Building a customer’s trust can at times be challenging especially to first time business owners. Having customers’ trust is however very essential to every entrepreneur, this is because people only buy from businesses and entrepreneurs whom they trust.
Here’s how you can build your customer’s trust:
Always be open and honest
Sharing everything with your team and customers can help you to create transparency as a company and build trust inside your four walls and out. As a team and a community, you should have an “open books” policy; where you share all your financial details, including profit-and-loss statements, food costs, labor costs, employee retention data and more, even your own salaries.
Encourage feedback
It’s important to share mistakes and learn from them to build trust among your team and community-at-large. Even owners and top managers make errors; it’s important to own up to them. This creates a comfortable environment where team members can easily communicate challenges, and the community feels more compelled to give feedback about their experiences—online, in-person and in writing.
Say “thank you.”
You can use a rewards program to thank your guests each and every day for their business. You can send some cost effective presents e.g. cards to your customers on special occasions and holidays. As a way of appreciating them and encouraging them more to work with you.
Let people be themselves
Sometimes you have to let go of some control. Swapping a commanding attitude for a coaching one helps unleash your team’s natural passion in the pursuit of achieving our shared purpose. When your community sees this trust between business leaders and their team members, they in turn trust you.
Be consistent
A customer’s ability to trust you is dependent upon showing the customer that your behavior is consistent and persistent over time. When a customer can predict your behavior, that customer is more likely to trust you.
Have a real dialog
Every meeting should be a conversation, not a sales pitch. Spend at least half of every customer meeting listening. And make certain the conversation is substantive and about real business issues, not just office patter or sports chit-chat.
Be professional
Customers tend to trust individuals who are serious about what they do, and willing to take the time to achieve a deep understanding of their craft. Take the time every day to learn more about your customers, their industry and their challenges.
Show real integrity
Be willing to take a stand, even when it’s unpopular with your customer or your company. You don’t need to be adversarial, but have the ability to make decisions based upon what you know is right. And on a related note: Never promise what you can’t deliver.