“The best way to learn if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” Ernest Hemingway
Trust is vital to any form of relationship including in the conduct of business. Some base level of trust is required just to have employment contracts, or to engage in commercial transactions and beyond such minimum thresholds, trust also plays a major role. The level of trust in business relationships, let it be external like in sales or advisory roles, or internal like in a services function is a prime determinant of success than anything else.
WHY TRUST IS IMPORTANT TO NEW BUSINESS?
Trust is a bilateral relationship as simple as one trusts, and the other is the trusted. While these two are related, but they are not the same thing. It is all about trustworthiness. Often we intend more than one thing when we use the word trust. We use it to describe what we think of what people say. We also use it to describe behaviors. We use it to describe whether or not we feel comfortable sharing certain information with someone else and we use the same word to indicate whether or not we feel other people have our interests at heart, vs. their own interests.
People don’t primarily trust institutional entities, they trust other people. The components of credibility and reliability are sometimes used to describe companies or websites, but at least as often to describe people. The other components like intimacy and self-orientation are almost entirely about people. Living the four trust values is the best way to increase your trustworthiness.
Here are few reasons why trust is crucial to new businesses:
1) Trust makes you more reputable– Trust cannot be reduced to pure behaviors. You can’t bottle it in a competency model. Our actions are driven by our beliefs, and our beliefs are driven by our values or principles. Trustworthy behavior is way too complex to fake without the beliefs and values behind them. If your values don’t drive you to behave in a trustworthy manner all the time, you’ll be found out quickly.
2)It will also create a good impression on others- If you are always focus on others like your client, customer, internal co-worker, boss, partner, subordinate for the other’s sake, not just as a means to one’s own ends.We often hear “client-focus,” or “customer-centric.” But these are terms all-too-often framed in terms of economic benefit to the person trying to be trusted.
3)Trust can create both joint goals and joint approaches- Trust can create collaborative approach. Collaboration here means a willingness to work together. A medium to long term relationship perspective, not a short-term transactional focus.
4) Trust makes you more transparent- A habit of being transparent in all one’s dealings.Transparency has the great virtue of helping recall who said what to whom. It also increases credibility, and lowers self-orientation, by its willingness to keep no secrets.
WHY NEW BUSINESS IS STRUGGLING TO BUILD CUSTOMER TRUST?
1) There is no business plan or unique values
Consumers tend to distrust new brands at first glance because people think that business firm ultimate goal is to make money, which is true but you have to put that to secondary and reach human values first to establish a more open and trustworthy relationship with people. So, to overcome consumer skepticism is to show the human side of your brand. Consider introducing yourself as the person behind the business to your customers,. This would also add authenticity and credibility to your brand, especially if you sell products that you made yourself.
By focusing on you as the business instead of just your products, you can tell your story and your brand’s story at the same time. This helps customers get to know you more, and build a bond which lays the foundation for them to trust your business, too.Some things to consider in business planning are who are your customers? How will they buy your products or services — in-store, online, or both? What’s your marketing plan? How will customers find out about your business?Answering these kinds of questions will help you ensure your products, services, and business idea are something that people will buy into. And with social media platforms at your fingertips, it makes the market research process that much easier.
It not only that you share personal experience and demonstrates expertise, but also builds the kind of emotional connection with customers that only a small business can. Both of these factors can helps you gain trust and make the customer feel better about purchasing from you. Likewise, you can add a human face to your own business, entwining your personal story with your brand’s story. This is needed in business planning.
2)Incompetent customer service which distorts positive feedbacks
Positive feedbacks are the key to take your new business into the next stage. Systems that double as positive feedback cycles can likewise help you generate customer trust. For example, when your business is the subject of a glowing review, you attract new sales, which lead to fresh reviews, which lead to additional sales, and so on. Look to establish such feedback cycles through social media, press coverage, and word-of-mouth. There are a number of ways to quantify feedback loops. Find those apps and keep track, if you do get a negative feedback do not look away instead take it as a constructive criticism and build yourself from it.
Gathering and analyzing such data, and additional related data, could help you identify feedback cycles to develop. As a young company, one of the most important things you can do is simply deliver a great customer service experience. Customer service extends beyond the product or service you sell it is the end-to-end experience for your consumer. It determines whether one purchase becomes several repeat sales, or whether that customer looks elsewhere to solve his or her pain point. Actions as simple as answering questions and concerns through email, phone, and social media can help you build both customer trust and your sales base.
3) Lack of information, data and statistics
One of the biggest reason why people do no trust new brands is because they tend to be vague and pushy in term of delivering content. Content is a powerful tool for connecting with new users who have no idea who you are. This gives you a chance to slowly introduce yourself but here is where most new business fail as they get aggressive in self promoting. Blogging regularly can show that you’re invested in your business and your customer’s problems which is always a good sign for consumers but do not over do it.
Instead of bombarding with unnecessary informations focus on producing good quality content that can help consumers get more familiar with your brand. Take it a step further by sharing personal experience by using your product or services and develop a distinct brand voice. Both of these things will show the personality behind your brand and help people feel like they really know you and can trust you.
This is further aided by encouraging discussions that allows you to connect with people. Even if users only leave a quick comment, this gives you a valuable opportunity to talk to them one-on-one, establishing a personal relationship through their screen and inviting them to revisit the conversation again.The more customers know about what they’re about to buy, the more likely they are to actually go ahead and purchase it. Being specific instead of being general about the description of your product. If you are selling coffee state what coffee it is. For example, instead of coffee, Brazilian coffee sounds much better. Some things that you can consider adding to your product descriptions include exact measurements of the item, weight of the item, product ingredients/manufacturing materials, warranty information and any special product features and their benefits
Adding many images and videos as possible to demonstrate the product quality and how it can be used also helps. This allows people to envision it in their own lives, and the clearer they can see it, the more likely they are to believe you can deliver what you promise you will.
4) Provide no sense of security to the buyer
You always have to make sure that your site itself looks trustworthy. Cyber security is a huge issue in today’s world so if your business involves online purchasing bare in mind with consumers are wary about giving anyone their credit card information. So, they way to overcome this is make sure your site has protection. For example, use security-boosting apps, by display security badges on your store or use plug in like the McAfee Secure plugin and so on.
You can create multiple payment options. This will make consumers feel a little more comfortable about buying from you. For example, like offering PayPal. PayPal acts as a secure financial gateway that many customers prefer to use, feeling it adds another layer of protection. One study even found that while customers trust their primary banks more overall and didn’t like to deposit funds into PayPal, 69% of those surveyed believed that PayPal was better at protecting their financial information. If you’re able to offer payment options that users trust more, they’ll trust you more, too.
5). Poor accounting and financial tracking
Uncontrolled spending and poor money management are among the biggest problems for new businesses to fail. Startup owners mistakenly assume that if you build it they will come, and justify their expenses on the belief that the product release will bring in all kinds of sales. But there are no guarantees that customers will buy your product. Not knowing where the money is going is just setting the stage for an epic fail.
If your accounts is in complete chaos, chances are your finances aren’t too far behind. From insufficient capital when getting started, to cash flow problems induced by bad inventory management, your account back is most likely not in a good way.
To make set your business up for long-term success, it’s absolutely critical that you track every penny coming in and out of your small business. A major key to a successful startup is controlling finances. And one way to do this is through bootstrapping, or paying your own way by stretching resources as much as possible. This should be your first option for funding if at all possible.
6) Failure to understand the customers and their needs
Ask any successful business owners and they would tell you, the best way to increase revenue and is “get more customers.” While that is definitely a major way to add revenue, it isn’t necessarily the quickest or most efficient. We all know that it’s infinitely easier to sell something to someone who’s already bought from you than it is to a stranger. Your past customers already know, like and hopefully trust you. Beyond that, they understand the significance of what you offer and have proven themselves to be action takers.
However, small businesses you are just starting hence customer is and should always be your first priority. Think from the shoes of your customer and strategies yourself from there. Always remember give enough attention to customers.Listen to their feedback and understand the demand. Put in extra effort in tracking your customers buying pattern and social media always helps in this case. You can compliment your existing products or services to increase customer value, provide additional benefits to your buyers by focusing a portion of your efforts on those you’ve already won over, you can decrease costs while increasing revenue. Best of all, you can begin to see results almost immediately.
If you find your new business can use some work in any of these areas, now is the perfect time to get started. If it seems too overwhelming to refine multiple aspects of your company at once, try starting with what’ll have the biggest impact and work your way back from there.
HOW TO BUILD TRUST WITH CUSTOMER?
Here’s a clearer break down of trust in sales context as follows:
Engage: “I heard no return policy may be an issue for you, is that right?”
Listen: “Wow, that’s interesting! Tell me more about it.”
Frame: “It sounds like what worry about the most is the price of the product.”
Envision: “But, think about how you would look once we helps you get this fix?”
Commit: “What if we were to do a product demonstration ?”
Bond building leads to trust building. Remember to build a bond out of credibility, trust and loyalty and it would keep your customer base loyal and strong and grow bigger.
Here are few tips to how to create that bond:
1.Engage the client in an open discussion about the issues that are key to them
Listen to what is important to the client and earn the right to offer solutions. Avoid selling a solution that isn’t in the customer’s best interest. Sometimes you just don’t have the right solution at the right price. If that is the case, it is always best to be honest with the customer, instead of proposing something which you know will not fully deliver the outcome the customer is looking for.
2.Take personal risks to explore sensitive issues
You probably know the objections prospects have to buying your product or service. Address those head-on in your marketing materials and on your website.The more honest and forthright you can be when you take on possible objections, the more your prospects will notice and appreciate it. Articulate a point of view and give customers more options and reason to buy in your products rather than just emphasizing the fact they should invest in.
3.Envision an alternate reality or solution
Do not promise what you cannot deliver . New businesses find it very difficult to say no to the customer about anything. Telling the customer that a certain solution with specific features and benefits will be delivered by a specific deadline, when you know you can’t deliver, is a recipe for disaster. So, include win-win specific descriptions of outcomes and results and Clarify benefits and it make clear what’s at stake.
4. Be tangible about future states
Commit to actionable next steps that imply significant commitment and movement on the part of each party. . Always honor the relationships and finally make promises and keep them. Above all, you must do what you say, when you said you would do it. This one skill alone will put you head and shoulders above your competition.
5. Provide proof
You probably know the objections prospects have to buying your product or service. Address those head-on in your marketing materials and on your website.The more honest and forthright you can be when you take on possible objections, the more your prospects will notice and appreciate it.
These are just a few of the issues marketer has to deal with in a daily basis. As you can see, marketing as a profession, isn’t exactly a very work-life balance friendly. It has a tendency to become very consuming if you don’t establish and enforce strong boundaries to prevent intense world, it is going to take over yourself and life. The worst part of it all, is when you think you have done all you can yet the result isn’t showing. That shows that maybe you need to take a step back and analyse what is the problem and come up with the solutions.
Secret to Success
Here’s some tips I come with my personal experience on how to rebuild yourself as an individual to excel better at work.
1.Have a Positive Attitude
Stay Positive
Positivity is the way to life especially when it comes to working in an intensive field like sales and marketing you need to have always an positive mind. When a client rejects you, or you are not reaching your target, DO NOT LOSE HOPE! Instead, learn what attitude is, what aspects of your life are controlled or directed by your attitude, how to determine your attitude at any given moment, and what specific strategies make a positive attitude a permanent habit in your life. This helps you to grow as person and produce better results at work.
2.Believe in Yourself
Believe in capacity
Understand what is your potential through a simple process of identifying your personal talents and abilities. You can do this by developing an academic strengths and personal interests to create personal fulfillment and joy in what you do. When presenting an idea or talking a client make sure to have faith in what you are saying. Confidence is the key here. People are only going to buy your things if you have confidence in your words. Self believe leads to customer trust.
3.Set and Achieve Goals
Set a target
Being goal driven and ambitious takes you places. First, recognize the difference between a wish and a goal. Make a commitment, plan and take action, and recognize completion. Don’t put way too much pressure on yourself. This is where people go wrong. The set target way beyond the reach and stress out when they cannot reach the goal. So, be practical and take one step at a time. Set your a goal and works towards that direction.
4.Use your Creative Imagination
Creativity leads to success
Extend your physical ability to accelerate problem solving and goal achievement in all areas of your works. In marketing and sales field, it is important to use your creativity. Let your imagination run wild and come up with new ideas, strategies and methodology and be bold in trying them out. Luck favors the brave. So, put in the effort and take the step up.
5.Be Persistent!
Work against time
Track your own progress. Make sure you see improvement! If you don’t, then it is just a sign that you are not putting in enough effort and you need to change up your game plan. Develop the focus and determination required to succeed, create an attitude of gratitude as the access to fulfilling your dreams. In this field, persistence is the foundation. You need to take your imagination and then turn it into exactly as you planned. It may not turn out how you want it to the first time, but when you add persistence to the equation it will only be so many attempts before you achieve perfection.
So, there you go. These are my top 5 strategies to how to be successful the marketing and sales field. It is simple yet we tend to foresee it due to the intensity of the field. Don’t let that get in your way and remember what is goal and work towards that.
Here a few more things you should pay attention to better a marketer.
Have a clarity of purpose and direction
Show commitment and interest in your work
Get inspired by outstanding performance of others
Establish a dynamic communication with your clients and customers
Don’t you feel sometimes all you want to do is just to take some time off and focus on yourself both physically and mentally instead of just work and work and more work?
Stress is a common mental health issue.
If you do, it is a sign that you are suffering from mental health depression at work!
Mental health is one of the last remaining taboos in the workplace. Yet according to World Health Organization one in every six workers experience depression, anxiety or stress at workplace and this is a significant portion of the workforce. It also appears as if attitudes towards mental health in the workplace remain in the dark ages where 56% of employers say they wouldn’t hire someone with depression. Globally, more than 300 million people suffer from depression, the leading cause of disability, with many of these people also suffering from symptoms of anxiety. A recent WHO-led study estimates that depression and anxiety disorders cost the global economy US$ 1 trillion each year in lost productivity. Unemployment is a well-recognized risk factor for mental health problems, while returning to, or getting work is protective. A negative working environment may lead to physical and mental health problems, harmful use of substances or alcohol, absenteeism and lost productivity. Workplaces that promote mental health and support people with mental disorders are more likely to reduce absenteeism, increase productivity and benefit from associated economic gains.
What are the work related risk factors for health?
There are many risk factors involved for mental health that may be present in your working space that even you may not be aware of. .Most of these risks are interrelated which are mostly interactions between for example type of work, the organizational and managerial environment, the skills and competencies of employees, and the support available for employees to carry out their work.
Risks to mental health include:
inadequate health and safety policies
poor communication and management practices
limited participation in decision-making or low control over one’s area of work
low levels of support for employees;
inflexible working hour
unclear tasks or organizational objectives
Risks may also be related to job content, such as unsuitable tasks for the person’s competencies or a high and unrelenting workload. Some jobs may carry a higher personal risk than others. For example, first responders and humanitarian workers, which can have an impact on mental health and be a cause of symptoms of mental disorders, or lead to harmful use of alcohol or psychoactive drugs. Risk may be increased in situations where there is a lack of team cohesion or social support.
Bullying and psychological harassment at workplace also known as “mobbing” are reported as the most common cause of work-related stress by workers and present risks to the health of workers. They are associated with both psychological and physical problems. These health consequences can cost the employers big time in terms of reducing productivity and increasing staff turnover. They can also have a negative impact on family and social interactions and personally too.
How to overcome Mental Issues at Work?
Work together to overcome mental issue at work
1)Creating a healthy workplace
A healthy workplace can be described as one where workers and managers actively contribute to the working environment by promoting and protecting the health, safety and well-being of all employees. A healthy workplace should firstly, protect mental health by reducing work–related risk factors and also promote mental health by developing the positive aspects of work and the strengths of employees and lastly address mental health problems regardless of cause.
2)Supporting people with mental disorders at work
Organizations have a responsibility to support individuals with mental disorders in either continuing or returning to work. Research shows that unemployment, particularly long-term unemployment, can have a detrimental impact on mental health. Many of the initiatives outlined above may help individuals with mental disorders. In particular, flexible hours, job-redesign, addressing negative workplace dynamics, and supportive and confidential communication with management can help people with mental disorders continue to or return to work. Access to evidence-based treatments has been shown to be beneficial for depression and other mental disorders. Because of the stigma associated with mental disorders, employers need to ensure that individuals feel supported and able to ask for support in continuing with or returning to work and are provided with the necessary resources to do their job.
3)Know Your Rights
The Malaysian Employment Act 1955, states that your employer has to work with you to try to overcome health problems. And don’t forget that it’s in your boss’s own interests to accommodate you. Anxiety and depression, the most common mental health issues, have been estimated to cause a fifth of the days lost to sickness in Britain.
It can be hard talking about such an emotional and personal subject at work, but focusing on practicalities and logistics can take the charge out of it. Try to suggest some concrete things that might help you cope. For example, switching to flexible or part-time hours for a while might give you some much-needed space to breathe. Would the option to work from home some days take the pressure off? Coming into the conversation prepared with potential solutions could make the conversation seem less daunting.If you’re nervous about talking to your manager, or if things don’t go well when you do, it’s worth having a chat to your organisation’s HR or occupational health department – but your line manager should be your first port of call.
Here are some guidelines your company can take to create a healthy workplace:
Creating awareness of the workplace environment and how it can be adapted to promote better mental health for different employees.
Learning from the motivations of organizational leaders and employees who have taken action.
Not reinventing wheels by being aware of what other companies who have taken action have done.
Understanding the opportunities and needs of individual employees, in helping to develop better policies for workplace mental health.
Awareness of sources of support and where people can find help.
Informing staff that support is available
Involving employees in decision-making,
conveying a feeling of control and participation
organizational practices that support a healthy work-life balance
Creating programmes for career development of employees
Recognizing and rewarding the contribution of employees.
In conclusion, mental health matter because it will only make sense as a perfect business sense for organizations to create a work culture that supports employees with good mental health. If your employees aren’t feeling well mentally, then they will not feel engaged or committed at work. The more we talk about mental health, the more stigmas get broken down, so don’t suffer in silence. Work’s important, but it’s not as important as your health and quality of life.
According to Forbes, nearly one-third of employees don’t trust their management. In addition to this, employers now have to cater to the needs of the millennial generation. On average, after graduating from college, a millennial will change jobs four times before they are 32. Most of them also don’t feel empowered on their current jobs. Main reason to this is because the leader are not able to foster a sense of trust and loyalty in their employees. But, what is great leadership? In business context, great leadership is the ability that to make concrete decisions and inspire others to perform at their most productive and effective leadership.Also, the ability to set and achieve challenging business goals, take decisive actions when faced with challenging business scenarios, outperform the company’s competition, take calculated risks and continue moving forward even in light of failure. Again, what does it take to be a great leader?
Here’s a list of few quality that most inspiring leaders have in common. Which is also what you need to improve and inspire!
Barrack Obama- Charismatic Leader
1)Charisma
Infectious energy with a passionate drive towards the goal
Highly effective at kick-starting their team into action and solution problems
Example: Barrack Obama
“We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it.” Obama
Adolf Hitler- The Commanding Leader
2)Commanding
Forceful personalities that are unapologetic in reaching their goals
Not over powering just very determined in achieving target
Demands strict and discipline
Example: Adolf Hitler
“Strength lies not in defense but in attack” Hitler
Mahathir Mohammed- The Democratic Leader
3) Democractic
Makes everyone in the team feel valuable
Acknowledge each individual inputs
Creates a dedicated workforce by giving them ownership of the company’s business goals
Example: Dr. Mahathir Mohammed
“No one should have extra influence on an organisation. We should always regard ourselves as equals in the organisation, and we should be concerned about each other’s problems.” Mahathir
4)Humility
Down to Earth and humble to all
Lead by example thus showing people if you can do it, so can they!
Don’t allow anyone in the team to fall prey to bad moral values and teachings
Example: Mohandas Gandhi
” One must be as humble as a dust before knowing the truth” Gandhi
5) Courage
Boldness is blessed as a virtue
Be fearless and lead others to go outside of the box and take risk
Have confidence and communicate your idea to the whole team
Example: Nelson Mandela
” Courage is not lost of fear.It is inspiring others to move beyond” Nelson Mandela