One of the biggest challenges most start-ups and small and medium businesses face is they don’t know how to win trust to acquire new customers.
The majority of people buy certain products and services because they trust that these products or services or the company offering them will either resolve their challenges or help them achieve the results they are looking for.
I know you must have heard that you need to build trust to acquire customers many times. But today, I will give you a framework to build trust and acquire new customers.
1. Build credibility
This is the first step that any business or business owner must take to win customer trust.
People want to work with businesses or people who are credible. So how do you go about building credibility? Let me give you a couple of methods to achieve credibility.
- If your business is based on skills or knowledge, go for certifications, recognitions, recommendations, degrees, or courses that can position you as an expert in that subject.
- You can build organization credibility by achieving trust signals.
Here is an example. If you are a travel or tourism company, you can achieve trust by becoming Trip Advisor Certified, Make My Trip Certified, or getting certified by the Ministry Of Tourism.
There are many organizations in every industry that have high trust and credibility. You can gain leverage by being certified or associated with them.
A few more examples are ISO certified, Just Dial certified, 6 sigma certified.
There are many more ways by which you can acquire trust signals to build credibility as a business or an entrepreneur.
2. Demonstrate industry knowledge
Industry insights and knowledge are crucial in building trust amongst new customers.
Keep track of what is going on in the industry by keeping yourself updated on industry trends, policy changes, government changes, what companies are jumping in, and mergers and acquisitions happening.
If you are not up to date on the industry changes and the latest advancements that you can utilize to position yourself uniquely in the marketplace, you will have a tough time winning your customers’ trust.
Having industry expertise and knowledge is crucial to offer the latest and relevant solutions. This is a huge factor for any business for immediate trust creation for acquiring new clients.
3. Product/service knowledge
Your product or services should be the biggest reason why people trust you. And that is only possible when you understand your product or service beyond its features and specifications.
You need to understand every aspect of your product or service in the way it impacts your customer, which means you need to become a master in helping people understand the benefits or outcomes they can achieve by using their product or service.
Businesses that successfully articulated the real benefits of their products or services by thoroughly understanding their impact on their customers have always won their trust.
4. Market knowledge
Market knowledge is different from industry knowledge. Industry knowledge focuses on how your industry is evolving, and market knowledge is the act of understanding how the needs and requirements of your customers change over time.
There is a term called market intelligence which means you as a business owner are consistently taking proactive action to understand your customers’ pain, challenges, gains, and what they want to achieve.
The reason acquiring market knowledge is important is because it will help create contextual marketing messages that will help in building an immediate rapport and trust with your customers.
Most small and medium businesses never put the effort to understand how their customers’ needs, requirements, challenges are changing. And that is the reason they fail to modify and upgrade their products and services, which leads to losing trust because the customer would feel you are not the right fit for their requirements.
5. Create authenticity
Trust is valuable equity that is hard to build and easy to lose.
One of the most critical factors customers look into when buying products or services is authenticity.
Which means they want to work with people and businesses that have integrity.
This means they are honest with what they can and cannot do for their business.
They say honesty is the best policy, and so is the case in the business world. By being transparent and authentic with how you can help your customers and why you want to work with them, we create a huge difference in building trust with a customer. So be authentic. Period.
Conclusion
These are 5 critical parameters to win trust and acquire new customers. If you want to receive such cutting-edge business knowledge every week, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter.
