Do your customers, employees and potential investors believe and trust your small business? If you answered yes, then you have a credible business but if you are not sure, then it is time to work on your credibility in your company. With the advent of the internet and everyone able to build a website or social media page, it has become crucial to develop your credibility so that people will be keener to do business with you. Let’s look at how to create credibility in your small business.
1. Develop consistency
By being consistent you let your employees, customers, and anyone else who interacts with your business know how you do business and through this, they can establish trust with you. You can create consistency in your business by having clear procedures for your operations and ensuring that your online presence all looks similar with the same fonts and colours. By building a consistent image of your brand wherever you go your customers will recognise you and begin to trust that you are a credible brand that they can deal with.
2. Do what you say you will
This is probably the easiest step to do but many people struggle with it. But bring back honour to your word and do what you say you will do. And if you see that you will not achieve the deadline you have set let your customer know. It will be better than them finding out on the day that you failed to meet the deadline.
3. Pay attention to feedback
For positive feedback, you can put it in highlight reels on your social media pages. You can dedicate a page on your website to show what customers have said about your business. If you have been positively rated on industry pages or social media, you can thank your customers for the review.
As for negative feedback, many people are uncomfortable with critique, and it is understandable as it is human nature to want to do your best. But it is critical to acknowledge the feedback and ask the customer to contact you via email to settle the disagreement. This will show potential customers that you are willing to listen to feedback and improve your operations if necessary.
4. Write thought leadership content
Create content which speaks to the pain points of your customer and helps them to see that you are knowledgeable about the problem and the potential solutions including your own. You can also write guest blogs for websites which are well-known in your industry. By doing this you will increase your small business’ credibility.
5. Be contactable
Ensure you have a variety of ways in which your customers can contact you. You should have your email address and contact number visible on your website so that customers feel there is someone they can speak to if something goes wrong with their order.
6. Offer your best
Make sure that the products and services you offer are the best you can offer. As you learn more things and improve your systems, you can offer better but always ensure you are doing your best.
7. Display your achievements:
Have you won a recent award in your industry? Then you need to showcase it. By showing that you are recognised for what you do in your industry, you will strengthen your credibility.
By doing these seven steps you will ensure that your business becomes credible in your industry.
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