4 Ways to Build Trust with Customers That Can Transform Your Business
“Make hundreds of dollars a week just by stuffing envelopes.” Remember that tiny ad that used to run regularly in virtually every newspaper’s classified ad section? I suppose a fair number of people answered the ad, otherwise they would have gone extinct quite quickly. However, most of us didn’t take the bait. Why? Because we didn’t have any trust in it. Trust may be the single most important foundational element in a business relationship, and with so many business relationships starting from the Internet today, knowing how to build trust with customers and prospects via the digital media is essential for success. This means that not only do you need to communicate how your product or service solves the problems your prospects are having, you need to establish trust with them as well. Here are four strategies you should use. Address objections You probably know the objections prospects have to buying your product or service. Address those head-on in your marketing materials and on your website. The more honest and forthright you can be when you take on possible objections, the more your prospects will notice and appreciate it. Use social proof Testimonials and reviews are a great way to build trust. However, there are a lot of companies on the Internet that fake testimonials. Be sure yours are legitimate. It’s great if you can use a customer’s full name and picture and even say a little about the product or service that your customer used. In other words, make it into a mini-case study rather than a one-sentence quote. Using a third-party review app gives your reviews a higher level of legitimacy. When they can be identified as actual buyers, their reviews carry a lot more weight with prospects. Influencer endorsements Getting influencers on board is a major trend today. There is even a growing movement of using “micro-influencers” – individuals who are recognized authorities in smaller niches. If you’re a local business, think about who would be good influencers in your community. If you owned a sporting goods store, making a donation to a local team and posting a thank-you note from a respected coach would help build trust and esteem. You don’t have to get the endorsement of an influencer whose last name is Kardashian! Your ‘About Us’ page The About Us or About Me page on websites is always one of the most-read pages. That alone should tell you how important it is to build trust with customers and prospects – they are looking for reasons to trust you! Sadly, many businesses use this page as a sales page. They tell how dedicated they are to providing the best widgets or widget repair service in the world. It’s wiser to take a more personal approach. Let your customers and prospects see you and your team as real people. Talk about hobbies, families, and other interests. Talk about why you started your business and your vision for the future. Start to build trust with customers now Are you doing everything I’ve outlined here? If not, you need to get busy. These are not difficult steps to take, but if you’ve dropped the ball on any of them, you are undoubtedly losing some business. Finally, although I’ve concentrated on the image you present on the Internet, these principles...
read moreThis week in small business: Is your year-end marketing program in place?
The end is near! Yeah, I know. You’ve heard that before, but this time, it really is…if we’re talking about the end of 2016. I spotted my first “end of year priorities” article last week…and a lot more useful advice. Dig in. Marketing and sales The end (of 2016) is near so it’s time to start getting your small business in order. Here are seven end-of-year digital marketing priorities. Pitching your product or service isn’t completely about benefits and features, it can also be about the psychology of capturing your audience. Here’s why nonprofits should start inbound marketing now. Richard Forrest goes beyond the standard advice with these 10 unique strategies for sales success. Eric Enge explains how investing in long-term digital marketing initiatives can give you a huge advantage over your competition. Leadership, management, and productivity Want to build a billion-dollar company? Check out these seven things that science says you must do each day. Sometimes you can be your own worst enemy, so avoid these four ways small businesses sabotage themselves. Discover how digital storytelling is a crucial element of the customer experience. Entrepreneurship, startups, and innovation Where can you find a goldmine of entrepreneurial talent? One investor found it at a nearby jail. Hey entrepreneur! Having trouble staying focused? Read this. (What was that again?) Need a little encouragement to get rolling on your startup idea? The hard-working entrepreneurs in his article will give it to you. Jeff Hoffman, co-founder of Priceline, discusses four things every entrepreneur needs. Not just for college sophomores anymore: Why every entrepreneur should keep a journal. Marketing Land columnist Blaise Lucey explains how to craft a successful influencer marketing strategy and increase sales. This Huffington Post article is an in-depth interview with LOLA founders Alex Friedman and Jordana Kier. Politics, government, and the economy According to one Harvard Business School report, Main Street is far more negative on the economy than big business. Some experts think that conditions are falling in line to propel some major boosts to...
read moreSmall business ideas with staying power
If you’ve been pondering small business ideas, you’ve probably asked yourself, “What’s the long-term outlook for that business?” That is, of course, the $64,000-question. In this curated lineup of small business ideas, I’ve approached that question from two angles: Businesses that never go out of style, and Businesses that fit the tastes and habits of Millennials. You might question my second criteria, and I hear you. But, Millennials are a huge demographic and a demographic largely shaped by the Internet and today’s economics – neither of which I see changing radically in the foreseeable future; in fact, I think they’ll be exactly like they are today, except “even more so.” And what is very interesting, is that there are a few areas where Millennial tastes and enduring businesses merge, and that’s where I’ll start. Liquor industry. Let’s face it, if Elliot Ness and an amendment to the U.S. Constitution couldn’t kill the liquor industry, it will always be a going concern. There are, of course, many ways to tap into this commerce. If you want to give a nod to Millennials, consider the burgeoning world of craft alcoholic beverages. Craft beers are huge and various craft hard liquors are getting into the picture as well. According to Beverage Industry magazine, Millennials are driving the growth of premium spirits. Further, it’s just not in the U.S. Announcing the release of a new study, Research and Markets says “valuable opportunities exist in the global alcoholic beverage industry, due to impressive trends in demand quantity and growth, based on the various markets.” With new international trade deals, this could present opportunities for new businesses. As you consider possible small business ideas in this sector, you don’t necessarily have to start a brewery or distillery. Tasting rooms, refill stations, and other strategies should work quite well and startup costs can be fairly modest. Tattoos and Piercings. You need the proper training, of course, but in terms of startup costs, opening a tattoo parlor can be very reasonable. Location and local competition is critical in an endeavor like this. Anytime the barriers to entry are low, you can be sure that you’ll have quite a few competitors. Your most important decision may be the first one you make: where you’ll rent space. You’ll want to become a pro with the Size Up tool available on the Small Business Administration website before you choose a location for your tattoo parlor. That way you can see how saturated various areas are, as well as get a feel for revenue estimates. Also, be sure your location has a high density of Millennials. Athleisure wear. I’m not sure who coined this term, but we all know what it is. When you see folks – often Millennials, but not always – around town in their yoga pants or other (seemingly) workout clothes, they are decked out in athleisure wear. Between 2016 and 2020, this segment of the fashion industry is set to grow by 30 percent. The major players are in the picture, but smaller brands can carve out a niche for themselves and be very competitive. Yoga instructor Jamie Hanna started her Zobha label in 2008 and now it’s sold around the world. If you’re into exercising, I bet there are things that bug you about the clothing;...
read moreNiche market examples and how to discover them
The riches are in the niches. You’ve heard this from me and probably from some others along the way. However, like a lot of truths, finding one of those niches with promised riches is easier said than done. The ironic part of this is that in order to think small, you first need to think big. Let me give you an example to illustrate this. Music streaming niche market example Music streaming on the Internet is a big industry. Spotify, Pandora, and Apple are some of the players. There’s no way you or I could jump into that market and start to compete with them. No matter what strategy I used to stand out, it would be impossible. However, let’s start to slice that big pie into smaller pieces and discover an area where an individual could compete. Let’s ask ourselves some questions: What different kinds of music would people want to listen to over the Internet? Pop Soul Christian Classical Jazz, and Country. My list is far from comprehensive and I apologize if I’ve left out your favorite genre. For the sake of this example, let’s choose pop music. However, it’s still a huge category, so we need to slice it up some more. Pop music has been a mainstay of the music industry for generations, so let’s divide it by age groups. To make this easy, I’ll use decades and skip the most recent era: Pop music from 2000-2010 Pop music from 1990-2000 Pop music from 1980-1990 Pop music from 1970-1980 Pop music from 1960-1970 Those are pretty good divisions. I’ve been hearing a lot of people lately talk about the 1980s and 1990s with a certain aura of nostalgia and I could probably create niche market examples from each of those eras. However, for my niche market example, I’m going to make the point that the two decades of 1960 to 1980, coincide fairly well with when the Baby Boomers would have been tuned into pop music. I would probably call this slice of the music pie, “oldies.” However, that’s still a fairly large category; I know that virtually every major city has an “oldie” radio station. So I’m going to make one more slice: Geography. When we wax nostalgic for the music of our youth, we usually associate it with a specific location, such as the city where we grew up, the schools we attended, etc. This brings me to my final slice of the pie, and it’s an example a friend told me about not long ago. How about taking the most popular pop-music radio station of the Baby Boomers in a certain geographical area and resurrecting it as an Internet radio station? This is exactly what has been done with the classic San Francisco Bay Area radio station KYA. Gary Mora, one of the station’s long-time disk jockeys, is playing the music the station featured as well as the old radio ads. Slicing up the pie You can take virtually any segment of commerce and start breaking it down like this to come up with your own niche market examples. Your final slices may not be age or location as they were in my example. They might be attributes like hobbies, profession, gender, income, heritage, health condition, or any number of other categories....
read moreSmall Business Accounting: How much of it do you really need?
Entrepreneurs usually know very little about small business accounting when they launch their startup or local business. They’ve had an idea or see a problem that needs to be solved and they “go for it.” This can, however, be a huge mistake. The only way to really judge where your business is going and therefore know how to properly “steer” it, is by following some key performance indicators (KPIs). And, without a solid accounting system in place, you’ll be flying blind. Owners often depend on bookkeepers to take care of all their small business accounting needs. Don’t get me wrong, there are thousands of great bookkeepers who can make sure all of your financial information is properly entered into whatever software you decide to use, but you should consider bringing on a professional accountant to push your financial understanding to a higher level. This means that there are really three components in the formula that, when blended properly, add up to successful small business accounting. Small business accounting systems First, you need to have an accounting system, and today this often means a cloud-based accounting system. This gives you all the convenience of the cloud along with security and backup measures that you might not have with a locally hosted accounting software system. Second, you need to feed your system accurate information. With the cloud-based systems today, most of this is automatic. In other words, even a small business accounting system today can tie into payroll, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and more. Nonetheless, responsibility will fall on someone – or more than one person – to be sure that your system is getting all the information it needs. This may be your bookkeeper. However, it’s likely you and your team members will have responsibility in this area as well. Going beyond the bookkeeper The final element in small business accounting is your accountant or the firm you have engaged. While it’s true that a good bookkeeper can help you stay on track legally with regards to taxes and other reporting requirements, if you have more ambitious plans for your business, working with an accountant familiar with your industry can pay huge dividends. For example, an accountant experienced in your industry may be able to tell you about industry-specific tax implications that a bookkeeper may not know. Further, if you engage an accountant who has a lot of experience with startups, it can be like having an experienced CFO on staff, at a fraction of the cost. You’ll also find yourself getting a solid financial education working alongside this person. Grasp the big picture However, to really enjoy these kinds of benefits, you need to see small business accounting in a larger context. You need to appreciate how strong financial control and understanding can help you weather the ups and downs that are certain to impact your company. When the tough times hit, it’s not necessarily the most innovative companies or the companies with the best marketing that survive, it’s the companies with the strongest financials. If you don’t already have an accountant, start your search. Talk to others in your area and in your industry to get suggestions. Take your time interviewing candidates. Remember, you want someone who is willing to deliver more added value than merely assuring your compliance...
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