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Archive for September 6th, 2010

Ten Ways To Build Client Trust In Your Business

These days with millions of ads and marketing messages hitting us from every direction the most important key to building your marketing strategy is trust.

Does your marketing net you as much as you’d like? Do your ads help you generate lucrative prospects weekly and monthly? Are you able to convert leads into paying clients with your marketing?

If the answer is no then maybe you aren’t expressing your trustworthiness enough. No one in the world will every buy anything from you if they don’t trust that your products and services will do what you say they will do.

Do the words and images you use in your marketing help establish the trust necessary to convince prospects to believe in and buy from you? If not then you’ll benefit from the following strategies geared toward converting prospects to clients.

1. PROVIDE EXAMPLES OF YOUR CLIAMS
Rather than making impersonal and dramatic claims of what your products or services do use examples. Examples are far more believable. A case study is an ideal way to explain exactly what you did for someone and the difference it made in their life or their business.

2. GIVE THINGS AWAY FREE
Giving things away free is a great way to build trust. You can give anything like a keychain your grandma’s prized apple pie recipe an ebook or article. Giving something to people regardless of the cost makes them more likely to trust you and even to return the favor by buying something from you.

3. PUT OUT ARTICLES INSTEAD OF ADVERTISEMENTS
Being inundated with advertisements 24/7 has instilled in us a deep distrust of ads. We tend to believe instead what we read in published articles. Rather than putting out countless ads your time would be better spent writing articles. This establishes you as an expert who is willing to help rather than a company trying to get people’s credit card information for the sole purpose of making money.

4. TESTIMONIALS TESTIMONIALS TESTIMONIALS
Convince your target that you’re worth what you say by showing them what past clients have said about you. These are called testimonials and if you aren’t using them you’re missing a key ingredient in your marketing and advertising. They’re not hard to get. Just contact some past clients ask what they thought of your product or service what they liked about it and how it was helpful. Then edit their comments ask for their permission to use their edited words and use this material in your marketing and ad campaigns.

5. SPEAK DIRECTLY TO YOUR TARGET MARKET
In this industrialeconomic empire that we call America with skyscrapers and big multibillion dollar companies all around us it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that we’re all human. So a common misperception is that in order to sound credible your marketing should be cold and impersonal. Instead of trying to act stuffy and distant you should do the exact opposite. People do business with people not steel buildings and dry corporate entities. Show photos of yourself and your staff talk directly to your target market explain in human terms why they should trust you be passionate and have a bit of personality.

6. GET AS MANY REFERRALS AS POSSIBLE
What is the first thing you do when you need an accountant plumber doctor lawyer or web design company? You ask a friend for a referral don’t you? Why? Because you trust the recommendations of friends family and people you know. For your own business instead of waiting for the occasional referral implement a system to generate referrals. Use the “I’ll wash your back if you wash mine” approach. It usually works as long as you partner with companies you know provide good products or services.

7. EXCHANGE ENDORSEMENTS
This is a proven strategy for doubling your marketing reach without paying a penny. Simply team up with a local business you trust and that also targets your market. Ask the company if it’s OK if you use an endorsement of your company’s products and services. In exchange you do the same for them. While a personal referral is ideal a company endorsement also adds a lot of weight to your claims.

8. KEEP IN CLOSE CONTACT WITH HOT LEADS
Clients or potential clients who you see and talk to daily or weekly or even monthly are usually the ones you trust the most and who trust you the most. You’ve developed a rapport with each other and during this process you’ve established one thing that’s crucial for your business and you’ve established trust. Communicating with them regularly is a good way to continue to develop and even build on this trust.

9. REDUCE YOUR TARGET MARKET’S RISK WHEN BUYING FROM YOU
What’s your biggest concern when purchasing a product or service? Most people are worried that the product or service will not perform the way they hope. How can you prove to people that the claims you make in your marketing are true? Provide a guarantee. Also outline clearly and carefully the value you provide and state your commitment to making sure that your product or service will not only reach but exceed their expectations.

10. MAKE CONTACTING YOU EASIER
Don’t leave it up to your clients to try to figure out how to get in touch with you. Show them how by making it easy as 123 for them. Put your website phone number and email address at the top of your website or marketing materials. Include a call to action which most people forget. This means tell them to call write or visit your website. Don’t leave it up to them because more often than not they will not make the first move.

In summary the best way to convert your target market into leads and leads into clients is to build trust. These ten marketing strategies help form the foundation of the trust you’ll need to convince people that you aren’t just out for their credit card numbers but that you truly and sincerely want to help their business.

Beware. If this is not truly your attitude that you really want to help people with the product or service you provide then you may just want to skip marketing and go straight to filing for Chapter 11 now. Why? Because although it’s true that there’s a sucker born every minute sooner or later people are going to get hip to your song and dance and word will spread to stay away from you. In that case all the marketing and advertising secrets in the world won’t help you.

About the writer:  Richard Cagney heads the SEO/SEM division of the affordable custom website design firm All Access Unlimited http://www.allaccessunlimited.com in Stamford Connecticut. AAU provides high conversion marketing to companies aiming to expand and grow in the American and world markets.