Category: Customer Service

In today’s blog post, we’re going to explore the ultimate business resource: trust. If I were to ask you what the most valuable asset in your business is, what would you say? Over the years, I’ve posed this question to numerous business professionals, and while the answers vary, the common thread that emerges is trust.
Consider this: if you responded with “my product or service,” what ultimately drives people to choose and consume it? No matter how impressive or innovative your offering may be, if customers don’t trust that it will deliver on its promises, its value diminishes significantly.
Likewise, if your answer revolves around yourself, your skills, or your knowledge, trust plays a crucial role. Without trust in you as an individual, regardless of your capabilities, people will hesitate to engage with you.
The same applies if you mentioned “my team.” Trust is equally important when it comes to your relationship with your employees. Building trust with them is vital for fostering a productive and cohesive work environment.
Unfortunately, many business owners overlook the significance of trust and fail to cultivate it in their marketing efforts, products, and networks. However, I have spent years helping entrepreneurs understand the importance of trust in establishing referral networks and generating business. I’ve witnessed firsthand how trust can drive tremendous success in business, yet it remains an underutilized and often neglected resource.
Let’s delve into the components of trust. In his book “The Speed of Trust,” Stephen Covey identifies four quadrants that form the foundation of trust:
1. Integrity: Honesty and transparency are at the core of integrity. If you conduct your business in a dishonest or disingenuous manner, your actions will be perceived as weak and unreliable, regardless of any other positive attributes.
2. Intent: People have a keen ability to detect sincerity and genuine motives. When someone’s intentions appear suspect or self-serving, trust erodes. It’s essential to be aware of the true intent behind your actions and ensure they align with building trust.
3. Capabilities: Trust hinges on the belief that someone possesses the necessary skills and expertise to fulfill their commitments. If doubts arise about your ability to deliver on your promises, trust will be difficult to establish

or maintain.
4. Results: Building trust requires demonstrating a track record of achieving desired outcomes. People seek evidence that you have previously accomplished what you claim, as this bolsters their confidence in your ability to deliver.
Building trust takes time, and individuals trust at varying speeds. Therefore, it’s essential to continually exhibit trustworthy behaviours. While some may extend trust early on, others require more time and evidence before feeling comfortable. By focusing on the four quadrants of trust, you can nurture and maintain strong business relationships with your referral partners.
One important lesson I’ve learned in my business journey is that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. This mantra holds significant weight when it comes to building trust. I vividly recall an experience early in my career where I mistakenly prioritised showcasing my knowledge over demonstrating care and empathy. This misstep resulted in strained relationships and irreparable damage to trust. The incident served as a stark reminder that trust cannot be built solely on expertise; genuine care and concern are crucial.
Trust is a form of currency in relationships, and its depth matters more than the sheer number of connections. Networking extensively without building trust yields little results. According to sociologist Robin Dunbar, our cognitive capacity allows us to have meaningful relationships with approximately 150-180 people. Within this network, we have closer relationships with around 50 individuals, while only about 15 people are those we truly know well. The inner circle consists of our five closest friends and allies.
So, how do you build trust? Trust is a product of time and actions. One of the most valuable lessons I learned from BNI (Business Network International) is the concept of “Givers Gain.” By genuinely helping others and consistently demonstrating trustworthy behaviour over time, you can foster trust. Remember, trust is unique to each person, and you’ll recognize it through their actions and attitudes towards you. Therefore, nurturing and preserving trust in a relationship should be a top priority.
Here are a few ideas for building trust in business:
1. Consistency:Actconsistentlyandreliablytoinstillconfidenceinothers.
2. Seekfeedback:Encourageopencommunicationandactivelylistentoothers’
perspectives.
3. Prioritiserelationship-buildingtime:Dedicatetimetonurturingrelationships
and getting to know others on a deeper level.

4. Bereachableandavailable:Beaccessibletootherswithinreasonablelimits, ensuring they feel valued and heard.
5. Communicateclearly:Clarityinyourcommunicationhelpsprevent misunderstandings and builds trust.
6. Acknowledgemistakes:Admittingfaultwhenyou’rewrongdemonstrates integrity and strengthens trust.
7. Honourcommitments:Alwaysfollowthroughonyourpromisesand commitments to establish reliability.
8. Bevulnerableandgenuine:Authenticitybreedstrust,sodon’tbeafraidto show vulnerability and share real experiences.
9. Acttransparently:Openlyshowcaseyouractionsanddecisions,allowing others to trust your integrity.
10.Stand up for what’s right: Upholding moral principles and defending what you believe in cultivates trust among others.
In summary, trust is built through a combination of actions and time. By understanding the significance of trust in business and actively working to cultivate it, you can develop strong referral relationships that propel your business to new heights. Never take trust for granted, and remember that trust is the cornerstone of successful and enduring business connections.
Written by Braith Bamkin

Have you ever wondered why customers choose to buy from your business? Do you truly understand their pain points and the factors that influence their buying decisions? Without this knowledge, your marketing efforts and referral generation may fall short. It is crucial to comprehend your customers’ buying cycle in order to effectively engage with them.

The Importance of Understanding Your Customers’ Motivations

Customers make purchases because they have a problem that needs solving, regardless of the product or service. Let’s consider a simple example. During a long drive, I needed water for hydration. Although water is readily available, I chose to buy bottled water from Coles service stations due to their convenience, the opportunity to earn Flybuys points, and the ability to recycle the bottles. While other options might have been cheaper, the convenience and additional benefits made Coles my preferred choice.

This example demonstrates that even the simplest purchases are driven by the desire to solve a problem in the most effective way. Understanding your clients’ motivations to buy is essential. It’s worth noting that customers don’t always choose the cheapest option; other factors play a role in their decision-making process.

How to Discover Why Customers Buy

The easiest way to uncover why customers choose your business is simply by asking them. Engage with your clients, particularly your best ones, and inquire about their decision to purchase from you. If you have categorised your clients based on their value (e.g., gold, silver, bronze), separate the answers accordingly to identify what motivates your top clients to buy. This valuable information can help shape your future marketing strategies.
Depending on your business, there are several methods to gather this information. For traditional retailers, conversational inquiries at the point of sale or post-sale questionnaires through a CRM system can be effective. The same applies to online sales and services. For higher-value sales involving personal relationships, such as real estate or car sales, asking customers directly after the purchase is completed can yield valuable insights.

Additionally, if you receive referrals from other sources, don’t hesitate to ask the referrer what motivated them to refer you and why they thought you were the right fit for the potential client. Regularly discussing referrals with your referral partners can provide useful information as well.

Capturing the gathered data is crucial, as information is only useful when you can derive actionable results from it. Free tools like SurveyMonkey can generate quantitative reports for survey-based responses. For more qualitative insights, consider using a simple Excel spreadsheet to identify trends and cluster similar responses. Pay attention to recurring keywords, as they often indicate common themes within your data.

Identifying Pre-Purchase Engagements

Once you understand your clients’ pain points and motivations, it is vital to determine who they engage with before making a buying decision. For instance, when purchasing a house, there are numerous professionals involved in the process: accountants, financial planners, mortgage brokers, conveyancers, and removalists. Recognizing these pre-purchase engagements is essential because any of these individuals can potentially refer customers to one another, including you. By getting involved before a buying decision is made, you position yourself as a viable candidate.

Leveraging Customer Journey Insights in Marketing

Armed with knowledge about your customers’ buying journey, you can tailor your marketing efforts to address their specific pain points. By demonstrating that you understand their problems, you increase the likelihood of winning their business. Even small businesses can utilise this principle across various customer touch points, such as marketing collateral, websites, blog posts, and other communication channels. Craft language and imagery that resonates with your target market, making them feel understood and motivated to choose your business over competitors’. In the digital realm, this understanding becomes even more crucial.

Empowering Referral Partners with Customer Journey Insights

One particularly valuable application of customer journey insights is empowering your referral partners. By sharing the journey your clients go through and providing appropriate language and cues, you enable your referral partners to connect potential customers directly to your business. This significantly enhances your referral potential.

In conclusion, understanding your customer’s buying journey is a vital aspect of generating referrals and closing more sales. Collecting and analysing data, observing the pre-purchase engagements, and leveraging this knowledge in your marketing efforts can lead to significant growth. Remember that success is built step by step, and continually refining your understanding of your customers’ journey is key. As Seth Godin wisely said, “Every great company, every great brand, and every great career has been built in exactly the same way: bit by bit, step by step, little by little.”

Written by Braith Bamkin

Not all customers are enthusiastic. True, some consumers can’t wait to buy a business’s new tech product or to sign up for a new streaming service. However, many businesses have to contend with “reluctant” customers. That is, a number of customers may be good leads for a business, but for whatever reason, they’re reluctant to make a purchase. Indeed, these customers may face financial difficulties or even societal pressures that could prevent them from engaging with a business. Here, we’ll take a closer look at this subject and explain how businesses can win over uncertain customers. 

Identify the Problem

Certain businesses just have a bad reputation simply because of the nature of their industry. For example, it’s reasonable to assume that few people are excited to speak to a divorce attorney. Yet, thousands of people need divorce attorneys and rely on their expertise. As such, it’s imperative for businesses that fit this description to identify why a good lead might not  want to engage with their brand. Once you make this determination, you can move on to the next steps . . .

Address Concerns Directly

In many instances, individuals may be hesitant to spend money on a product or a service because they don’t understand it fully –– or because they have misconceptions about the business. Let’s look at another example: millions of people suffer from foot pain and bunions, yet, relatively few are willing to undergo surgery for tailor’s bunion. That’s because people still wrongly assume that bunion surgery is painful, unnecessary, and expensive. In reality, none of those things are true, but businesses have to address those concerns in order to reach leads who are on the fence. Remember, the more transparent your brand is, the better. 

Don’t Apply Pressure

Hesitant customers are unlikely to respond to “the hard sell.” Rather than trying to browbeat reluctant customers, look to offer them support. Deciding to make certain purchases can prove very difficult for customers in a tense emotional state. So the more you’re able to comfort and reassure them, the more likely you’ll be able to build emotional bonds with them. 

Focus on the Positive

No one ever wants to declare bankruptcy. Or purchase a security system for their home. Or get a prostate exam. Yet, the truth is that there are tangible benefits to all of these purchase decisions. Indeed, some of the things customers are least willing to spend money on may well prove to be the most beneficial to their well-being. Businesses with a high number of reluctant customers should make it a point to focus on these positive outcomes. If at all possible, enlist satisfied former customers to spread your message too. Reluctant customers may be tough to reach, but they’ll listen if you send them the right message!

For you to be able to build a highly profitable and sustainable business, you need to consider customer experience. This includes their buyer journey.

Customer experience is the interaction between you and your customers. It is how your customers will feel about those interactions. But why does it matter so much?

Well, if you want to create positive interactions and improve your sales, you intentionally have to work so that you can improve the customer experience of your business.

Here are some great ways to do this:

Personalization

Personalization is more than placing your prospect’s name on the emails that you send out. Your product offer, content, ads, and other resources should be relevant enough to the user. Else they will get frustrated.

You can also utilize real-time information such as their product browsing history to send them offers. You can create recommendations based on the products they bought, or the feedback you get from them in surveys.

In fact, according to a report, customers with highly personalized experiences are more willing to pay for your products and services.

Personalization is what drives these impulse buys, leading to lower product returns, and cultivates strong customer loyalty.

Improve your website navigation

Users know exactly what they want. Once you strategically place your products, they will easily find what they are looking for.

Some users need assistance in filtering their products. These kinds of people usually have particular criteria for their product search. Therefore, you might need to place product features in the sorting options. That way, the filtering of products becomes a lot more convenient.

You might also want to integrate autocomplete to help shoppers who cannot exactly remember the product name. That will enhance your customer experience.

Keep in mind that shoppers are also browsing your e-commerce site; let them personalize their search experience.

Offer secure payment methods

The payment options for your e-commerce store should be safe, secure, and convenient.

Whenever they are shopping online, customers also want to know if their personal and financial information is kept secure.

Place as many payment options as you can. Credit card payment, cash on delivery, bank transfer, e-Wallet, and Paypal are some of the popular options. Also, ensure that your portal lets customers pay with these payment options.

Simplify your checkout process

The e-commerce industry loses a lot of money every year because of abandoned carts and canceled payments during checkout.

Shoppers should be able to see their shopping carts on every single page. That way, they would know how to complete an order. When checking out, they must see the value of their cart, and if possible, the shipping charges as well. Other information should also be included, such as discounts and offers if applicable.

A lot of businesses make the mistake of not really thinking how challenging it would be for users to complete the checkout process. So, think of ways on how you can simplify the overall checkout process so that you can enhance your e-commerce customer experience.

Keep it simple. All the business transactions in your store should be simplified.

Generally, a lot of people will appreciate it if a store offers them a simplified online transaction. It also helps that you tap to order fulfillment services that contribute to your bottom line.

Deliver excellent customer support

Just like traditional businesses, e-commerce sites should also have excellent customer service.

Interact with your customers as much as you can. Make sure that all your contact information is available, like your email and telephone number, and should show up on every page of your website.

That way, it is easier for customers to keep in touch with you whenever they have issues or inquiries about a product they bought. Also, do not overload them with too much information in the FAQ section. Only place the information if it is necessary.

Whenever customers call your support lines or submit a ticket, be prepared to manage and solve them promptly. Delaying will eventually result in negative feedback, and you will be risking losing your customers in the process.

Enable Custom Order Tracking

Another best e-commerce practice is proactively offering tracking options. It is a great way to give your customers a better online experience. Not to mention the benefits you can reap from it.

Engage with your consumers on social channels

Regardless of what your target market is, a lot of promotions and communications are done via social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

It is high time that you take advantage of these channels by developing strategies that will engage your prospects. This is crucial for the overall success of your business and one of the most cost-effective marketing solutions.

Aside from that, social media has a quick communication channel. It lets you deal with whatever issues or inquiries that may arise, whether it is contacting customer support or submission of a ticket.

When properly implemented, you can gain a better e-commerce experience that will ultimately boost your customer loyalty and sales.

So, it is time to go beyond and start generating trust from prospects the very minute they become exposed to your brand. Social media channels are not something that is meant to be ignored.

Display customer reviews

Featuring customer reviews are an excellent way to show your prospects what your business is made off. This includes your best selling products and customer service.

Chances are, your prospective customers are reading these reviews as a lot, helping them with the entire buying process, and making it easier for them to come into a decision.

Users will always appreciate the feedback from past customers, especially the ones that purchased and used the same product.

Ensure that these reviews are prominently placed on the particular product page they are viewing. This can greatly affect their decision to purchase an item and even divert their attention in a related item.

Final Thoughts

So there you have it. Keep in mind that poor customer experiences can negatively affect your e-commerce business. Great experiences, on the other hand, help improve brand awareness, boost your traffic, social mentions, and ultimately ? your sales.