Trust is arguably
the
most important factor when choosing to do business with someone else. It doesn’t matter how cheap something is, if you don’t trust them, you probably won’t take that risk, at least with your own money!
Sadly, despite many small businesses offering a better service, it’s the trust factors that often mean people look for the all too familiar “safe” choice – a bigger competitor that’s been around longer than you have. In fact, people will frequently pay more for a worse service, because there’s that perceived safety.
Nobody gets fired for buying IBM
The instantly familiar quote for anyone in the IT sector - “Nobody gets fired for buying IBM” – is the perfect interpretation of our evolutionary make-up to be risk adverse.
In their heyday, IBM was a safe bet for software or IT consultancy. For every project, they may not have necessarily been the best choice, but job security for the decision maker was paramount, just in case things did go wrong.
How to even the odds
So, if you’re the David against the Goliaths, there’s no getting away from the fact that people will see advantages to choosing a more established rival – you need to tackle the problem head on. The good news is some simple changes could end up saving you money, as all often too businesses will cut their prices to compete, when it’s not cost that’s the issue.
Here’s our suggestions:
Revamp your Website
First impressions are everything. In the last few years, some excellent self-build website options (e.g Wix) have launched that require zero technical skills – it’s simply drag and drop - which look like they have cost many thousands. Within a few hours, you can have a good-looking website that already helps to make your business look more established, especially if you invest in good photography. If you need some help, we have built many with clients over the last few years.
Develop a Brand
Still using a logo that you created in Microsoft Word? For next to nothing, you can go on People Per Hour or Fiverr and get something far more impressive created that will really help your business look the part and increase confidence. This goes back to first impressions - a professional logo gives the perception of an established business.
Get a Landline
If your only contact number is your mobile phone’s, you instantly reveal yourself to be the small business that you are. More importantly, the fact its mobile, instantly raises a red flag. Does that mean you’ll just disappear without notice? It costs less than £20 to purchase a landline (we can help out there!) that you can re-direct to your mobile. Better yet, our Virtual Receptionist service means we can take your calls and make it seems like you have your own reception, customer care line, or bookings team.
Ask for reviews
To build trust, you’re going to need to demonstrate credibility by showing reviews. Just having a couple on your website isn’t enough – people will jump on Google to dig deeper, so you should have more than a handful on Google’s free review platform, or invest in the paid-for alternatives (e.g. Feefo or Trustpilot) if you really want to build trustworthiness. Not only will reviews help your conversion rate, they help with your Google rankings too.
Register a Virtual Address
Most start-ups don’t have an office, and many business owners don’t like the idea of advertising their home address across the web. The issue with that is having no physical address listed is an instant trust killer. There’s security in knowing that, if anything goes wrong, you can knock on a door and discuss it. So how do you get round the issue? Use a virtual mailing address – it builds trust, makes you look bigger, and protects your home.
Get your face out there
Why do people like dealing with small businesses? Because its more personal! People trust people more than they do companies, so why not tie this benefit up with the most important form of digital marketing – video. Consumers are increasingly impatient and would rather watch a video than read. So, if you have the confidence, here’s your opportunity to build trust and set yourself apart.
A few simple steps can help build trust, giving you that vital foot in the door to demonstrate that you really can do better than the big guys. These techniques aren’t huge investments yet have been proven to help win more work. So what’s stopping you?
