If you operate a business then you will know how important it is for you to really gain trust from your customers. You will also know how important it is for you to profit from their sales and to also make sure that they completely respect you as a business as well. This is easier said than done, because if it was easy then everyone would be doing it. If you want to find out more then take a look below.
Word of Mouth
Word of mouth is a priceless asset for absolutely anybusiness. Word of mouth marketing is quite possibly the most effective form of marketing as well. The best thing about this marketing technique is that it converts visitors into customers before they even land on your site. If you have someone who loves your company and they then tell someone else about what you have to offer, then you will already have two people who trust you and one of them haven’t even made a purchase yet. If you don’t know how to get people tostart talking about your brand then you don’t have anything to worry about. You just have to make sure that customers fall In love with you, because happy customers are more likely to sing your praises more when compared to customers who are just okay with what you have to offer. It is also a good idea for you to have a loyalty program. When you do have a loyalty program in place, you can easily create an army of ambassadors who are keen to know more about your brand and what you have to offer. They will work for you to try and get you more customers because they get rewarded for it as well.
Know that The Customer Isn’t Always Right
This is an old saying but it is true to say the least. You can’t afford to ignore what your customers are trying to tell you and this is especially the case if you work in a niche industry. People do vote with their wallet and if you are able to ask your customers for feedback and then take action on this then you will be much more successful as a result. If you ask your customers for feedback and then don’t take action on what they have to say then there is a high chance that they will tire of your efforts. You have to remember however that the customer isn’t ALWAYS right. Sometimes you may find that they ask for more discounts, but if you are going to run your business into the ground by doing this then you won’t ever be able to look upon yourself as being a success. With things like this, it’s important that you trust your gut instinct and that you really put the effort in to explore every possibility before you decide to take action on it.
Know Who You Are Dealing with
If you know who your customers are or if you want to try and help them to become a part of what you are trying to offer then you need to do your research. It helps to have a crystal-clear profile of who your ideal customers are and it is also important that you are able to learn their fears, desires and even their needs as well. This will really help you to build a loyal customer base and it will also help you to create a way more detailed profile for the people who you are trying to work with. Profiles will also help you to try and filter out people who could end up being problems as this will reduce the amount of problems that you have to deal with in the future. Creating and even attracting your audience is way easier once you are able to understand who you are dealing with and this will also help you to build a much higher level of trust with them in the future.
Manage Your Expectations
If your customers are continually having a negative experience when they come to your business then this won’t help your trust, your profit or even your reputation. A lot of negative experiences come down to expectations that have not been met. Your customer is waiting for you to deliver in a certain way and you just aren’t. If you want to correct this then you can do this by managing your expectations. If you need to know how to do this then find out what your customer expects from you. Talk to them and ask open-ended questions. You also need to ask them about the timeframe for delivering the product/service and even what result they expect. If your customers are expecting too much from you then it may be that you are overselling on your site but this is very easy for you to correct.
Your Support System
Do you find that you are trying to handle all of the support tasks yourself? Maybe you are just trying to handle the random calls that you have and even your emails as well. Either way, this isn’t scalable and you aren’t going to be delivering a good amount of trust to your customers by doing this. You have to try and provide your customers with a brilliant support system and you also have to do this on a consistent basis. If you are able to offer a high-quality support system then this will drastically improve your customer retention rate and it will also help you to provide a much better service as a result. When you are able to provide a better service you will then be able to get more sales and profit. You have to remember here that what works for your competition probably won’t work for you, so try and find a solution that fits your budget, that can grow with you and ultimately, one that reflects the needs of your customers. For example, if your customers are very tech-savvy and you know that they are young then you may want to provide them with a live chat option. If you have older customers then they will probably prefer to call up your company and speak over the phone. You have to look into options such as 1300 numbers Australia if you want to find out more about this, as it will make your company look way more professional.
Communication works Both Ways
If you are constantly focused on making sales then this is great but there are other aspects of customer service that you need to work on as well. For example, you need to reply to their emails in a timely manner and you also need to make sure that you are rewarding them for buying from your company as well. This is not enough however, and sometimes customers need additional communication in order to trust in your company. This could include sending them a tracking number for their order or it could be telling them that their order will be with them on a certain day rather than just sending them a confirmation email. Little things like this can often lead to an increase in customer trust and if a customer knows that you will keep them updated every step of the way throughout their experience then they will be much more likely to choose you as their number one provider. This is even the case if your competition is able to offer more than you can and at a lower price as well, so this is something that you need to take into consideration.
