It’s never the publicity stunts or the large discounts that generate loyal clients. Other than excellent services, good business lies in one simple principle: trust. When people trust you, they’ll keep coming back. They’ll be willing to pay even without the discounts. In fact, they’ll even drag their family and friends to try your services themselves. This means big bucks coming into your business. The challenge then for you is simple: build trust with your customers. The good news is, you don’t need grand, fancy acts to achieve this. Here are straightforward strategies you can do every day to forge trust with your clients:
Be true to your brand.
What breaks trust worse than anything else is being inauthentic. When you’re not true to what you say who you are, you’ll lose your clients quickly than they stepped into your shop or store. So in every aspect of your business, make sure that you’re aligned with your core values and brand philosophy. If you say you’re the best nail salon in town, you should be able to reflect this beyond your marketing materials. You should have a range of services catering to different clients’ needs. Your employees should have excellent training. Your tools and equipment should be the latest in the industry. If at the appointment booking, things are already getting awry, the complete opposite of ‘best nail salon’, don’t expect potential clients coming in, let alone repeat ones. Be true to what you say. Authenticity makes your business human, and people relate better with a humanized brand.
Be curious about people.
People feel valued when someone is genuinely interested to know them. This is why when customers step into your store or shop, your goal isn’t just to give them the best experience in terms of your services, but in the aspect of human connection, too. The key to this is your employees. Your staff should be able to learn what most experts call, the ‘care habit’. This is especially important for service-oriented industries, like in the example above, in salons. Your people must get into the habit of asking clients simple care questions, like “How are you doing?”, “How are your kids?” or “What have you been up to since your last visit?” Aside from being able to express care, this habit helps your staff get into a relationship level wherein your clients will be comfortable sharing more about their needs, which can open up opportunities for business improvement. You just might confirm that you indeed need to shift into a more sophisticated salon POS system software or have a re-training of your employees.
Be knowledgeable about your field.
When your customers see that the information you’re giving them is consistent with what experts say, they’ll see you as an ally, that you can be trusted. That said, it’s important to be a really good resource for your clients. Be an authoritative voice when it comes to addressing their needs. In nail salons, for instance, when clients ask why their nails aren’t growing as fast as they should or why they keep having ingrown, you should have a ready answer. There’s a sense of reassurance and empowerment in being more informed. When you achieve that, your customers will be more drawn to you.
Trust Exercise
How have you been dealing with your clients? If asked whether they trust you or not, will they say yes? Remember these strategies in forging trust. You will soon see the difference in your operations and results.
