Category: Customer Service

People buy from those they know and trust. Nowhere is this more true than on the Internet, where you may never even meet anyone in person. Establishing a trust relationship with your potential online clients takes time, but it is well worth the effort!

Think about the last time you bought a product or service online, that had a substantial positive impact on your work or life in some way. If you were spending a good chunk of change (and perhaps investing a good bit of your time) on that purchase, chances are you did some research first: reading online forums and reviews to see what others had to say about them; contacting them directly with questions and observing how quick and helpful (and polite) their response was; maybe even buying a smaller product or service from them first. All to determine if you could trust this online business to deliver what they promise.

Your potential online clients are no different! They are going to want to know if they can trust you to deliver, too. Here are three specific ways you can work on building trust relationships online, and how each will help your business:

1.     Get to know your customers. 

This helps you more deeply understand what it is they need – making it a lot easier to tell them how what you are selling is going to meet their needs. Find out where they “hang” out, on discussion forums, social networks, etc., and get involved. Don’t just schmooze or try to sell your product right then and there — instead, add value to the conversation. If you are doing it right, you’ll be doing a whole lot more listening than talking.

2.     Connect with your customer on a personal level. 

Let them see you as a person, one who has some things in common with them. People will trust you, and ultimately buy from you, if they feel you are like them. This means being sincere and transparent – not pretending or making something up. If you can’t make that trust connection with one particular person, don’t force it – move on to someone else.

3.     Keep up the trust relationship. 

The relationship doesn’t stop after the sale! Clients who know and like you, and have benefited from what you have sold them, will tell others about you! It will be easy for them to recommend you because they are recommending a trusted vendor, not an impersonal business or product. If you’ve done a good job of providing them with something that makes their job or life easier, they won’t be able to wait to tell someone else!

Article Contributed by Laura Moisei

We all like to be prompted with the right questions. Showed that our opinion matters. Involved in other people’s lives.

Questions are effective means to find valuable insights and to engage people by your side. As Dorothy Leeds points out, knowing how to ask helps you mend things even before they are broken. The right question at the right time may boost your carrier as an entrepreneur and transform your business for the very best.

In your early years of childhood, this is what you did: ask questions all the time and evolve by doing this. It’s exactly the same for a first time entrepreneur. You are in a special stage of your business life, when you should try to deeply understand your existing customers and start a long term commitment to show courtesy towards everyone.

So what questions do people like to hear?

“How satisfied are you with our service?”

There are countless variations for this one, as well as an infinite number of possible answers. A well-known retailer in my area has its checkout employees ask every customer “Was everything ok in the store?” when handing them the receipt. They seize an opportunity of obtaining feedback that would otherwise slip away as each customer passes by.

Think of the all times customer question: “What am I getting from this?” A wise business representative would reframe it into something like: “Look, this is what’s in there for you. Did you actually get what you wanted?” This means you are presenting your offer and the Unique Selling Proposition in a comprehensive manner while asking the customer for feedback.

“What can I do to make you happy?”

Of course, a more common alternative is the typical support question “How may I help you?”. This is more than just etiquette. It should reflect openness and real concern to fulfilling people’s needs. It’s very important to use “what” or “how” instead of “Is there anything I can do for you?”. The last one is already a closed question, with yes/no type of answer and you risk to get a direct “no” with no further nuances. Generally speaking, it’s best to ask precise questions that prompt for direct answers, but not closed ones.

“What can we bring around that wasn’t possible before?”

This means asking for people’s suggestion on new areas of improvement for your business. Customers will really appreciate your proactive attitude and your willing to involve them in important changes.

You may argue that research and planning are already part of your core missions as a manager. Indeed it is your part, but haven’t you ever experienced a gap of inspiration? There are moments when you get such gaps out of too much involvement. This is when you can very much use some ideas from outside, so ask for them!

“Do my actions show respect for you and your time?”

With so many things to do in one day’s time, it’s actually a little miracle when someone stops to talk to you, so be thankful for that. Check whether you didn’t exceed the unspoken limits. Of course, this may depend on people’s momentarily mood, but it’s always good to ask.

This kind of question is particularly useful in customer surveys. Place it as a self-evaluating question at the end of the questionnaire. It can be something like “How much time did this take you to fill in?” and a likert scale asking “How comfortable this was to you?”. It tells people that you value their effort and consequently allows you to tweak your communication strategy.

What are the best questions I’m not even considering?

We are only humans and we sometimes skip the essence while trying to stick to a plan. As you exchange viewpoints with your customers, show openness towards unplanned topics too. People like to speak their minds without having the feeling they are undergoing a fixed interview. It’s always instructive to hear their own points of interest around your business.

Go ahead and use variations of these questions in your customer surveys to make them yield on useful data. Have those questions as part of your face to face interaction with customers. Post them on your Facebook wall as polls. Asking these proves you are a social wise entrepreneur with respect for your customer experience.

As for any business process, timing is crucial. Lose no time in asking the right questions. Typically, it’s good to ask for feedback in a reasonable time span from the relevant experience, when the impression is still strong, so that answers won’t be biased by the pressure of the moment but neither diluted by oblivion.

Ask the proper questions and people will love to interact with you. It even happens for the question itself to be the answer. You can win people over just by daring to ask. Go on!

About the Author

Laura Moisei writes for 123ContactForm online survey builder that helps small businesses get in touch with their customers. Laura is a dedicated blogger and small business consultant with a drive for technology.

Customers Lie!

We, as sales professionals, are constantly told that customers lie. They never address the reason customers lie nor do they tell what you can do about it.

Customers lie because they do not want to hear how stupid they are if they do not understand how your product or service will help them.

Customers lie because they feel you will take advantage of them if you learn some sensitive piece of knowledge.

Customer lie because they fear you will charge a higher price if you knew how painful the situation really is.

Ok, customers lie because they need to protect themselves. They lie because we, as sales professionals, have lied to them. I cannot tell you how much sales training I have received where the instructor would say something like, “tell them what they want to hear, even if it not true, to get the appointment. You can always fix it later.” We wonder why customers feel the need to protect themselves. I refuse to be party to this kind of mind-set.

As a sales professional, we need to change that. We need to act with the best intentions and the highest effort to do what is in the best interest of our customers. We need to understand their problems and help them solve it.

As a sales professional, we have to assume they are lying to protect themselves and it is our job to act with honesty, integrity, and while having the best interest of our customer in mind at all times so they do not have to (or feel the need to) protect themselves. They understand we are on the same team.

As a sales professional, we must understand how to build rapport quickly and effectively because building rapport is the first step in building trust.

As a sales professional, we must always treat the customers the way they want to be treated so they understand why your product or service is the right and safe choice for them.

If our customers are lying to us we need to stop blaming them and implement actions that allow them to trust us.

If our customers are lying to us we must look inside and see what we are doing they makes them want to lie to us. Then we need to fix it.