Would you ever work with someone you didn’t trust? Would you rather your clients trust you fully? Well clients prefer to work with professionals whom they trust. Trust doesn’t happen overnight; building trust is an ongoing process.
Here are 10 great opportunities to build more trust with your existing and new clients.
1. Setting Client Roles Upfront – If your client is going to be involved in the process, it is imperative that they understand what they will be responsible for. When they are clear about their roles they will be clear about the expectations and time lines. This will help you work together as a team and allow you to move forward if you run into any roadblocks and ensure that trust is gained on both sides.
2. Keep Your Promises – Sometimes this seems so simple and obvious. If you promise to complete a project on a particular day, make sure it’s done when you said. Even something as small as the time you have scheduled an appointment is an agreement. Every time you don’t hold onto these promises, you lose their trust.
3. Respect Their Time – If you are in a meeting with them, then that time is booked for them. Your clients will feel unimportant if you allow interruptions to take you away during your time with them. This lack of respect will eventually destroy any trust they may have had.
4. Set Reasonable Expectations – Clients don’t always know what we do behind the scenes. Sometimes they think we do more or less than we actually do. It’s important to make sure your clients understand exactly what you will do for them. Set the expectations early about what is and isn’t included in your products or services. Are they going to run into hidden costs? Do they get services they may not have known about included? Tell them upfront! Ensuring you keep to these expectations, your clients will learn to trust you very quickly.
5. Walk Your Clients Through The Process – We all learn and trust more if we understand how things work. Take a bit of time at the beginning of the process to walk them through the process from beginning to end. This is tied into setting reasonable expectations. Once they understand how you work, they will know you are a person they will want to work with.
6. Never Over Promise – You have all heard the saying “Under promise, over deliver”, when it comes to setting clients expectations, it couldn’t be more true. It can become really easy to want to promise your clients the moon in order to keep them happy in the moment. But if you can’t deliver, it does more damage than good. Over promising will lead to broken promises which leads to broken trust.
7. Don’t Make Your Client Feel Stupid – No one likes to feel stupid. Especially a client who is paying you… If your clients get even the slightest hint that you are treating them as if they are inferior, they are going to lose faith in you. Clients that don’t feel valued by you will stop seeing the value in you. It’s more than likely not your intention to treat them this way, it may be an attitude, a little comment, or even a look that gives the clients the impression you feel this way. Remember, it’s about THEIR perception of what you feel. 8. Cover Any Potential Pitfalls – When a client doesn’t know what roadblocks they may run into, they will be shocked when things come up. Lay out from the beginning any and all issues that may arrive so they are prepared in advance and not in shock if something comes up they weren’t expecting.
9. Analyse The Agreement – Ensure you clearly go over any contracts with your clients in detail BEFORE signing them. Nothing gets a client more upset than being stuck in a contract that they don’t understand. If you don’t feel comfortable doing this with them, ensure they review it with a lawyer or trusted source. Don’t lose their trust over a simple discrepancy in the contract. Conclusion 
As you can see, keeping trust with your clients and potential clients is a bit of a balancing act and will take work to master. Once you learn these skills you can be sure your clients will not only be ecstatic to work with you, but will be quite happy to refer you to others.
To you and your success,
Ryan Smith – Chief Content Creator