How to Build Trust With Potential Clients
If you don't sound confident about what you can do, then potential clients won't feel confident buying from you.
It doesn't matter how much a potential client likes you, they won't be likely to hand over money if they aren't convinced you can deliver something they want or need. They have to trust that you can (and will) do what you say you can.
You can build trust throughout your marketing and sales process. You can also lose that trust throughout your process. So how do you build that trust and keep it?
Utilise reviews or client feedback
We can tell people over and over again how good we are, but they are more likely to believe it if they see other people backing it up. So showcase your good reviews and use feedback in your marketing to boost your credibility.
Ask people to leave Google reviews, Facebook reviews or LinkedIn recommendations.
You can pull these through to your website or screenshot them to be used in other places.
You can even screenshot messages, emails or comments left on posts:
Or turn client feedback into images, carousels or videos.
If you have willing clients, you could even ask for some video testimonials to add to your site or use on your socials.
Put a system in place for collecting feedback and asking clients to recommend you to others.
Showcase your expertise and capability
You might have heard the saying "show, don't tell" when it comes to writing, and it applies to marketing too. Don't just tell people you are an expert. Show them you are an expert through the content you share.
Client reviews are great for doing this, but you can do it through your own content too. Share tips, advice, knowledge and experiences so people can see for themselves that you clearly know your stuff.
You can do this in social media posts, infographics, videos, podcasts, blog posts, emails, printed materials, webinars - the list goes on.
Don't hold back the good stuff. Telling people how to do it themselves doesn't mean they won't still want your help. After all, we can pretty much find recipes for anything online, but we still go out to eat.
If you're not giving people the information they are looking for, they'll just go elsewhere for it.
Make marketing messages clear
If your messages don't make it clear who you help and how you improve their life or business, they won't feel confident approaching you.
If your marketing isn't clear, you can end up with enquiries that have no chance of going anywhere. Or you end up having to do more work on your discovery calls because people don't completely trust you yet.
Ideally, you want potential clients to get in touch when they are already 90% ready to buy from you. Your marketing should be getting them to that point.
Listen to your prospect
An easy way to lose trust is not paying attention to what your prospect is saying.
If they message or email you, make sure you read their enquiry properly before you reply. What are they asking? What do they need help with? Don't try and sell them a solution they haven't asked for.
And if you get on a call, ask questions and listen to their replies. If you rush into a sales pitch, you could end up focusing on the wrong things and talking about features that just aren't relevant.
Avoid coming across as unprepared or sounding unsure
If you don't sound confident about what you're doing, then your potential clients won't feel confident. If you're getting on a call or going to a meeting, make sure you do your homework.
This is why I don't answer unscheduled calls - they can catch you off guard. You need to feel in control and confident, not unprepared and out of your depth.
And if you don't know the answer to something, just be honest: "I'm not 100% sure, so let me go away and find out for you" or "I don't have that information to hand right now, but I'll send it over to you later today."
Avoid coming across as aggressive or desperate
Pressure selling is not a good way of selling – you want clients to feel completely confident that you are the right person for the job. You don’t want them to feel bullied into buying from you.
You also don’t want to come across as desperate for the sale – it’s not a good look. Plus, if people think you're desperate for the work, they're more likely to attempt to haggle you down on price or ask for extras.
Treat every new enquiry with an attitude of: if I get the work, that's great, but if I don't, it's not the end of the world.
Avoid coming across as too passive or uninterested
While you don’t want to come across too desperate or forceful, you also don’t want to appear disinterested.
People want to feel as though you value their business. They don’t want to feel as though they are an inconvenience or that you’re just going through the motions.
The best way to show you are interested is to be genuinely interested, which is much easier to do if you are attracting people you actually want to work with. And if you want to attract those people, you need to make sure your marketing appeals to them.
Need some help?
If you feel like you're struggling to build trust with potential clients through your marketing and/or during the sales process, book 90 minutes with me and let's figure out where the gaps are.
