How to Build Credibility with Email Marketing
Use the Power of Written Word to Boost Believability
People Buy from Those They Trust…and trust is hard to get these days. Just like in personal relationships, “Love at First Sight” is rare in business today. In most cases it takes time for your clients to become confident about what you have to offer.
In a time when the sales person educated the buyers (before information became widely available digitally), what a sales rep said carried a great deal of weight in the purchasing decision. But squeezed business budgets, bank failures, Bernie Madoff scandals and way too much information about the latest scams has pushed most buyers into a corner – almost afraid to make any decision. Second guessing buying decisions has almost become a national sport.
Written content integrated with CRM can take advantage of customer skepticism.
Become Known as the Expert
Every business owner would love to have clients flocking to their company already “sold” on their credibility and expertise. Sound like an impossible dream? The fact is, becoming known as an expert has never been easier with self-publishing.
Self-publishing can be simply filling your company blog with content that is relevant and useful to your ideal client. In his book “Secrets of Power Negotiating” Roger Dawson explains the universal law that people believe what they see in writing. He states “If it is said it could be true. But if it is written then it must be true.” Position yourself as an expert in your field by getting your knowledge in writing. Then share it with your prospects through email marketing and blog posting.
Give Your Best Stuff Away
Many believe that the best marketing strategy is to give things away for free. In fact, Seth Godin has built his career on that principle. In a recent article of “Selling Power”, the writer discusses Godin’s rise to world fame by giving his books away. The article points out that “Godin’s giveaways are….endorsements of honesty. Truth leads to trust, and a customer’s trust is more valuable than any money made from the sale.”
Being generous with useful information to your current clients and prospects is a powerful strategy. It gets better when you use a highly useful giveaway to actually build a list of NEW prospects. With a dynamic CRM program, you capture their contact information and begin warming up their sense of trust.
Many of the readers will be really poor prospects to purchase from you. An automated email marketing campaign will let poor prospects fall away and good buyers rise to the top. These nourished prospects will raise their hand when they are ready to seriously consider your product or service. In the meantime, they will benefit from the information you share with them and build a sense of reciprocity that will ultimately lead to a sale.
Make Giving to Customers Part of the Company Culture
The magic of CRM is that you can share information across all customer-faced staff members. When everyone has client information, every single employee can be empowered to deliver exceptional customer service.
You have the data needed to study how your customers respond to your communications. It becomes simple to adjust your company culture to support increased sales. The good news, the adjustments you make to serving clients will also result in higher close ratios by sales staff, increased employee satisfaction and the power of satisfied clients telling others.