"When we build trust...
we don't have to worry about selling"
Have you ever heard of the term “a born salesman”? Well, I’m certainly not one…cos I don’t have the gift of the gap!
But if you are an entrepreneur, a business owner, a freelancer…or if you have anything product or service to offer, then you will need buyers.
What we don’t want to do is to 𝗦𝗘𝗟𝗟 – but to make our prospects 𝗪𝗔𝗡𝗧 to 𝗕𝗨𝗬 from us.
One of the surest ways to achieve that is by building a relationship with our audience is through a simple 4-step formula called the…. 𝑲𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆 & 𝑻𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕
Step #1: WHO is your Audience?
This part is crucial (and very useful) not only for your Branding but also for your long-term Marketing plan.
Start by making a simple note about our ideal customer based on these general profiling:
✅ Their age range, gender (your target market)
✅ Education level, employment (self-employed or corporate employee, what they are looking for)
✅ Lifestyle (how do they spend their work and leisure hours)
✅ Challenges (their struggles, pain points, and how you can help them).
To make things easy for you, I have created a free worksheet….
🎁 𝑰𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒚 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑰𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝑪𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒔 🎁
Step #2 Let them know WHO you are
“You can’t love what you don’t know”
This is the part where you want your audience to know a little bit about you.
It’s not about telling them your whole life story – but something that is relevant to what you are doing now. If you’re an expert in your field or niche, let them know how you “learn it or earn it”.
Remember ‘speak’ on the same level where your audience as this will help them resonate better with what you will be sharing with them.
Talk a little bit about your journey and let them know that you were once in (almost) the same situation where they are now. That you are no better than them but just a little bit further ahead and have seen, done and experienced a little bit more – and that you can help them avoid some unnecessary pitfalls or mistakes that you have made.
For me, sometimes I start with…
“My parents were divorced when I was two, then my mother abandoned me. In life, it’s not about where we come from, but where we want to end up at.”
Then I moved straight on to what I’m doing currently and how I got here…. And how I can help them.
Think about your own journey – and write a short story that you can weave into your message to your audience (in your emails, blog or social media posts).
Step #3 GIVE more than you take (and start building TRUST)
In life ~ we must try to give more than we take.
It’s the same with building a relationship with our audience. In order to build trust, we need to share useful things of value.
You can start creating your lead magnets – in the form of free training, tutorials, guides, ebooks, checklists, cheat sheets, worksheets… anything of value that can benefit your audience.
Help them get started in their own learning journey and when the right time comes, they will be asking you for more help – and that is when you can start recommending good, quality offers to them.
They will be more likely to take your recommendation and buy from you instead of from someone else that they don’t know. It’s as simple as that.
Step #4 Be CONSISTENT, think LONG-TERM
With the Know, Like and Trust formula, you need to have the right mindset in place. It’s a long term process that helps build a group of long-term repeat customers.
Plus it’s also a crucial part of your email marketing strategy, it will also help to generate consistent long-term income for you.
Remember not to abandon your relationship with non-buyers because you’ll never know at which stage they’re at. Perhaps due to their current commitments, they are not able to buy anything from you yet – and if they haven’t unsubscribed to your email list, then they are still your prospects.
You should also maintain a good relationship with them because they might be an ambassador for you – and may recommend you to their own network of friends and contacts.
In this article, I have mentioned about creating your Lead Magnets and also about Email Marketing. I will be sharing more tips and guides on these topics soon – so, keep a look out for them!
