According to a survey conducted by Edelman in 2013, ‘financial services’ is the least trusted industry globally with only 46% of respondents indicating they have trust.
But trustworthiness is the bedrock of your broking company and your brand, so American brand consultant John Seroka gives eight tips to show you how to build it up.
1. Leveraging social media is a great way to build trust. Social media engagement is unique in that it works for small start-ups and well-established behemoths alike.
There are still some out there that don’t buy into this because they don’t know how it works or the power that it has. Here’s a statistic you should be aware of if you’re one of the naysayers. In a report from eMarketer, 82% of consumers trust a company more if they are involved with social media.
This means that if you’re active on Facebook, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn, distributing helpful information and writing blogs…your ability to build trust among your target audience is greatly accelerated. This statistic is not far behind friend and family recommendations.
2. Be careful not to overstate. We’ve always been told as children and adults that if something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. Consumers are much smarter and more discerning than ever before especially when it comes to financial services…so if you feel you can offer something special, be sure to show proof that you’re offering is real.
If you say it, then you must prove it. No empty statements allowed.
3. Be on time…in general just do what you say you’re going to do when you say you’re going to do it. Yes, I know that sounds really simple, but surely you know people who are always running just a little bit late. And then, they want you to trust that they’ll deliver needed documents and other key services on time after you hire them. Put yourself in the clients’ position…don’t you get annoyed when people aren’t on time when you’re on a busy schedule?
This also goes for over-promising. If you can’t get it done until Thursday but you say you’ll have it on Monday…that drives any business person bananas! In the mortgage industry, the consequences of late performance can be far-reaching and have a domino effect.
4. Make sure your marketing materials have consistency. Consistency shows your prospects that you have a unified voice and that you know what you stand for. If the language, look and feel of your marketing materials appear disparate, this tells your audience that you’re not really sure what you stand for quite yet and may even create brand confusion not just externally, but internally as well.
5. Show passion for what you do. You must take a real interest in helping those you come in contact with that are candidates for what you have to offer. There are many ways to demonstrate your passion. As a company, it’s evident in the attitudes of your employees, how they dress, the technology you have to ensure a smooth process, your attentiveness to customer needs, product knowledge, showing you’ve done your “homework” prior to meetings and much more.
6. Don’t hide behind the fine print. This is a big one and we all know what it means. If you know you might need to leverage the “fine print” after you get a contract signed, you may make your profit in the immediate term, but it will cost you dearly in credibility once your client gets on his computer and writes a blog about what it’s like to do business with you…or simply goes to [review website] Yelp and gives you an ugly rating.
7. Show off your testimonials. Especially if you’re a lesser known entity, it’s important to share testimonials with your prospective clients. Posting written testimonials on your website is an excellent idea. If you’re a mortgage company and you can get video testimonials from business referrers and clients…even better! Video continues to grow in importance and YouTube is the largest search engine next to Google and is also owned by Google.
8. Acquire certifications, awards and participate in continuing education classes.
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