Do your clients Trust you?

The third component of the three-letter acronym KLT is Trust (the first two are Know and Like). Trust is perhaps the most critical of the three. A client might Know just a little about you and still buy from you. A client might not Like you - think of all the complaints about Microsoft - and still buy from you. But if they don't Trust you, you'll never get the sale.

There are many ways to build trust (and many ways to break it). Every contact you have with a client will change their trust level in one direction or another. This means that even the contacts you have before they are customers are critical.

Everyone uses the sales funnel concept, and with a funnel the very first step is the biggest. Why do people not continue down the funnel? Trust.

At the top of the funnel are people who aren’t really interested in your product, but are there for their own reasons. There are people who are interested, but don't know if you are a company worth trusting. And people who are ready to start moving down the funnel.

As they move down the funnel, they drop out at various stages, for various reasons to do with trust. They don't trust what they're hearing from you, or about you. They wanted evidence to build that trust but didn't get it. They don't trust your pricing (which usually means they got to the point of seeing a price, and hadn't built enough trust in you to decide that you are worth it).

If they trust you, they stay in the funnel. You need to build that trust, and keep building on it, every step of the way. When a potential customer arrives at your website, everything you show them builds trust. If all you say is “trust us,” and have no details on what you do, they will disappear quickly. If you show them what you do, they will stay. This means descriptions of your products and processes, including white papers, case studies, and testimonials.

You don't have to give away your secret and proprietary information, just enough to keep the customers interested. I worked for a company that had no details of what they do on their site, because they were afraid their competitors would steal it. And they continually wondered why they couldn't get more sales. If you are good enough, and creative enough, people will come to you, not to a knock-off.

Build Trust. Show clients what you do, and they'll come to you, and stay with you. The more trusted you are, the closer you will be to your clients, and the better client relationships you’ll have.