When I first came to live in the town where I currently live, I did not really know anyone who lived there. However, I had to employ a builder for some work on the house that I had bought. As I did not know anyone, I could not ask for recommendations. As a result, I had to contact a number of builders and ask them to come around to have a look at what was required. Eventually I found one who seemed trustworthy and gave him the work. I used him for three of four more jobs over the next few years as he did a good job and was reliable. I trusted him.
Having a recommendation can shorten the process of finding a reliable tradesman. There are now a number of schemes for providing feedback on all sorts of trades so that companies or individuals can build a profile that demonstrates that they can be trusted. Asking friends and colleagues is another good way of finding trustworthy people to work for you. Most companies when they are recruiting will offer incentives to their own staff for them to recommend someone that they know to fill the vacancy. This is not to provide extra benefits to their staff but to shorten the recruitment process and provide more certainty that they will be employing someone that is capable of doing the job.
It is almost impossible to do anything now without being asked for a review. Any purchase is followed by an email asking for a review; any hotel stay or meal out that was booked online comes with a request for a review. Whole websites and businesses exist just from online reviews. If we want to buy anything, we can find a review of it. All of these things are done to try to persuade people to trust the business that is supplying the product or service.
So, if we want someone to buy from us, we first have to demonstrate that they can trust us. This does not happen overnight. Walking in off the street and expecting to be trusted is not likely to happen. The customer has to know that what you are offering is the right solution for them and that it will do what they need it to do. They only have your word for it to start with so they must trust you before they progress.
Building trust is one of the most important things for a sales person to do. A year ago, when lockdown first started, I lost most of my business overnight. From having a healthy income to almost nothing. I had done everything right by my customers and my targets but lockdown was out of my control and it nearly destroyed the business.
I needed to refocus and work out what to do to be successful going forwards. Building trust was the one thing that I could do. I could not go out to meet new people but I could stay in touch with existing contacts. I offered my services for free to various organisations. I sent information that I thought would be interesting or relevant to my main targets.
One year on and my business is back to where it was. I have a healthy pipeline of work. I have new customers coming to me for help. I have repeat business from existing customers. Now that they are used to working from home and managing remotely, they are looking at how they can grow their business and improve their sales skills. While it was a difficult time for me, by continuing to do the right things, I have emerged stronger and more successful.