"Build Credibility and Develop Trust:
Email Marketing Essentials"
April 20, 2004
One of the burning questions I asked you to send me a few weeks ago was about building credibility and developing trust.
While gathering information to write an article about that, I found one on my hard disk that I had almost forgotten. It was originally written by David Vallieres and I completely agree with it. So I revised it and put it below.
It's a bit lengthy, but well worth reading. Let me know what you think about it.
Enjoy.
Case
How to build credibility and develop trust
One of the things that amazes me about people in business is that they are constantly worried about building credibility and developing trust! If you're one of those people you may recognize the problem. You feel that your visitors are reluctant to buy anything from you because they do not know you.
Well, that may be correct at the first confrontation. But you are in business for the long run, not for short-term profits. I think, for the most part, you will all agree with me on this. So you have to build a relationship with your visitors.
It's not that difficult to do so. All you have to do is present your visitors high quality information that leads to their desire to come back to your site and have some more.
Next you'll need to have a system in place to catch their email address, so you can communicate with them. High quality reports or mini-courses are the way to establish that. And the best tool to make this process completely automated are autoresponders.
Next you'll need to develop products that have value and are useful or attractive. Selling it is simply a matter of bringing it to the attention of someone who has the desire and means to purchase it following our "98% rule":
"98% of all human beings buy products or services emotionally and then justify those purchases logically."How do you get good results with this method?
By injecting your unique personality into your business - in other words, by being yourself. If potential customers trust and believe in you they will buy from you. But they can't know or trust you if you're putting up a barrier by not letting them get to know you. Being human in business is OK.
By taking action and asking for the order in a polite, non-threatening way, repeat-ably. The average person won't give you an order for your product until the 3rd or 4th request. There are many marketers who say response starts to tail off after the 6th request for an order. How many people in business give up asking for the order even after the 1st try! Imagine the profits lost each year because businesses give up too soon!
You have to understand your customer. It's not that they don't want your product - it's that they have so many things on their mind that sometimes they need reminding. Done pleasantly and with respect, this is a powerful way to generate sales without prospecting constantly for new customers.
By knowing how to generate a never ending flow of potential customers who know and already want what you're selling. In marketing this is called targeted 'lead generation'. It's accomplished through offering something free, or at a very low cost to a specific segment of the market that has a high probability of an interest in your offer. Lead generation is used to entice prospective customers to make an initial contact with you.
Once they do you send them the free information, sample chapter from your book or content or a mini-course and sell them more of your content in each successive contact.
Now I can't tell you how to be yourself. Only you know what that means. The important thing to remember is that your unique personality must come through in order for your customers to get to know you as a person and ultimately trust you enough to order from you the first time, and then again and again.
Why I think this is so effective really doesn't matter. All I know is that it works. And that's all I am really interested in. But if you want my opinion, it works because people are emotional and respond positively to other people who are not afraid to reveal a little bit of 'themselves' and enthusiasm for the product or service they are selling.
Next, you must not be afraid to take positive action to get what you want. Moving continuously towards your goals and business objectives despite obstacles is a rare trait. Those who move forward, despite obstacles, setbacks and distractions will succeed. GUARANTEED.
This also means that to get what you want from others, your customers, you must not be afraid to ask them for their business continually. Just be sure to ask in a pleasant, friendly way- the same way that you, yourself, would like to be asked.
Fewer than 1 in 10,000 businesses do this the right way. Most are either too aggressive in their asking the customer for their order, or they don't ask at all! The good news is, asking for the order is very simple. All you have to do is ask! And don't just ask once. Sometimes it takes asking 3, 4, 7 or even 10 times to get the order.
This is huge secret that few businesses employ: They don't know how to ask for the order. This has been my experience. Almost no one does this! And they are loosing tons of money! Constant communication with people who are interested in your product or service (and those who have already purchased from you) is the key to building your business successfully over the long haul.
Planning Ahead For Good Results
Now that you have a good foundation in how people buy a product or service and why and what it takes to get consistently good results, let's talk about developing a "good results plan" for all your marketing efforts.
This is intended to be a broad overview of the kind of marketing that gets good results. We will discuss very specific ways to implement the plan. Now, I am not talking about the kind of plan that you might have learned in Marketing 101. Not at all.
What I'm talking about, and what I have done is put together a list of methods, philosophies, mission like statements that give direction to all my marketing efforts. Remember I said earlier that Marketing is EVERYTHING you do in your business, from ordering paper clips to handling customer returns? Marketing encompasses more than just advertising and web site design.
The section below is based on my personal business philosophy. It may not be anything you agree with. I'm sharing this with you to assist you in developing your own 'business philosophy'. If you have no interest in developing a business philosophy feel free to skip to the next section. But, before you do, please consider that building a personal business philosophy is as important as building a home on a solid foundation. You can think of this as your 'foundation' for building you business.
Here goes:
A Business Philosophy That Never Fails:
- What I think doesn't matter. Only what the market wants or believes it wants is important.
- If you market your products and advertise them like everybody else you will get no responses, no money. You must differentiate yourself.
- Don't market in a threatening way. Don't ask for money in any significant way on the first contact. Even after several contacts your customers don't believe you or trust you.
- Trust takes time. So reassure them and sell them what they want. If they are satisfied with the first purchase
from you they are more likely to come back. And repeat business is where the real profits are in any business.
- Don't fall in love with your merchandise. If what you have in stock isn't selling, dump it and re-asses
the market. Only what the market wants is important.
- Don't get married to what your selling- in other words if your customers want "D" and you're
selling "A"-find the best and cheapest source for "D" and sell them that! The market is the
ultimate judge.
- Don't sell your merchandise at the lowest possible price. Get a good price for your items. Charge enough
to make a healthy profit.
- Only by making a healthy profit can you expect to be in business for the long term.
- The market does not respect "cheap" products or services, but they always like to think they
are getting a 'deal'. So whenever possible explain in concrete terms why this is a better deal for them than they
could find anywhere else. Your "deal" could be a few hours of your time to help them through a particular
set-up problem with your item, or it could be donating 10% of the purchase amount to their favorite charity, etc-it
doesn't always have to be a deal by lowering your price.
- Put yourself in the prospects' place. Feel what he feels. Think how he thinks. You must know him/her better
than he knows himself. What is he/she like. What do they want, really want? It's not your item isn't what they
want-it's the results they will get from using your item that they really want: The new skills they'll learn from
your content, the knowledge they'll gain to help them in their jobs or relationships, the feeling of pride they'll
receive by showing the item they just purchased from you to all their friends.
- People buy for their reasons, not yours. Therefore give them every reason possible so they can pick and
choose the reason that suits them best.
- Strip everything from your business that does not directly produce sales, profits and new customers. The
only business expenses you should have are the ones that will generate more sales and profits. Before buying anything
for your business ask yourself, "Will this help me generate more profits or sales?" ...if not, don't buy
it. It's a waste of money.
- Focus all your energies and resources on selling something. You have to have something to sell. Constantly
develop or obtain new content to sell. Rotate your content to keep it fresh and updated.
- The money is made in the selling. You cannot make any money if you don't have anything to sell. Thats'
whay we offer resale rights to our content- to help you acquire something to sell! See our
products page.
- Obvious? Yes! But a lot of people will look for months for something to sell, because they can't come up with a product or service to sell, or can't get started or finish the book they were writing. Forget it !! Stop "looking" and start testing, testing, testing instead. TESTING and DOING is the key to success. Don't worry about what to sell- just sell anything-if it works, keep doing it, if it doesn't work-don't sell it anymore-find something else.
- Realize the significant difference between being "professional", having a certain "image"
to maintain and getting "results". Jay Abraham emphasizes this and he's right. This is a difficult concept
to explain. The idea here is that RESULTS are all that count - your 'image' and being perceived by others as 'professional'
are nice, but should take a back seat to being productive.
- Always strive to be personable and friendly - the down-to-earth approach to business is what keeps people
coming back to you. Even in this age of the Internet (or maybe because of it) people want to know who you are,
as a person-are you nice?-are you a jerk?-do you love kids and dogs? - or cats? -do you love to read books?-what
kind? You see what I mean.
- OK, I'll say it again- only results count - if you want to be in business longer than the statistical averages
then FOCUS ON RESULTS!
- If you're not selling enough merchandise, at a profit, to make a living, stop what you're doing and think!
Start over ... get out of that BOX you're in.
- You get better results by being yourself rather than trying to impress your customer and clients with your
superiority. Be humble, admit mistakes and move on. You're a business person, but you're a human being first.
- Don't worry about who likes you and who doesn't like you. People spend half their lives just trying to
please people that will never like them back anyway. You're much better off- and will have a more loyal customer
base- by bonding with others who like you for yourself.
- Therefore my job is to: Sell merchandise I feel comfortable and proud of selling and which I know my customers
will value more than the price they paid.
- Advertise, market and promote my product or service by being totally focused on the buyer and their wants and/or testing the market to see if it's what the market wants at that moment.
- Take orders and take more orders! Ask for the order, don't assume people will order from you without asking
them for it.
- Don't over complicate the running of your business. Keep it simple and focused.
More Business Philosophy
When someone buys from you do you ever send a "Thank you" card or letter saying how much you appreciated their business? If not, then you have not learned the art of marketing.
Joe Girard made the Guinness Book of World Records for selling the most automobiles because he understood this one aspect of business: he appreciated his customer. He sent 'Thank You' cards, Christmas cards, Birthday cards and letters to his customers constantly- he built relationships with all his customers and his customers responded in droves by buying from him and no one else.
If your customer expects Y then give them Y times 3. Always do more for them than they expect. Very, very few local businesses (even most national ones) I've done business with has ever sent me a 'Thank You' card or even a coupon so I could get a deal from them the next time I buy something. You will generate a lot of goodwill and customer loyalty by just being thoughtful.
If you give your customers more than expected then your prices can keep going up. Psychologically it is better to charge your customers higher prices if, and only if, you can deliver more than they expected.
One final word about building credibility and developing trust: Develop a 'build credibility and develop trust' attitude in everything you do.
What do I mean? I mean that you have to put yourself in your customer's place, think about their wants and ask yourself continually how your product or service benefits them so it helps them to relieve their pains or fulfull their wishes.
Stop thinking about what you want (at least while you're selling) and never stop thinking in terms of communicating with your customers the more salient points and benefits and the results they will get when they purchase your merchandise.
Two CRITICAL Business Strategies For The Real World
RULE #1: Do not use your cash to buy anything that does not help you produce more cash!
Just like a new homeowner that's so excited about owning their first home that they go out a buy a ton of new furniture to fill it up, and therefore get even further into debt so that they can barely afford their mortgage payment anymore, new business owners go out to buy every piece of equipment they can think of that they might need, but may never need and have little cash left over for marketing their product or service.
Don't you fall into that trap. Only cash pays the bills and only cash can be used to generate more cash through marketing.
RULE #2: Treat Your Internet Business Like A Business And Get Serious About It!
Conduct all your dealings in a business like way- friendly and personal- but business like. That's my advice. Take it or leave it as you wish.
Order business cards that state something unique about your business on the front and back of the card. Also, if your sales volume really picks up and it makes economic sense, use an "800" number for people to call you instead on only using online orders.
Why?
It's just one extra option. Remember that people buy for their reasons, not yours ... that also applies to the way they like to buy. They will want to order the way they want to order, not the way you want them to order.
Also don't believe that the only way to market your business is using online methods. Try sending postcards, letters and other offline methods to drive people to your web site. Think 'big picture', think 'outa-the-box'.
That's it for today.
Wish you success.
Case Stevens
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