We should all know what trust is. If for whatever reason you don’t, may I suggest starting with the Oxford English Dictionary. I won’t quote it, however, as I don’t want to sound too much like a GCSE essay.
What can trust bring to the table though? How will it help your business evolve, grow, and ultimately succeed?
Customers need to be able to trust in you, your brand, and your product. They won’t buy what you are selling if it or you have too many bad reviews, and word of mouth can spread very quickly. If they have questions about your product and you can’t answer them, then why should they purchase it? If you sell similar products or offer similar services the customer may need you to help them make the right choice. The customer has to have faith in you and your company to lead to the purchase. No purchase, no business.
You need to be able to trust your staff and they need to trust you. If there is this mutual trust and respect then people will be more willing to work harder, fill in if someone is ill, stay an extra hour if need be, etc.
So trust is pretty important, but how do you build trust? You read on…
1. Authenticity
If you aren’t being authentic if you aren’t being real, then why should I listen to you? Now, this is a subject that can get deep fast. Bring authenticity into a conversation and in no time at all, you can find yourself discussing the fact that the media tells us who to be. From a young age, we are molded due to our gender, the beliefs of people around us, etc. It’s a rabbit hole alright, and whilst I would recommend having a conversation like that from time to time, we won’t discuss that side of authenticity right now.
But being authentic when it comes to business is essential. You want to be real. Your company no doubt will have a mission, core values, possibly a vision, and perhaps even a mantra. If you lose sight of these then your authenticity begins to slip. Have these on display. On your website, in your offices have a slogan on your packaging. Let the rest of the world know what it is you stand for, and then stand by it. You can even bring new values into the fray later down the line.
If you stick to what you and your company believe in then people will trust you.
Look at Coca Cola, one day they said (and I am paraphrasing here) ‘’You know what, let’s become as environmentally friendly as we can.’’ So that is what they did. 88% of their packaging is now globally recyclable, 20% recycled materials go into their packaging and they want to increase this by 50% by 2030. They said they would do it, and so they did, with updates along the way. I also sigh a little breath of relief every year when I see that fabled lorry on the advert telling me it’s Christmas.
2. Assistance
Share your wisdom and expertise. You have built or contributed towards something special, not only should you be proud of this but share what you know. It goes back to back to being able to answer a question on your product but doing it willingly.
The tone of voice is a powerful tool and it is one that should be utilized constantly. Adding a note of positivity when you are speaking to people builds rapport with the customer, they are thinking of buying your product, now is the time to make them want to buy it. Having a relationship with the customer means there is a degree of trust there, and you can keep building upon that with how you talk to them.
If you have ever been into a Lush store, then you have probably seen some great customer service. After you get over the overwhelming surge of fragrances that hit you of course. The staff in Lush seem to be some of the nicest people in the world. They know every single product like the back of their hand, and they can not wait to tell you all about each one. I don’t know about you, but if I have a really bad service somewhere I will talk about it when I leave the shop, sometimes before I leave. But the same is said for Great service, once again word of mouth is a powerful thing.
Now this year lots of things have changed, including the ability to visit places and talk to people. The tone of voice, therefore, needs now more than ever to be added to emails, messages, and those chat sections that every other website seems to have. Adding positive language into the way you type will immediately show someone that you are willing to at least try and help as best you can.
3. Humanity!
Unless we live in the Men in Black universe, in which case sign me up. We are all human. You, you reading this right now are human. Pleased to meet you, I am human too. We are still all different of course we are. But we can all find a way to relate to each other.
When you find common ground, when you can relate to each other there is the beginning of a relationship.
If you want to write 5 posts a week on LinkedIn to gain a following and advertise your business how would you do it? Would you write 5 long business-orientated posts giving details of exactly what it is you do? You could give it a go certainly. But I would think you would run out of ideas pretty quickly, and also who is going to see what you write and come back for more every day? Very few people.
Show another side of you, the human side. There is a reason you see so many videos and photos of cats and dogs on every social media platform. Why? Because almost everyone can relate to them. I have never had a pet, but if I see a video of a husky playing in the snow, all I want is a pet. You don’t want to post only cats and dogs, but if you find a few topics that you and others like then you keep them coming back for more. What is even crazier is this works both ways. See a video you like that someone has posted, give them alike, and maybe comment and there we have it. A new realm of possibilities has opened up.
This has been a tough year, everyone has probably had some low points. Therefore, it may be worth showing a little empathy from time to time too, because strangely enough. We are all human.
