Credibility and trust are some of your most important assets in the business world. Just think about it, when it comes to what you have to offer, a lot of it comes down to persuading your clients to trust you. You need them to trust you that your service is better than that of your competitors and that what you have to offer is worth their time and money. Still, how do you build trust and credibility with your customers? Let’s find out!
Building trust and credibility with your customers is essential for long-term business success. In today’s competitive market, where consumers have countless options at their fingertips, fostering a relationship based on honesty, transparency, and reliability sets you apart from the competition.
1. Be honest with your pricing
The first major mistake that a lot of businesses make is the problem of deliberately making their prices appear lower than they are. How do you do that? Well, by presenting them the price of the product before you add taxes and the cost of delivery (or any other additional fees actually). The problem with this, however, lies in the fact that they will find out the real cost either at the check-out or when the bill arrives. At that point, you risk losing a customer for good. This is never a wise move because repeat customers generate the majority of your profit.
2. Admit to your mistakes
The next thing you need to keep in mind is that everyone is quick to deliver good news, however, when it comes to owning up to your own mistakes, there is not a lot of those with the courage and integrity to do so. Keep in mind, nonetheless, that while you should admit to your mistakes, you shouldn’t be too quick to apologize. Apologizing creates a psychological phenomenon where you’re perceived as guilty even when you’re not. Simply admit that the mistakes were made and do your best to fix these issues.
3. Know where you’re currently standing
The first step in solving a problem lies in admitting that you have one, to begin with. With that in mind and without further ado, you must understand that there are no metrics that can reliably tell you what the trust level between you and your audience is. This is something that you have to figure out intuitively and by relying on some related metrics. One such metric is a conversion rate, seeing as how doing business with a brand usually indicates a certain level of trust between parties. With the right conversion rate optimization tool on your side, you can get all the insight that you need or believe you need in order to make this work.
4. Learn how to say no
Perhaps the single most important thing you need to learn is how to say no to your clients without offending them or sounding too disrespectful. You see, the main reason why people don’t trust you is that you’ve let them down in the past. Now, the reason why a lot of people feel let down (even when they aren’t really) is that they have unrealistic expectations about what you can or should do for them. This often comes from entrepreneurs who are so afraid of losing business that they’re ready to agree to anything just to keep their clients from leaving.
5. Work on getting some reviews
When it comes to social proof, there’s a reason why so many people find it to be such an effective tool for increasing your reach, sales, and overall reputation. Your audience consists of users and, like any other group, your users are looking for people that they can relate to. In this case, they’re looking for other users. Ideally, they would look for word-of-mouth (WOM) referrals and online reviews are merely their equivalent in the digital world. Google My Business is, usually, the first place that people look at when looking for these reviews. This is what you should focus on, early on.
6. Face-to-face interactions
Lastly, even though you’re living in a digital era, you just can’t ignore the importance of face-to-face interactions with your audience. Still, how do you get in touch with your audience? It’s simple you find a trade show or an industry event to attend. Still, for this, you need to prepare an adequate industry presence. We’re talking about having the right stands, signs, and even team for such an event. Just bear in mind that organizing all of this may seem like trouble but it’s usually more than worth it.
One thing that’s so problematic when it comes to trust is the fact that you have to work flawlessly for years to earn it and it only takes one second to lose it. Still, this is the truth that everyone in the business world has to accept. With the right branding and marketing strategy, you’ll be on the right track.
