Build Trust to Grow your Business - ......#69

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As a business owner you quickly learn that trust is the basis for everything.

You need to earn trust from your;

• Customers

• Suppliers

• Team

• Peers

• Clients

• Partners

• Contractors

• Prospects

If you don't have trust you will not have customers. People need to be able to trust a business before they buy from them. What this means is that consumers are willing to reward businesses when they work to build trust.

When customers trust your business, they find you credible and want to do business with you. This means greater advocacy, loyalty, and engagement.

• Trust gives you an competitive edge

• It helps you capture attention

• It can make a customer an advocate of your business

• It will help increase brand visibility

• It helps attract more customers

• You will increase revenue

Building trust establishes a solid foundation. You receive a stronger customer base and cultivate business for continued growth (read more).

Trust is also important in many other business relationships. Let's use supplier relationships as an example. Trust creates a commitment in a buyer-supplier relationship which serves as a basis for running business processes together. Without trust, it is difficult for companies to interact, communicate, and share information and knowledge on a regular basis

Trust is essential within any business. Without trust influence is destroyed and leaders can lose teams. Research published by Harvard Business shows that workers at companies where trust is high report 106% greater energy in the office, 74% lower stress levels, 76% greater engagement, and 50% more productivity than their peers at low-trust businesses.

How to build trust

Customer trust is a reciprocal behaviour to what they receive. Trust comes when you understand your customer's needs, respect them, and offer relevant service.

Gaining customer's trust is important not only to make them loyal and come back, but also so they insist their friends do business with you too. Here are some guidelines how to build trust

• Put Your Customer First

• Excel at Customer Service

• Leverage Customer Reviews and Testimonials

• Making a connection

• Communicating

• Showing your appreciation

• Getting customer feedback

Put Your Customer First

Develop a customer-centric culture. Constantly evaluate and adapt your business to serve the needs of the customer. Champion a positive customer experience.

Focus and understand who your customers are. Then you will start to

make decisions that positively impact customers and develop quality products and services that address pain points. The best way to build trust is by looking after your customer's happiness and exceeding their expectations (read more)

Excel at Customer Service

How can your business continuously deliver a positive customer service worth remembering? Have dedicated support staff, provide quality service, and be ready to listen to your customers to understand their needs and concerns.

A great customer service experience can strengthen customer trust and make customers more likely to engage with your company positively in the future.

Leverage Customer Reviews and Testimonials

Gain trust by providing proof. No matter what kind of brand reputation you’ve built, consumers naturally want to hear from other consumers before making a decision. Showcase positive customer reviews and testimonials.

You can publish reviews and testimonials on your website, blog or social media. If you know of specific customers who have had great experiences with your company, you can reach out to them directly to inquire about them creating a testimonial video or blog post.

Highlighting positive feedback from real customers can make other customers more likely to trust your company. Publishing customer reviews and testimonials can help your company strengthen its credibility (read more).

Making a connection

Personalise your interaction with everyone involved in your business. Make that human to human connection on a much more personal level. It is important to make an effort to create relationships beyond simple transactions. Why? It's because connected customers tend to become repeat customers and repeat customers are vital to business growth, profitability and success.

When you connect with the target audience deeply, you are much more likely to understand their requirements, resolve their problems, and create a sense of mutual understanding with them. How to make a connection? Here are some ideas;

• Don't use a one-size-fits-all approach

• Respond to concerns

• Go above and beyond

• Follow up

• Keep it personal, not transactional

• Focus on face-to-face interactions

• Show appreciation

• Get feedback

Communicating

Your business communication can take place through email, social media and other channels. It helps build relationships and creates trust.

By communicating and listening you learn about others' perspectives. Listening thoughtfully, without judgement or interruption, is also a show of caring and respect. With stronger relationships come deeper feelings of trust.

The seven C's of communication are a list of principles for written and spoken communications to ensure that they are effective. The seven C's are: clarity, correctness, conciseness, courtesy, concreteness, consideration and completeness

Showing your appreciation

This can make customers more likely to engage with your company in the future and become loyal customers. Everyone likes to be appreciated and recognised. Your customers are in essence putting bread on your table, so the least we can do is show them some appreciation and gratitude.

Appreciation is important all throughout your business? It will help keep employees engaged and dedicated. It helps build staff loyalty and trust. It makes staff and customers feel valued. It also helps with wellbeing and mental health, so it really can make a difference in people's lives (read more).

Getting customer feedback

Asking your customers for feedback can show them that your company values their opinions and input. You can ask for feedback by emailing surveys or adding pop-up surveys to your website. Then, you can make changes that improve your company and reflect the feedback your customers provided.

How to maintain trust

• Be transparent

• Help customers solve problems

• Nurture your reputation

Be transparent

Transparency is essential to maintaining customer trust. Be open and honest so that customers can understand your business.

• Display information about your products, including materials and ingredients

• Showing how your company operates behind the scenes

• Responding to customer feedback and complaints

• Featuring stories from company employees

Being transparent with your customers can give them the sense that your company is honest with them, which can strengthen customer trust. It can also give them insight into the operations of your company, making them feel more engaged.

Help customers solve problems

If a customer is having issues with your product or service, be sure to commit to resolving them. Try to solve their problems quickly (read more) and demonstrate empathy and kindness. Great customer service includes:

• Multiple channels for communication

• Fast and consistent responses

• Unique solutions for individual problems

• Kind and empathetic attitude

Having empathy shows customers that your company understands them and wants to help them. This will maintain and enhance notions of trust

Nurture your reputation

Businesses with a good reputation have a more desirable client base, more opportunities and generate more revenue (read more). This is all because people trust you.

Their good reputation enables them to charge higher premiums because their clients are assured that they are getting better value for their money. A reputable business is a more profitable business. Over time, be sure to continue to meet high standards to keep your reputation strong and maintain customer trust.

4 Step Frame work to build trust;

Credibility

This is all centred around your knowledge;

• Do you have the skills?

• Do you bring credentials?

• Are you a domain expert in the field?

To increase credibility, these things contribute:

• Previous results

• Endorsements or referrals

• Degrees, titles, and certificates

• Earlier experiences with you in this field

Above all: do you really know what you're talking about?

Reliability:

This is all centred around your actions;

• Can I count on you?

• Will you do as you promise?

• Can I trust you with my information?

For reliability, it's pretty straightforward. This is easy to demonstrate by:

• Being on time

• Communicating clearly

• Delivering when you said you would

• Make yourself fit in - "people like us, deal with people like us"

Communicate clearly, be honest and just do as you promise. It's that simple.

Intimacy:

This is all centred around the relationship;

• Is there perceived safety?

• Is there a personal connection?

• Are you comfortable with each other?

Create appropriate intimacy. This is what takes the relation beyond transactional.

• Create safety

• Find common ground

• Be authentic & intentional

• Open up or ask about (appropriate) private things

Find things of mutual interest and start to build the relationship around this

Perception

This is all centred around how you are perceived.

• Show real interest

• Be supportive and ask for help

• Put the other person in the spotlight, make it about them

Get on the same side of the table. Both physically & metaphorically.

Trust is essential in all walks of life, and often overlooked in business. Think about trust when building your client base and audience.

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