Don’t you get annoyed when a pushy salesperson doesn’t leave you alone? When they follow you around a store while rambling about how excellent their product is? If these questions already annoy you, imagine how your customers feel when you market your products to them the same way. It would be hard to picture them looking pleased.
The “pushy salesperson” technique may work on insurance policies, credit cards, and other investment products but not on consumer goods and services. Despite people’s fondness for shopping, they don’t enjoy being sold to. That’s because they’d instead make a purchasing decision out of their own will, not because they felt coerced.
When you sell like a salesperson, a customer tends to think that you’re only manipulating them. You can demonstrate the product or show proof of its effectiveness, and still, the customer would be doubtful. This happens because the customer knows exactly what you’re after: their money. As obnoxious as that sounds, it’s true that earning profit is the main goal of starting a business. But of course, we don’t want to say that in a customer’s face. We’d still end up doing so anyway if we used a pushy salesperson tactic.
Therefore, we should use another method to make a sale: building trust. This approach doesn’t focus on advertising the product aggressively. Instead, it showcases the qualities of your business that make it trustworthy. For example, it can be your ethics, mission, values, and advocacy.
Building trust is best done through digital marketing. With quality content showing certain information about your business, you can generate sales without putting any customers on the spot.
That said, here are the ways to build trust with your customers:
Be Empathetic
Consumers seek businesses that understand their struggles. Since every company aims to solve a problem, post content that highlights the “pain” of your customers, then present solutions. For example, show news clippings about the impact of the pandemic on people’s livelihoods. This can show that you intend to forge camaraderie with your customers who are affected by the crisis.
As a result, your customers will see that you’re not just a faceless brand that goes after their money. They’d now see you as an empathetic figure that can offer them comfort during hard times. This can urge your customers to remember you when they want to buy a product or service you offer.
Take Your Customers Behind the Scenes
Consumers appreciate transparency from businesses. They want to know where you source your products, what your workplace looks like, and how you treat your staff. These factors help consumers decide which businesses to support. If they find a business sketchy, they’d be hesitant to buy from it or may even boycott it should they find evidence that the company employs unethical practices.
Observing transparency is even more crucial if you’re a B2B business. Your customers would like to be sure if your products or services can set them up for success. If you offer them nothing but good claims, you’re not giving them a guarantee that you can help them succeed.
So show your customers what happens behind the scenes. If you sell custom-built acrylic signage, for instance, show how your sophisticated acrylic cutter works. Shoot footage of the machine doing actual work, like the satisfying videos factories sometimes show.
However, be careful not to give away trade secrets. Trade secrets are information that gives you economic benefits. Thus, disclosing them provides your competitors an opportunity to use your tactics and beat you.
Trade secrets are considered legal and are treated as intellectual property. As such, they are protected by the law, so spilling them can have legal implications.
Give Your Customers a Voice
Lastly, act as a listener instead of a speaker. For the longest time, businesses have always chattered away and worked like they know how to solve their customers’ problems. But in truth, companies wouldn’t know what to solve unless they asked their customers directly.
So engage with your customers through your social media platforms. Post thought-provoking content or use polls or quizzes to determine their problems. This allows you to recommend solutions based on real-life struggles. Not to mention let you conduct research without spending money.
Overall, put your customers’ well-being in mind when you sell. It may not change that your ultimate goal is still generating profits, but at least you’re conducting yourself as a more relatable figure. As a result, your customers will willingly come to you when they seek solutions. You don’t ever have to use flattery or scare tactics to persuade them to spend.
