The New Business Currency: TRUST
By Michael StelznerSpammers. Hackers. Marketers (??). What do they all share in common?
Answer: A wicked lack of trust.
Trust is the new currency of business.
That famous Cheers TV song comes to mind; “Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name.”
We trust people we know—even if we don’t really know them.
Building trust takes time. It takes effort. It requires sacrifice.
This is true today more than any other time in history.
It is so easy to find solutions to problems and fixes for what ails us.
However, the Internet has made us more scrupulous shoppers, more careful about decisions we make.
Thus, it is critical to build trust.
Here are some ways you can build trust with prospects:
- Provide them something of value, for free (share your secrets, give them a taste of what you are all about)
- Give the relationship an opportunity to grow (nurture prospects by enabling them to easily signup for your content-rich newsletter or invite them to signup for blog updates)
- Listen to your prospects (ask for feedback and comments, and respond)
This is really no different than building a friendship. If you want to succeed, you need friends. Why? Because you can trust your friends.
Tell me how trust has helped your business grow?
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September 16th, 2006 at 7:15 am
Hi Mike,
I have been following your blog right from the start and enjoy reading your posts. I especially like this one. When your work is based on providing intangibles (=services) trust and reputation are everything.
Trust and reputation are closely related to word of mouth which is in my view the best marketing approach for a professional, at least for me.
Thnk you for your contribution
Sante
September 18th, 2006 at 7:12 pm
Mike,
This is really good stuff you are putting on this site, but I’m beginning to wonder if you are reading my mail or something.
Anyway, this whole trust issue is very important to me. Years ago I worked as a salesman for a company and was their top guy month after month. This kept going until I found out that some of their after-sale support practices were nothing close to what I had been told to tell my customers. From that point on, I couldn’t sell a thing.
This all came back to mind the other day and I wrote an article for my blog called, Freelance Copywriter Secrets: Honesty Is Good For The Bank Account. It was based largely on Dan Kennedy’s advice to admit your product’s flaws right up front. Don’t try to hide your shortcomings or limitations, but acknowledge them and only then can you talk about your product’s strong points.
Anyway, I have found that to be good advice for building trust and also for keeping my own belief in what I am selling high.
Thanks for your great blog.
Charles Brown
September 18th, 2006 at 9:11 pm
Hi Sante and Charles;
Thanks for your comments. Trust really does matter. It matters in sales. It matters in marketing. Unfortunately some bad apples have made establishing trust harder for all of us.
Sante, trust can also be conveyed in non-verbal actions. For example, is what is written what is actually delivered? OR, is it just marketing-speak?
Charles — what you don’t trust me? Of course I am not reading your email :).
Mike
September 18th, 2006 at 11:31 pm
Sante, trust can also be conveyed in non-verbal actions. For example, is what is written what is actually delivered? OR, is it just marketing-speak?
Absolutely, I normally win over trust with well balanced written proposals that can only b ere-enforced verbally with a conversation - I’ve never met many of my Clients and they see me thru my work so writing is extremely important.
Sante