As a coach or service business owner, what you do matter a lot. You do all that you can to give your clients life-transforming outcomes with your great service. When prospective clients come, they get to experience what you have to offer. If in the end, they don’t get to be signed up with you as clients, it becomes a big challenge. Most coaches and service business owners are going through this difficult situation. Out of a number of possible causes, lack of trust stands tall. When prospective clients do not trust you to deliver on your promise, they will not want to be enrolled as clients. Also when old clients begin to lose trust in you, they walk away. It is indeed a difficult place to be. It is said that customers make more emotional decisions than logical decisions. There is no way a client will connect with you emotionally, if they do not trust you. You should leverage trust in your business. This is because you are dealing with clients directly, and you work with them to solve one need or the other. That kind of one-to-one relationship requires trust to build and maintain. Trust could be the missing piece of the puzzle that will not only help you retain clients, but help you to sign up new ones. In his great book, Speed of Trust, Stephen M.R. Covey said, “…trust is a hard-edged, economic driver – a learnable and measurable skill that can give your business a competitive edge”. In a research carried out by Trust Across America, they found out that businesses who build a high level of trust with clients outperform those who don’t. When it comes to keeping yourclientsfrom having an affair with the competition, you need to get them to trust you completely. How do I build trust with my clients? You may ask. Below are sure-fire ways of building trust with clients and have them stick to you, and no one else! 1. Show Genuine Interest in Helping Them If you have been a coach a while, chances are that you might fall into the temptation of having a standard template for approaching clients. That isn’t bad at all. However, you need to also take into account that people are different and their needs differ as such. Take a real interest in helping your clients. It begins with your warmth and the kind of ambience you create when they are around you. Let them feel comfortable discussing their problems with you. Put their need for solutions above your desires to sell them your program. People are sensitive and can easily notice when they are being taken seriously and when they are being endured upon because it seems like you care only about the money. If you approach your client as someone you know well, they will see that you have a genuine interest in helping them – it will be easier for them to trust you. 2. If You Can’t Help Them, Refer Them to Someone Who Can The truth is that as a professional, you should have mastery in a particular area, if you want to stand out. You should be specific with the outcomes or the results you deliver. If you are a coach, your area of expertise should be defined. If you are a service business owner, there should be a specific type of service that you render. This is important. When people come to you, they have peculiar problems that they need solutions to. Sometimes, prospectiveclientsdo not know the difference. So they assume that as a coach, you can help them with any coaching need they have. If you come across such prospects, don’t try to cajole them just to sell your services to them – knowing you do not have the specialization to help them with that particular need. The best thing to do is refer them to someone else who has the kind of specialization that will help them. Before that, explain to them your area of expertise, and then hand them over to capable and trusted experts. If they are able to get results through your referral, you have their complete trust. If they ever have need for the particular service you render, you will be top choice. 3. Listen with Intent If you have put together a life-changing program for your clients and they are not subscribing, it is possible that their immediate needs are not being captured by your program. This can dampen the level of trust they have in your ability to deliver. You need to be sensitive and listen intently to your clients. I know your ultimate goal is to help people and transform their lives. However, that objective can easily be reached when you listen to your clients and understand their needs. Do not be in a hurry to move your clients to the next phase of your program, when you haven’t listened well to get the full picture of what their problem is and how you can solve it. You will end up taking them on a journey that will leave them unsatisfied. Nothing kills trust like that. 4. Be Honest and Transparent about How You Can Help Them Most clients want to be deeply involved in the process of getting results for them. This is why, most often than not, you get the question –“how can you help me?” They ask this question because they want to be assured that the process you are going to take will be okay by them. They just want to be sure they understand your methods – before trusting you to get them solutions. This you can show them through a webinar. When they come to your webinar, let them have a clear understanding of how you are going to help them. So, you have to give out your best there. Don’t leave any doubt in their heart about your credibility and integrity. Don’t promise them things you know you can’t do for them. Be honest and transparent with them. This method has proven very effective for us atClients Oasis. We have recorded massive customer retention rate, and the number of new clients we sign up rises daily. We are transparent and we show our clients exactly how we are going to help them. Transparency and honesty in dealing with clients leaves you with a growing number of customers who trust you to deliver results to them. Integrity is everything in business. 5. Share Customer Testimonials Customer testimonials are great social proof and it puts you in a positive light before your prospective clients. It proves to your clients that you are adding value and transforming lives with what you do. According Bright Local, a consumer survey website, 91% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Additionally, Adespresso says that customer testimonials confer a high level of trust on businesses. Customer testimonials increase your credibility in business. People tend to believe what others say about you more than what you say about yourself. Let your previous results speak for you and watch your clients trust you like never before. You can ask your clients to give honest reviews about how your services helped them solve a problem. I’m sure they will be glad to do that, if you helped them get results. Create a platform where customers can send in theirtestimonials. This could be on your website or Facebook page/group. If you have other platforms where you think your target market is, you can use these testimonials there. Conclusion Trust is everything! You cannot succeed in your business if people don’t have confidence in your ability to deliver results for them. Therefore, in all you’re getting, get your clients to trust you. You have to genuinely show your client that you care and you want to help them. If you cannot help them with a particular problem, don’t leave them high and dry. Refer them to someone who can help them. Don’t forget to listen to them and show a high level of integrity. Above all, let your results speak for you. Share case studies of how your program has helped other people. To learn how to implement all these in your business, schedule a breakthrough strategy session with someone on our team. Click here or use the button below to schedule your call.
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