Getting people to believe what you say is one of the hardest things you have to do to make more sales in your business. Now, you may have a lot of honesty and trustworthiness when it comes to your business, which I'm sure you do. Do your customers know this, though? And what can you do to make sure they do?
Advertising has a lot of trouble with "lack of trust." You probably don't realise how many customers DON'T believe what you say or claim in your ads. As a matter of fact, the best rule of thumb is that NO ONE BELIEVES YOU. People who get ripped off by businesses are often shown on TV news shows. Even though it might only be 1 in 1000 businesses in that industry, that one will always be the one that makes the news.
Then, the general public sees this and, to protect themselves, makes a broad judgement about that industry, which makes them suspicious of all businesses. So it's not enough to just say that you have this great, well-known
reputation... and so you're the business to choose. It just doesn't work that way anymore. These days, you have to go much further. Here are two great ways to get more people to believe what you say.
- People are more likely to believe what others say about you...
what YOU say about yourself.
If you told me you were the best basketball player in your state and that you scored more points than everyone else and had more assists, I would be a bit sceptical because I don't know much about you. But if 10 people said things to me like, "Has anyone seen this person? Last week, he got 40 points! He was just incredible. He also gave 12 assists. He was on fire "Then you can see that right away makes it easier to believe. So talk to your customers and find out what they think of you. Get them to write down how great it was to work with you, and then you can use it to show other people why they should work with you.
There are good and bad ways to write a testimonial, though, so I'll show you the best way. It goes something like, "I was lost once, but I'm found now." For example, if you're advertising a programme to help people lose weight, you could say something like, "One of my customers used to weigh 180 kg, but by eating this amazing fruit bar, she lost 80 kg in two months!" Of course, that's just an exaggeration, but it shows the point. Also, you should always include the full name, the suburb, and a phone number if you can. The more information you give, the more real it seems, which makes it easier for your customer to believe.
- Just stand behind what you do.
By law, you have to back up your product or service. If something breaks, doesn't work, or goes wrong, 99.9! A guarantee puts the risk on you instead of the customer. If your customer knows you're willing to take the risk, they'll feel better about doing business with you.
Most business owners don't advertise their guarantee because they don't want their customers to take advantage of them. Let's say you're getting a very low return rate, like 1%, and by offering a guarantee, it goes up to 6%. So your profits go up 3 times, but your sales go up 3 times as well. Doesn't it make financial sense to offer that guarantee right away?
