When I think of a trustworthy brand, my mind splits in two directions. On one hand, higher quality brands are trusted to make good on their promises of delivering an exceptional product, like the latest Apple iPhone or a new car. On the other hand, large businesses have been cutting away at the cords of trust over time with ever worsening incidents. Private data is sold to the highest bidder. Financial information is hacked despite the promise of safeguarding. And high-end products don’t always deliver. Trust is growing as the commodity of choice in the modern age and that is a very good thing for you.
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In our increasingly connected society, the truth, while often murky, is nearer and nearer to our fingertips. Honest reviews and feedback is shining through the mist of consumer doubt. We no longer filter shopping results only by price but also by reviews. When I purchased my wonderful Wemo Mini Smart Plug, it wasn’t only the $25 price tag. A large part of my buying decision was the average rating of 4.5 stars with more than 8,000 reviews! And thankfully, those 8,000 people were right on the button as I’ve recommended it to many friends since!
With trust being such an important commodity for entrepreneurs, creatives, and businesses to develop, how can we improve our ability to build trust with other people?
Trust boils down to a collection of interactions. The more we interact and engage with positive results and outcomes, the more trust we’ll develop. The very first interaction is the only gimmy. It’s the only time the slate is blank which means a positive outcome is critical for the long-term trust building relationship that ultimately delivers reward for buyer and seller.
The old way of marketing and growing with customers was to show them the product and convince them to take a chance. Some products or services had research, case studies, or reviews from peers to help the new buy leap into their faith-based decision of purchasing. Now, those methods of securing sales is fading away. The new economy rewards those who give before they get.
To give before we get requires emotional investment. Are you an author working on your debut novel? How about a painter looking to move some old pieces? To get the sale, we need to invest in people emotionally.
The easiest and fastest way to interact with potential buyers and emotionally invest in people is social media. In a world where people are busier and busier on the street, they are more and more open to new ideas and interesting thoughts online. Social media provides the introvert, the loner, and or the person in a new town with few contacts the ability to engage with people on a massive scale.
Two years ago, I started my Twitter account. Like everyone else, I had zero followers. How embarrassing! But guess what happened? Day after day, as I interacted, engaged, supported, encouraged, liked, re-tweeted, posted, shared thoughts, gave facts, added value, followed others, and asked questions, my followers went from a big lonely 0 to nearly 13,000. My website traffic grew exponentially and so did my sphere of influence. Many have found my article on How to Grow Your Twitter Platform to 5,000 very helpful.
Two years ago I was speaking into the void with little to no engagement back from like-minded people. Now, I average between 500,000 and 1,000,000 impressions a month on my Twitter content alone and have trouble keeping up with other Twitter users liking, re-tweeting, and commenting on my posts.
Incredibly, this global phenomenon is available to you too. Anyone with an internet connection and a computer (or smart phone) is walking around with the power of an industrial factor in their pocket, as though leader Seth Godin often writes and speaks about.
If you have a product or service available now, no one is interested in hearing about it. They (we) don’t know you. We don’t trust you. We simply don’t care. To offer your product or service to us, without first building trust through quality engagement, is a waste of everyone’s time and even worse, it increases the likelihood that we will NEVER purchase what you’re selling.
On the flip side, if you give before you get and focus your emotional energy on quality interactions, supporting others and building a network of connections, the likelihood that many people would be interested in hearing what you’re offering grows drastically.
Trust is waning with big businesses. If you want to be truly remarkable and stand out from the crowd, build a brand on trust. Bring humanity back into the conversation. Engage with people to build relationships before sharing your product or service. It may feel counter intuitive, like you’re going to miss the sale if you don’t jump on the sales pitch right away. But look around and ask yourself, what would you prefer if someone was selling to you? Wouldn’t you want to know they understood your value system? Wouldn’t you appreciate companies soliciting your input and advice before telling you they can solve your problem?
Be remarkable and aim for trust before sales calls.
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