Building trust with your customers is a fundamental part of business. Without trust, your customers are not going to feel comfortable with purchasing your services or products.
This is our third and final article in our series on trust. If you missed the first two articles, you can find them here.
Marketing
First impressions are everything, and your marketing is what initiates your connection with a new customer. Because of this, it’s important to ensure that your marketing is sending the right messages and conveying trustworthiness.
Influencer Endorsements
Influencer endorsements can be a great way to create trust in your marketing. When you’re being endorsed by a well-known and credible person, their probity reflects on you and improves your company’s image.
A good way to gain influencer endorsements is by asking your current or past clients to refer you to other companies who may be looking for services that you can provide. If they had a good experience working with you, they’ll be more than happy to recommend you to others.
Testimonials
Testimonials are another great way to create trust in your marketing. These are really great for putting on your websites so that your site’s visitors can get a glimpse into the ways you’ve helped other people or companies with your services. Getting a real-world example of how you’ve added value to people’s lives and businesses helps them shift their mentality so that they’re thinking about how your services could benefit them and their business.
Testimonials can be obtained through customer service questionnaires or written reviews. A testimonial can also come in the form of a case study, which would go more in-depth in the logistics and process of your services and their benefits.
About Us
Another good trust-building thing to focus on in your marketing is your “About Us” page. When a visitor goes to your “About Us” page, they’re trying to find out whether your company is credible and ethical. They want to see things like your level of experience and expertise as a company, your values and mission statement, and the story behind your company. However, in each of these things, it’s important to ensure that your content isn’t too wordy or long. They should be short, sweet, and to the point. This keeps your site’s visitors from being overwhelmed and allows them to instead just see what you really want them to.
Customer Service
Customer service is another excellent area to focus on building trust. If you have strong customer service, you’ll not only gain your customers’ trust, but they’re also going to want to return to your business and recommend you to other potential customers.
Internal Health
Great customer service has to come from within. Your team needs to be in a place where they can offer authentic customer service. An internally dysfunctional team cannot provide great customer service. Building up your internal trust and health has to come first to lay a foundation for great service. Our second article in this series touches more on internal health.
Communication
The way you communicate with your customer has a huge effect on whether or not they trust you. If your communication with them is poor, not only could this lead to issues with the services you’re providing them with, but to them, it could also translate as lack of competence and they’ll lose trust in you.
Naked Service
Patrick Lencioni wrote a book called Getting Naked where he talks about the necessity of vulnerability in your customer service. Building strong relationships with your customers is essential, but it isn’t possible without some level of vulnerability. In business, there are three things that typically stop you from being vulnerable: fear of losing your business, fear of embarrassment, and fear of inferiority. Letting these go makes space for you to be honest, creating a stronger relationship with your customer and allowing you to radically serve them rather than simply selling to them.
Going the extra mile
If you’re going the extra mile, your customers’ confidence with you will be boosted. It’ll get rid of any potential doubt they had in you because they’ll see you providing them with more than the bare minimum and they’ll believe that you genuinely care about the quality of work you’re providing them with.
With this method of customer service, it’s important to be cautious with how much extra effort you’re putting into your work, because while it’s good to exceed their expectations, it can get to a point where they’re expecting more from you than they’re paying for and this will create a rift in your trust.
Socialization & Connection
Socializing with your customers is also a great customer service tool. It breaks tension and allows them to connect with you better.
Connection is also really important for trustworthy customer service. Connecting with your customers helps them to level and relate with you. It builds trust because they’re able to see you more authentically.
Ways you can socialize and connect with your customers are anything from making small talk to getting lunch together.
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