and that’s good.  However, video testimonials are much more believable.  Plus, you can show the work that was done in some cases.

Publish Your Own Book – Let’s face it.  Becoming an author of a book gives instant credibility and trust.  More and more professionals are taking this approach.  For a local business entrepreneur like yourself, this can prove to have a profound effect on your business.

Think about being able to take all of your knowledge and philosophies on your industry and put then in a book that can be seen on your website is priceless.

Resource - www.lulu.com – Here you can design, self-publish your book, and sell it on-line.  You can even have your book on amazon.com.  How cool is that?

Speak – do you want to deliver a one-two punch to building credibilty in your marketplace?  Design a remarkable presentation, invite prospect to attend your seminar, and then let them know that you have published a book if they are interested in exploring further.  Speaking to an audience in and of itself can provide instant credibility.  Having a book to back it up can seal the deal.

Resource – Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences by Nancy Duarte (Amazon.com affiliate link – Thank you!)

Resource – slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations by Nancy Duarte (Amazon.com affiliate link – Thank you!)

Answer Your Phone – This is a pet peeve of mine so you will see it mentioned time and again.  Many small business owners think that it is ok to let calls go to voicemail.  It’s not.  The potential client who is calling you wants to speak to someone right now, not when you decide to call them back.  First impressions go a long way.  Answer your phone.

ABT (Always Build Trust)

Before you make any decision about your marketing ask yourself  ”will this build trust for my business?”  Continue building and getting and keeping clients will become increasingly easier over time.