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Why Should I Trust You?

By Jim Brumm, Staff Writer

I don’t know who you are. I don’t know your company. I don’t know your company’s products. I don’t know what your company stands for. I don’t know your company’s record. I don’t know your company’s reputation. Now, what was it you wanted to sell me?

Here’s a great way to help build trust with customers

Why should I trust you? It’s a legitimate question. Many people ask this of themselves when they are considering doing business with someone, but don’t say it out loud. Making a big purchase can be a scary thing. Choosing the right person to help you handle something important in your life can make the difference between success and failure, satisfaction or frustration.

Today, more than ever, business is relationship driven. Simply put, people want to do business with someone they know, someone they trust. Yes, today’s technology has given us more and more ways to communicate and to receive information, but in many ways it has also separated us.

People are still people, even with pockets full of digital organizers, computers on their laps and headsets stuck in their ears. People inherently, naturally and instinctively want to connect with one another on a one–on–one basis. And in this day and age, as technology insulates us, I believe that people are thirsting for that connection, that human touch. They want to trust and know you, but they need a reason.

Establishing trust is a process. You can help speed up this process by giving potential clients information about yourself that helps them relax and feel good about their decision.

It’s very simple, actually. Just tell them your story.

That’s right. Tell them your story. Think back for a moment to when you first started your business. You had an inspiration. You had a dream. You had a vision. You had lots of ideas about why your business would be different from your competition, how you would offer something special and why people would want to do business with you.

As a writer, I specialize in helping business owners tell their story in a compelling and interesting way. During my many years of publishing magazines I noticed something happening over and over. When we would write a story about a business, that business owner would frame their story in their place of business, post it on their website or make copies to pass out to the public. Why?

Because as every business owner who has had an article done on their business knows, one well-written article is worth more than a mountain of ads.

First of all, advertisements are expensive. One ad can cost thousands of dollars and they only last for the life of the publication in which they are printed. In the case of newspapers, that’s one day.

Here’s the problem with regular ads: Because you can only say so much in the space provided, and because most business owners know lots about their business but little about marketing, businesses tend to say the same general things in their ads. For example: “We give great service,” “We do it right the first time,” (That one cracks me up, well, I would hope so!), “We’ve been in business since. . .” “We give the best service . . .” But since the ads look alike and the public can’t really tell all these businesses apart, they default to price, since it’s the only tool they have to differentiate you. And none of us want customers who come in with price as their first consideration.

Think about your own story.

You didn’t just wake up one day and say, “I’m going to open a computer consulting business, or become a landscape architect, or start a specialty food business. It was a life process. Your experience, your observations, your choices in life, led you to where you are today, with the knowledge and skills you bring to bear on your business.

That journey, that sometimes convoluted path of life and discovery that led you though jobs and experiences and relationships and different parts of the world, and, ultimately, to start your business, is your story. And people love to hear those stories of struggle, dreams and success. They would love to hear your story.

Why? Because it makes you human, like them. And despite what many people say at first, that is, “My story is boring,” it’s not true. Everybody has a story to tell. Everybody has something to share that will inspire and motivate others. Especially business owners. The secret is finding and then telling your story in a way that makes people want to do business with you.

In an article about your business, I will capture all those special things that would help potential clients trust and feel safe with you–if they only knew about them, those things that are difficult to impart in an ad, or a quick meeting.

My writing style is conversational and informal. My goal is not to impress the reader with fancy writing, it’s to make them like and trust you.

You may ask, “Why don’t I just write my own story?” And the answer is, of course, that you can do that. But most people find it extremely difficult to talk about themselves and tell their own story in print. First of all, they aren’t writers, and second, most people have trouble singing their own praises. We’re actually taught not to do that. I will help you capture all those wonderful things about you and your business that you might be uncomfortable saying yourself. Also, when it’s written by someone else, it has more legitimacy in the mind of the reader.

During my many years as a writer, I have written dozens of articles which have helped a wide variety of businesses build trust with customers. Imagine a similar article about you and your business, an article that looks as though it were lifted from the pages of a magazine, and envision all the ways you could use such a compelling marketing tool.

I believe that the simple fact that a business owner would be willing to share their story says a lot about their confidence and openness. If I were making a choice between two competing businesses, I’d choose the one that shared their vision with me.

When someone is holding your story in their hands, reading about your journey, your integrity, your vision and your dream, well, then you can know you’ve made a connection. When they’re done reading it, they’ll feel they know something about you, and people want to do business with people they know.

They want to trust you. Tell them your story, let them get to know you and you’ll make it easier for them.

Let’s get started telling your story and increasing your business.

 

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