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How do you build trust with your prospects

Many of our clients would have met Mike Foster, who assists with our business development and seminars. If you have heard Mike speak at one of our seminars, you will know he has a repetitive message when it comes to your marketing. “Your prospects have to get to Know, Like and Trust you before they will make a purchase from you.”

We can market our business to raise the awareness with our ideal customer and ensure that they Know of us, whilst then using pull marketing techniques that ensure that they get to Like us. In this news article, Mike has kindly shared his thoughts about ‘How do you build trust with your prospects’ and he will focus on how we can get total strangers to trust us and believe we are the right choice. So here are Mike’s thoughts:

Unless you are a totally online reliant business, then the first action that I recommend is to get your prospect offline as quickly as possible. Yes to have a conversation with you by telephone of face to face, but more importantly because people are more sceptical about online content.

Whether you are online or offline, you have to convince your prospect that you are authentic and have the skills and resources to deliver your offering, promises and the solution to their pain or problem.

So here are 8 ways you can help your clients to get to know you further to the point of Trusting you for that further conversation.

  1. Testimonials – If possible video testimonials, as they are considered more genuine than written versions. They should be from ideal customers, cover off the common objections you receive, give a value to your contribution and come from a named person in the business
  2. Endorsements – You product or service may lean towards a celebrity endorsement from a notable figure, however if you are building trust in a local market or within a networking group then these may simply be well known local figures or members. Written endorsements are great, video endorsements are fantastic. Even LinkedIn endorsements have their value.
  3. Your Bio – what does your biography say about you? Many About Us pages on a web site do not get the time of day the business truly deserves. Ensure you get the brag factor and me / us messages in balance with the copy that engages the prospect with information about how you will add value for them.
  4. Badges, Accreditations, Professional Memberships, Qualifications, Awards – These build a picture of your skill, knowledge, ability and integrity. For me, images are more powerful than just covering a mention in your copy.
  5. Have a guarantee – Can you make a guarantee that is something your competitors would also feel uncomfortable offering? Guarantees take away the risk of the purchase but also demonstrate that you believe in your offering with absolute confidence.
  6. Case Studies – can you give details on situations with your existing customers that the prospect can relate to. If the prospects understand you can help similar people to them, then they have more trust you are the solution for them. If you can, don’t just write about it but use video and pictures to show the evidence of the case.
  7. Be referred – can you develop a referral strategy that drives referrals to you. The prospect will have been referred by someone that they already trust and who they believe also trusts you, so have a low reason to doubt you.
  8. Make an offer, but give the reason why – Prospects don’t like to think that you have something to hide or are trying to con them into a purchase. So for example, if you are offering a discount on the last remaining items, then say why. Perhaps you are changing a range or it is end of line. Prospects will respect this honest approach.

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