Home Business Start-Up – Building Trust (PART I)


Teamwork on Blackboard Royalty Free Stock Photo

They say there ‘is no fear except fear itself’. People
may have a fear of the unkown to begin with and likely are
skeptical if not suspicious when they are in unfamiliar
territory. In the case of a home business start-up, there
are lots of areas that could become ‘deal breakers’. That
is why it is doubly more important than ever that you are
perceived as being honest and reliable to your prospects and
customers.

It is a good idea if you focus on the areas where it may
seem small or inconsequential but it actually is not, as far
as building trust. You should always keep your word even if
it doesn’t seem important; for example understand that
there is a difference between 9:00am and 9:30am. If you set
up an appointment online or otherwise, you need to be there
on time. Stuff happens? Then just be sure to call BEFORE you
are late to say that you have been delayed and will be there
ASAP. Really make an effort to be there on time or as close
as you can. It is actually very rude and disrespectful to
keep someone waiting. Might as well start off your
relationships on the right foot so that you build trust
instead of disgust.

This being honest thing extends to your advertising and
marketing techniques as well. Say what you mean and mean
what you say. If you stick to that rule you shouldn’t run
into any problems with being perceived as trustworthy and
reliable. An example here might be even something like
saying a deal will end at 12:00am on Tuesday. A time
deadline may be an effective ploy to get people to take
action (the fear of missing out). However if they go to the
site at 1:00am and it is still there, or a week from now,
you have been caught in a lie. To someone you hope to do
business with, they could feel you are less than genuine and
that is not a good way to build a relationship of trust.

You can bend this just a little bit and still appear honest
– for example at 12:00am post something to the effect that
the time has been extended due to the huge response or slow
response, and give the next deadline. The point is just
don’t leave it there because there are too many people just
looking for a reason to walk away and pronounce everything a
scam. You are still saying what you mean and meaning what
you say, it’s just bent a little. The perception is what
counts and you are still attempting to be honest with them.
Of course you want to change the deadline few and far
between times – so maybe give it a broad range like a week
rather than a specific hour.

Sometimes you ‘don’t get a second chance to make a first
impression’. It is really shocking how skeptical people
can turn the most innocent thing into a ‘scam’ — You
don’t have phone support, therefore this means you must be
part of a scam; maybe your customer service is a little
slow in responding, therefore you must be a scammer. Even
something that you said or printed that was misconstrued by
them, you guessed it, that means you must be a scammer; how
about they expected something from you, but that is not your
policy or protocol and you try politely to explain that, but
to no avail, this makes you a crook since you are not doing
business on their terms. Nothing much can be done about
people like this, but do what you can to ‘take the high
road’.

For normal home business start-up relationships once you
establish yourself as someone who is friendly, open and
reasonably honest, then you can begin to build trust which
can mean everything to your new business’ bottom-line,
including repeat business from loyal customers and peers.
Building trust is what you want to strive for in developing
your home business. Even if what you are selling is
one-time-only, there is still much credence given to those
word-of-mouth recommendations, so you want to build your
reputation in the right direction!


This website can be yoursClick here for details