Effective Sales Strategy: How To Build Customer Trust?

Introduction 

Customer experience expert Zig Ziglar said once: “If you’re liked, people will listen to you. If you’re trusted, they’ll buy from you.” 

A mere 5% increase in customer retention can result in a 95% increase in profit, which shows that the rewards of customer trust are significant. You can make a customer’s day with just a few extra seconds of effort. 

Customers who trust a business are 83% more likely to recommend it to others than those who do not. Through word of mouth, you can earn new leads and corporate sales by earning the trust of your customers. 

A business’s goal should be to build customer loyalty and trust. In order to achieve this goal, there are some step-by-step actionable steps that we can take. This post aims to show you how to build a long-term relationship with your customers.

The Most Integral Part of Sales – Customer Trust 

Today’s business climate requires companies to know how to build customer trust in order to survive. To build consumer trust, sales strategy, as well as a loyal customer base, you must always go the extra mile to make your customers feel appreciated at all times. If a company does not invest the effort required to gain the trust of its clients, it will be limiting its ability to achieve its full potential. 

Nowadays, consumers have become smarter, more selective, and more cynical regarding their purchase decisions. Research conducted by HubSpot shows that more than half of customers (55%) today have less trust in companies than they did a few years ago. 

At first glance, that’s a pretty depressing number on the face of it, isn’t it? 

The flip side is that it actually represents a golden opportunity. It has been reported that 93% of customers said they are likely to make repeat purchases from companies offering exceptional customer service and are giving a better customer experience than their competitors. If you can deliver a better customer experience than your competitors, you will be a magnet for consumers. 

How To Build Customer Trust and Loyalty? 

How can you gain the trust and confidence of your customers? Would you like to learn how to do that? In a nutshell, these 11 actionable sales strategy methods will help you establish and maintain a loyal fan base much faster than you think. 

1. Offer Excellent Customer Service
   Customer service is one of the most significant sales strategies that can significantly impact the loyalty and retention of your customers. In order to accomplish this, you will need to have a dedicated support team and set high quality and speed standards for your service to exceed customer expectations. It is important to be consistent with your responses to your customers as they reach out with questions and issues. You should provide your agents with guidelines outlining appropriate answers for the more common inquiries they might receive and ensure they have the tools necessary to resolve these tickets in a timely manner. In the event your customer contacts your helpdesk, make sure your agents treat them as human beings requiring assistance, not simply tickets that end up in your helpdesk. You should aim to provide your clients with a service that is as efficient, consistent, and personal as possible. It is evident that your company cares enough about its customers to go the extra mile to take care of their concerns and assist them with any issues they might have with your product or service when you demonstrate extraordinary customer service and commitment to your customer’s interests. Your customer support team will be there to help them during the customer journey to reassure them that they’re in very good hands and that if they encounter any difficulties, your team will be there to assist them. Finally, you should ensure that your agents are trained to provide the information your customers need and then take the time to ensure that their needs are met for effective sales planning. You need to empower your agents so that they have the autonomy to take advantage of opportunities to go beyond what is expected because that is the basis for building trust with your customers.
2. Publish Customer Reviews and Testimonials
   A company’s reputation is everything. If you had to choose between a business with zero reviews and one with hundreds of positive reviews, which would you choose? That’s right, the one with hundreds. Having passionate brand advocates speak positively about your product or service can help position your brand positively. A consumer’s trust in another consumer is almost always higher than their trust in a company. Your products and services are valued by your customers based on their testimonials and reviews. Being regarded as a peer-recommended brand is an excellent marketing and sales strategy.
   
   
3. Be Transparent
   Due to the  multiple options that customers are able to choose from, retaining customers can be a challenge. You need to be aware of the fact that your customers will have the power to take their business elsewhere if something goes wrong with your product or service. Keeping a loyal customer base can be the key to maximizing your customer retention – and one of the most effective ways of doing this is by creating transparency between you and your customers. In order to establish accurate expectations for your customers, it is imperative that you provide them with clear information about what you offer and what they can expect from you from the beginning.
4. Ask, Listen and Respond With patience to Feedback/Concerns
   In order to improve products and services, businesses must rely on customer feedback to guide their decisions. Your business’ long-term success will be difficult to forecast if you do not learn what your customers think of your product or service. In order to tailor your business to fit their needs accurately, you can use their opinions about your brand as helpful information. Customer satisfaction depends on brands taking care of their needs and opinions. Regularly asking for feedback and input is the best way to demonstrate this. Ask your customers for their feedback periodically through customer feedback surveys. Is your product or service meeting the expectations of your customers? What kind of support do they receive when they have questions? Do they feel satisfied with your company’s overall performance?
5. Create a Loyalty Program
   Using a loyalty program as a part of your sales strategy will increase the lifetime value of a customer and drives sales. Businesses build emotional commitment through loyalty programs by rewarding repetitive purchases.The impact of offers made, however, is greater when they are innovative. Offering third-party promotions, for instance, creates an emotional connection between your brand and the community. This will have a greater impact if it is combined with personalization.
6. Be reachable to your potential customers
   In order to build long-term relationships with customers, instant customer service is essential, whether it’s through phone, live chat, or social media. The confidence of your customers depends on your ability to deliver. A quick response to their queries and a quick resolution to their problems is essential. Companies must choose channels according to their industries, business sizes, and customer preferences. The holy trinity must be balanced: Self-service, messaging, and phone. Moreover, support agents must have omnichannel access to all information coming in from these channels, reducing back and forth between them.
   
   
7. Cultivate Relationships
   In addition to boosting sales, decreasing customer attrition, providing invaluable marketing, and growing employee morale, customer relationships are important and influential. If you approach your customers as long-term partners, you will achieve all kinds of positive outcomes. Customer loyalty goes beyond profits. You may find this high-touch strategy expensive at first, but once you build genuine relationships with your customers, the cost will likely be recouped. Making rational business decisions and cultivating relationships with your customers is possible when you know them. Your customers appreciate being understood, recognized, and listened to despite the sophisticated technology you use to communicate.
8. Ownership of the problem
   Owning a problem doesn’t entail accepting blame for it or fixing it for you. In order to take ownership, you must accept responsibility for your customer’s problems and ensure they are resolved. Before their customers start nitpicking, businesses must learn what’s going on behind the scenes. In order to reduce the reliance on logged ticket notes alone, customer success teams can hear directly from customers to paint a picture. Furthermore, agents need to be trained to manage customers’ expectations and provide them with timely assurances. Customer service agents should be constructively reminded of improvement areas with new opportunities to ensure consistency in customer service.
9. Update Customers on Industry Trends
   Businesses must update the customers frequently on the recent industry standards and trends related to cost, price, marketing, sales strategy, and methodology for an excellent customer service experience. Your customers’ trust will be strengthened when they receive great customer service and they will be more likely to engage with your company again.
10. Offer Personalized Experience
    Personalization refers to online stores providing customers with tailored content based on their preferences and shopping histories. Every message should be tailored to the user’s needs. You can create a better shopping experience for your customers by using their information to create a personalized experience for them. You will increase customer retention when customers trust you to handle their data effectively.
    
    
11. Be Honest With Your Customers
    Getting your customers’ trust requires effort and earnestness; there are no shortcuts. What is your method for doing that? As a company, you have a lot to gain by being honest about your products.Be careful about exaggerating your invention’s benefits. Gimmicks and hype no longer fool modern customers. Keep it simple. You should include all the information your customers need – including pricing and limitations – to aid them in making an informed purchase decision. You are more likely to get repeat business from a clued-up customer. 

Conclusion 

Solid customer relationships are built on trust and loyalty. Trust is easy to earn, and there is no need for a complicated strategy. Ensure your support team understands their roles and provides excellent customer service. Customers should know that your top priority is to put them first. Customer loyalty and trust will follow when you achieve this goal. 

So you are now aware of the importance of effective sales strategy and how to gain customers’ trust online. If not, then you need to check out UNext’s Sales Management course.