Do buyers see you as trustworthy or as a snake oil salesman?
Trust—there are countless articles, books, videos, and webinars about the importance of trust when selling professional services. You might think, “OK, OK—I get it. I need to get buyers to trust me.” But are you doing what it takes to establish that trust? Do you really understand what can happen if you don’t have a buyer’s trust? You could see a sale slip away even when you think you’re doing everything right.
That’s exactly what Colleen Francis was seeing when she wrote her article, The Sale That Slipped Away: What Went Wrong? The thing that went wrong is sellers pushed too hard—they oversold their service. And by doing so, they raised doubt in the buyers’ minds. They made them question whether they were genuine and trustworthy.
Charles H. Green, one of the masters of establishing trust in business relationships, has developed a plan to help you increase your business’s trust. In his article, 3 Strategies for Increasing Your Business’s Trust he says there are three dimensions by which you should measure your business’s performance on trust: Are your people trustworthy? Does your organization promote trustworthiness? Do you trust others appropriately? If you want to increase your business’s trust, you must have a strategy for all three.
In this day and age when people have little trust for most things—the government, Wall Street, big banks, car makers, Facebook, etc.—firms must show that they’re trustworthy and perform amazing work that keeps clients coming back for more. It isn’t enough to simply outline your services.
Change is Needed
Firms must also realize that a couple rainmakers are not enough to help a firm grow or even survive, says Lisa Nirell in her podcast interview, What Firms Must Do to Achieve Sustainable Growth. A firm’s success depends on everyone in the organization working together to attract and retain clients, and you need a plan for doing that.
Marketing plays a key role in that plan. Increasingly firms are turning to inbound marketing tactics such as blogs, search engine optimization, and social networks. One attraction is the lower cost per lead compared with outbound marketing tactics. But with so much online activity from firms, you must develop a plan that helps you stand out and you must test various tactics, says Jasmine Sandler in her article, The Secret to Online Marketing Success.
Firms are also thinking creatively when it comes to networking to develop new business partners and generate referrals. Doing so has become a necessity when traditional golf games and mixers fail to produce results. CPA firm Piercy Bowler Taylor & Kern followed this path and created Table for Four marketing lunches. The lunches were a big success, immediately leading to referrals and a six-figure deal. And what helps you get referrals? Trust. The events gave the firm’s partners an opportunity to develop relationships and build trust.
So, what are you doing to build your business’s trust?
