Four days ago, I interviewed Allan Pollett on my show #AskingWHY via WIGRadio on how to leverage the internet as a connection tool. In the course of the interview, I asked him how someone can go from 0 to 8 in a world where no body really gives a sh*t about you, a world where you need to earn people's trust before they can do business with you (How can you earn the trust of someone that barely knows you)?
What He Said
"Be transparent, honest and generous. Don't try to pitch to your prospective clients first, it doesn't work that way. Be ready to help, be ready to give your all first...."
Let Me Break The Whole Thing Down
•--------->This is YOU
•---------------->This is your market.
In the connection economy (that we are now), your goal is to bring your market to you or go closer to your market I.e you and your market has to be on the same page.
Fine, you have a great product (say you are an artist and you can even paint the whole universe in a minute or better still a writer that is pregnant with great ideas) - you believe you are that awesome. And you have taken time out to do your research and identified your target market (Identifying your target market is very important).
Now the challenge is getting your target market to know you. Because there is no way in the world you will sell to someone that doesn't trust you or your product ( believe that your product can do what you claim it can do).
CHALLENGE: You Need To Earn Their Trust!
WHAT MOST PEOPLE DO:
Most people feel the best way to earn the trust of their target market is through ads. "Let's pump money into some TV ads dammit!"
Let me tell you the hard truth about TV Ads (Ads generally); Advertisement will give you that awareness you need for your product. It will make noise about your product in places where you did not even imagine, but it can't earn you the trust of your target market. And they are f**king expensive too. (especially for a startup)
Ads cannot be your get-out-of-jail-free card when it comes to earning people's trust. Ads only works effectively when (after) you have built that trust.
So How Do We Earn The Trust Of Our Clients
Friendship!
You don't just walk up to a lady (that you like) at the mall and say "hey baby, I am awesomely intelligent and cool.... Let's go to my house and have
That is what we do when we go for ads first (when we pitch our idea to our clients) without building friendship.
Because they don't know you from anywhere, you have to be generous- you need to let them have a bit of you first. And you have to do it from the bottom of your heart.
You are a great writer (you know you are) that has this amazing book idea, you don't just go ahead and write hoping that your target market will buy. They won't buy because they don't know you neither do they know if you are worth getting advice from.
So instead of writing that book and forcing people to buy through book launches (yeah people still do book launches. Crazy right?) or Ads, Teach people for free first. Start a blog that shares some of those ideas that you have. Help people get more from their lives the way you can. Gradually with consistency, you will build friendship and earn the trust of your market.
You will earn their trust because they now know how credible and awesome you are and they'd be sure to buy whatever you sell to them (and even tell their friends too because they know what you are capable of).
Bonus Point: When you earn trust through friendship and not Ads, your clients will stay with you even in times of troubles. They'd defend you anywhere. Ads (no matter how expensive) can never do that for you.
PS: #AskingWHY is a radio show that inspires people to challenge the status-quo and unleash their creativity in respect to creating work that matters and getting more out of life. It goes on air every Monday 10.30am (GMT+1:00 West Central Africa time) on WIGRadio.
Sadiq Daniel is a Serial Entrepreneur and Teens Coach that blogs on business, Self- development, Life lessons and Ideas that challenges the status quo... You can pursue him for a speaking engagements on Twitter: @sadiqspeaks LinkedIn: Sadiq Daniel and Email:Sadiqdaniel@gmail.com
