Becoming a Reliable Provider: 4 Proven Strategies for Building Trust in Your Industry of Choice

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Building Trust|Becoming a Reliable Provider: 4 Proven Strategies for Building Trust in Your Industry of ChoiceMost people fail to realize just how difficult starting a business and making it successful can be. If a business owner does not focus on providing their customers with top-notch service, keeping them loyal will be extremely difficult. For most consumers, finding businesses that they can trust is imperative.

Establishing trust with consumers and clients can be difficult. Developing a strategy that revolves around providing potential customers with social proof of how well a business has performed for others in the past is a good idea. With this social proof, consumers can get a feel for how reputable a particular company is. The following are some of the things a business owner can do to build more trust with potential customers.

1. A High Level of Transparency

Shrouding what a business does in mystery can backfire in spectacular fashion. Current and potential customers want to know exactly what a business does and how it can benefit them. For instance, if a particular business provides payroll services to business, they need to show potential customers how safe and secure their services are. The best way to do this is by providing consumers with a SOC 1 Report.

This report will detail the internal controls and policies a business has in place to protect the sensitive information they deal with. With this high level of transparency, a business owner should have no problem attracting new clients. Going the extra mile to provide proof of how trustworthy a business it can pay off in the long run.

2. Provide Consumers With Social Proof

Modern consumers spend a lot of time online researching businesses before using them. In most cases, these consumers are looking for things like online reviews from former or current customers of a particular business. As a business owner, a person needs to work on making it easy to find social proof of how well their company performs.

This is why putting positive customer reviews on the homepage of a business website is a good idea. By making it easy for consumers to find this information, a business owner will have no problem increasing the number of valuable sales leads they attract. Asking satisfied customers for these positive reviews may be a bit intimidating at first, but it will be easier as time goes by.

3. Being Accessible is Important

Making it easy for consumers to reach out for information about the products/services a business offers is also important when attempting to establish trust. This is why making it easy for consumers to contact business is crucial. Investing in things like website chatbots is a wise idea. These AI-infused tools allow a business owner to address the concerns a consumer has any time of day. With the help of IT professionals, using these tools will be much easier.

4. An Online Presence is a Must

Over 90 percent of Internet users never go past the first page of Google when researching businesses in their area. Getting a business website on the first page of Google will require a lot of marketing-savvy and hard work. Creating an online presence for a business is no easy task. This is why hiring an experienced marketing agency to lend a hand is important. The higher a business website ranks on Google, the more trustworthy they will appear to consumers.

The Power of Consumer Trust

Building trust with modern consumers will help a business grow and prosper. Ignoring the need for a great online reputation and excellent customer service will lead to problems finding and obtaining new clients.

How Start-Ups Stay Up – How I Run My Small Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Start-Ups |How Start-Ups Stay Up - How I Run My Small BusinessI am a bankruptcy attorney in Philadelphia. I started my law firm over 20 years ago and have helped thousands of clients get a fresh financial start over the years. I have four tips for small business owners both new and experienced. I credit these basic principles with the success of my firm.

Create Your Niche

You might be the greatest widget-maker on the planet, but if the market for widgets is saturated that will not matter – it will be a struggle, up-hill, to get noticed by potential customers. Make sure that when you start your business you have identified a service or product that is fresh to the market, whether that market is local (like a bankruptcy law firm, or a house painter) or global (products that can be exported or services that can be done remotely).

Advertise Your High-Quality Service or Product Online.

The days when a website is just an online business card are long over. An effective website will clearly show what you do or are offering and be findable by people who need you. The structure and content of the site itself should attract the viewer to stay on the site, and eventually start on their Buyer’s Journey to purchasing your service or product.

Any commercial website these days absolutely must be optimized for mobile devices. Potential customers most frequently use their smartphones or their tablets to google solutions to their problems, and they will click away from an unwieldy site that is difficult to read or navigate.

The content of your site should establish your expertise and/or relevance to the viewer’s search, and a clear and easy way to contact you or to purchase your service or product.

Maintaining a blog is a great way to inform current clients and future clients of the latest developments in your field, of new products or services you are offering, and to establish your expertise or your product’s high quality.

Convert Satisfied Clients and Customers into New Clients.

The first order of business is to make sure you are providing current customers and clients with a high-quality product or service. What you offer should do what you promise it to do and if a problem arises, a customer must be able to contact you for a remedy. Good customer service is the primary driver of repeat and referred business. So many clients are referred to me by their friends or family who used my services. That is gratifying.

But how to harness the power of satisfied clients’ goodwill? Provide them with the opportunity to leave you a positive review. I’m not suggesting you email each client or customer yourself, but rather, that you purchase one of the many available systems that automate this process for you. It’s a nominal expense for what you get in return.

Once you have clients’ email addresses, you can create a mailing list to inform list subscribers of sales or specials or a change in operating hours, etc. Make sure to ask clients first before you add them to your mailing list, and in each email sent, offer a simple way to unsubscribe. There are many good list managing companies online who will organize this for you.

Create a Network of Professionals and Peers

Word-of-mouth is valuable not just among former clients and future clients, but between professionals and your peers as well. Here are some ideas about how you can start and grow your network:

  • Join your national professional associations and attend conferences
  • Join your state or local professional associations and attend meetings
  • Join your local rotary club or other organization to network with local businesses unrelated to your business
  • Once established in your field, offer to give talks at meetings and conferences, to establish your expertise
  • Invite members of your network to subscribe to your blog or email list, for the latest news, and join theirs
  • Be active in your community. Volunteer your time or funds to support any quality-of-life events in your city or town, like a July 4th Town Picnic, or a Thanksgiving 5K. You can’t put a price on the goodwill that will generate for you and your business.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | David M. Offen, Esq.Mr. David M. Offen, Esq. is a bankruptcy and foreclosure attorney in Philadelphia who attended Temple University College and Law School. Mr. Offen is licensed to practice in the States of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He is a member of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Bankruptcy Conference and the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys and maintains an active blog on all aspects of bankruptcy filing and current events.

Luring Customers To Your Restaurant Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | Luring Customers To Your Restaurant BusinessYou would think that great food and wine would sell itself but more and more restaurants are learning, times have changed. This isn’t so anymore, because just like any other industry, the food and beverage industry is going through a lot of evolutionary moments. With food ordering apps on the rise, more people are choosing against the ‘going out to eat’ option. A massive cultural shift is occurring and thus, if you’re a restaurant business, you have to be ready to innovate and attract customers to your establishment. You’d be surprised at how many restaurants have still got websites that seem like they would be better suited for the early 2000s. A basic menu and prices are no longer enough. You have to go the extra mile.

Part of the crew, part of the experience

The one thing ordering out doesn’t get you, his personality. That’s one of the best parts of going to eat out in a restaurant is the service you receive. That’s why you should film a short video to place on your website’s homepage, showing the type of customer service your waiters and chefs will provide. Firstly, contact a video production specialist, and inform them of your needs. They will arrive on location and speak with you about your idea and if it’s feasible or not. Then with a little planning and having a couple of meetings, the production team can set up their equipment and go for a test run. It might take a few takes before you get it absolutely right, but that’s why you will be shooting for a couple or a few days. Show the best side of your employees and drop in a few unique services such as special requests from your musicians and chefs.

A cultural symbol

Your city has a number of festivals that you should take full advantage of. Whether it’s an ethnic event such as an Italian feast, a celebration of Chinese culture or perhaps an event tied to the town such as fishing and seafood, you should be a part of it somehow. The more your face and name are seen around town during culturally important events, the more your restaurant connects with the local people. If they see you’re participating in an event, they will see you as a cultural symbol of their city. Thus, you become a business that is part of the furniture so to speak. Giving away free samples at events gives your customers a sense of what to expect should they make their way through your doors.

New menu release

Ever so often, restaurants will revamp their menu and start anew. If and or when you decide to do this, you should have an exclusive sale of tickets for that day or week. Drum up the anticipation with online and local marketing techniques. People will always be allured to something that is exclusive and niche. So offer exclusive bookings for those who want to be the first to try out the new menu.

The restaurant business will never die out but it will and has gotten tougher. You can beat fast food places if you make your customers want to experience the service.

Essential Digital Tools For Non-Profits

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Non-Profits|Essential Digital Tools For Non-ProfitsRunning a non-profit can be challenging enough without being able to rely on profits and consistent paying customers, which is why there are plenty of excellent tools designed to make your non-profit excel without paying the same prices that massive corporations do. If you’re looking for your non-profit to be as successful and as rewarding for its clients as possible, here are the essential digital tools you need to know about.

Make Donations Easy

Donations are a massive part of any non-profit, so it makes sense that one of the main tools you want to invest in is a way to make them as easy as possible. Instead of shaking a collection jug as passersby on the high street, you can reach people from the comfort of their sofa watching football.

Donation software makes it possible for millions of people to feel charitable, and the best of this software can set a page up in fewer than 15 minutes. If you’re still not convinced, there are more than 7,000 non-profit organizations worldwide who use this software, and they can embed your forms or popup widget to make it easily accessible for those who are feeling generous. There are paid and free services, so take your pick of whichever works best for you.

Keep Systems Up and Running

With so much to take care of while running a non-profit, you can often neglect other parts of the organization. If you’re going to make the most of digital software and services, then Non-Profits IT support is crucial.

This means you have one less thing to worry about while you do your campaigning, and they can also solve any issues as soon as they arise, often with 24-hour support, seven days a week. With everything running smoothly, you can focus your energy elsewhere and focus on making your non-profit as fantastic as it can be.

Keep Subscribers In the Loop

Services such as Mailchimp or any of its competitors are a fantastic way of keeping your subscribers firmly in the loop when it comes to what you’re doing, what you plan to do next, or any other big news you want to share, especially at the end of a highly successful campaign.

It’s too easy for donors to forget about non-profits they were once so passionate about. However, with a dedicated email and newsletter service, you can ensure that the good news spreads sufficiently, and you can also reach out to other potential donors to help you fight for your cause. With such an excellent tool for marketing automation, you can also get a wide range of data and information about your subscribers.

Final Thoughts

A non-profit still needs to keep up with advancements in technology and the potential that it can offer if it wants to demonstrate that it can make a difference. By investing in the best and most essential digital tools, you can guarantee that your organization keeps on changing the world and committing to causes on a local, national, or even global scale.

Corporate offices: How to make them fit for purpose for clients

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Corporate Office|Corporate offices: How to make them fit for purpose for clientsAs we all know, offices come in all shapes and sizes. There are some huge companies that still operate in very basic facilities (or none at all) – and have absolutely no plans of adding anymore glamour to them, despite of their huge revenues.

However, there are also some much smaller companies who have invested heavily in their office space. This isn’t necessarily because they just feel the need to work out of snazzy offices, but it’s quite often related to clients. In other words, if they are regularly inviting clients for meetings, they need an office that is fit for purpose. And, fit to impress them above the competition.

So, how can you achieve this without breaking the bank? Today’s article will now investigate some of the ways you can achieve this.

Show off with digital signage

Once upon a time, companies may have left leaflets and other paper evidence of their achievements in the reception area. Suffice to say, technology has taken this over.

Now, bigger things are almost expected by clients. Digital signage solutions from Cenareo certainly falls into this category and if you can show off your business in the most visual form as soon as a client walks into reception, you’ll have done wonders for their first impressions.

Try not to lead them through the main office space

Admittedly, this next point might be somewhat out of your control. However, if your office space allows, try and have separate areas for meeting clients and the space in which the main bulk of your work occurs.

It can be really awkward for clients to tiptoe through the main office space, with all eyes seemingly on them. Not only that, but this is something that also tends to showcase all of the bad parts of your office. Whether its papers strewn all over the desks, or just general clutter, day-to-day working environments aren’t going to do your image any favors.

Provide them a working area

This will differ between industries, but there can be occasions where clients need to work from your offices.
What’s the worst thing that can happen to them in this regard? Being perched on the end of a desk, like a spare part.

As such, have a designated area for clients to work from. Ideally it will be enclosed, and offer them all of the facilities they would have as if they were working from their usual environment.

Sometimes, it’s just offering convenience

We appreciate that budgets are small, and not everyone is going to be able to afford new desk areas, or digital signage. For those of you who fall into this category, don’t discount the power of convenience. From a client’s perspective, there’s nothing worse than not having access to the regular Wi-Fi, or not being offered a hot drink on arrival. These are tiny tips, that won’t cost you much, but can make the world of difference to a client who is visiting.