Building Trust With Every Client: 6 Easy Steps

Whether you work for a corporate giant or a much loved local cafe, your business is headed for even more success if only you match the key to the lock that will open the door to the outside world.

This key is called Trust. And whether in relation to business or life in general, it is a key you lose at your peril.

Building a brand name and promoting your company with a sleek logo and equally sleek text is not enough. No. The most important commodity asides from having the right team of employees behind you is the client. And on both sides of that relationship there must be trust.

Thanks to our own experiences in the competitive world of architecture, design, and 3D visualization, we have some tips which we’d love to share with you on what to do – and, yes, not to do – in building strong and lasting relationships with your clients and enjoy increased business engagement.

1. Build a good reputation

This may seem an obvious place to start, but even the best businesses in the world often fall down when it comes to perfecting a good reputation, whether it’s for their product or their after sales support for the clients they worked so hard to land in the first place.

Your reputation – whether as an individual or as a company – is as important as the air we breathe and we must all guard it with everything we have.

Of course, it is difficult to please everyone. However, by displaying simple manners and exuding a likeable personality and being unafraid to show that the client is valued and respected, it is possible not to strain relationships.

Always end business deals on friendly terms as you will:

• Hope to receive future business from this client
• Hope that the client will, in turn, recommend your services to other people

Any prospective new client who is interested in doing business with you will likely want to look you up with a few people who have previously worked with you. This is simply a trust-check process in which the prospective new client will read reviews and comments on Google and social media.

2. Offer the highest quality good and/or services

Here at Chronos Studeos we know that our clients want and expect only the very highest service from our team, whether they are commissioning our 3D visualizations or architectural services. We, in turn, never fail to deliver this. After all, if we did so it’s unlikely we would have as many customers as we do turning to us for our services.

It is absolutely crucial to offer both quality goods and a quality service to your clients. You need only think of yourself when it comes to this rule of business, for how often have you purchased an item from a global leader only to find, if you have a problem, that the post sales customer service is poor? When this happens the disgruntled buyer often shares their negative views about the company on social media.

A productive move for anyone looking to set up or advance their business would be to sign up for a course in customer relations or promotion, either at a local college or online.

TIP: Tailor your goods and services to what people are asking for. Listening to feedback can also boost your score on the customer service sheets.

3. Promote a great personality

Did you know that research has shown that people don’t only buy the goods or services of a business? Before that they have bought the personality.

Every one of us has left a shop without buying, or perhaps turned away a door-to-door salesman or woman because we didn’t like their negative, unhelpful, or rude attitude.

A warm, welcoming smile, a firm handshake, good poise and a generally good outward appearance goes a long way to selling your goods or company to a prospective client, and that’s before you have even opened your mouth.

What makes a potential client want to listen to you first is because they have keyed into your personality. If they don’t like you, they very likely will not buy what you are offering and if they do the first time, they likely won’t buy it the next time if you exhibit negative traits in your personality.

TIP: If you’re touting for business over the telephone, don’t feel that because you can’t be seen you needn’t bother trying to project a warm and friendly personality with your voice and general attitude.  Indeed, because you can’t be seen you have to work that little bit harder to ‘sell’ your personality.

4. Keep your promise

Being known for delivering on what you say can take you a long way in your business. Don’t promise what you can’t deliver. It is better to meet and, if possible, exceed your client’s expectations than make them roll their eyes at your delivery. Even if you are not making maximum profits on a deal at the moment, if your clients get more than they ask for, it is likely they will come knocking again. It is just the way the human mind is configured. So if your banner says, we offer outstanding hospitality and free breakfast, you better not be asking your customer to pay for the cup of tea.

5. Fair prices

Your business and its good reputation is sustained if your clients believe you are charging them fair prices. It doesn’t mean necessarily charging the cheapest fees on the block, but then they must feel like they are getting value for their money. If your fees must be higher than the competition, you should ensure you are offering unmatched quality right in the competitive neighbourhood or the market you wish to break into.

6. Not just business

When you attend your client’s events and do your research on who they are and what they are about, it is a positive sign that you are willing to shake hands with them beyond the meeting/conference room. Hopefully, it will be the client who takes the initiative in extending the hand of friendship beyond the meeting room as it means they trust and respect you enough to do so.

In general, people feel more comfortable doing business with those they know so why don’t you explore this opportunity to build the familiarity. Work hard to maintain your client’s trust and enjoy the business relationships and, as happens so often in the corporate world, the friendships that come from such built trust.

Disclaimer (delivered with a smile!):

These are simply our experiences and our beliefs, all of which we share as guidelines only. Every one of us has different ways of doing things and so we’d love to hear from you if you have some tips to share or views on this subject or, indeed, anything else we cover here on the Chronos Studeos blog.

Thank you for visiting. We hope you’ll continue to enjoy our blog and work.

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