5 Ways to build trust with potential clients

The most obvious answer is to use testimonials. But we’re not here to talk about the obvious. Plus, I strongly recommend against relying too much on testimonials. From personal experience: When you rely too heavily on using testimonials to sell, you tend to bring in clients who buy because of those testimonials — and less because they trust their intuition that you’re the person to help them; they’ve studied your approach and personality to build up their confidence that you can help them; or because they trust themselves to take what you have to share and figure out how to make it work for themselves. That very important side note aside, let’s talk about 5 ways that you can - and should - use to build trust with potential clients. Starting with my favorite: 1. Practice what you preach. One of the reasons I continue to coach a small handful of clients every year, is not only because I find it personally massively fulfilling, but because it keeps me sharp. I stay in touch with what my audience is struggling with, remind myself of challenges that I might otherwise have forgotten about, and continue to practice my craft (re: coaching, that is). Plus, if I didn’t, I wouldn’t consider myself to be very in integrity helping coaches, consultants, and freelancers. Same thing with every strategy I teach. I either still use it to this day, or I used it at a very pivotal time in my business — and explain why I no longer use it but highly recommend it for people who are at that same point in their business. For example: If you’re new to creating and selling courses, the best way to create and sell your first one is to do a live launch — which is what I teach in my Ultimate Course Launch program. Much better for building your audience faster, getting attention to your product, helping your clients get better results, and making more sales. I don’t do live launching now only because I don’t need to. In large part because of those launches, I developed the skills I mentioned above. Plus an audience of over 100,000. But without those launches, I probably wouldn’t be here today. 2. Don’t exaggerate. This goes against a lot of common unwisdom taught in the “online business” space. Which is probably why I’ve been seeing more and more claims like this: “I’ve helped [so and so who I don’t even know] drive a gazillion dollars per month from Youtube!” But then you’ll look up that supposedly amazing client, and see that their channel has only a handful of videos, most of them averaging less than 100 views. Just be upfront and say that you’re good at helping new Youtubers get their videos up. There’s an audience for what you can deliver, no matter what that is. As long as you tell it like it is. When I was at six-figures, I was clear about that. And people hired me to help them get to $5K months. When I was at seven-figures, people hired me to help them get to multiple six-figures. And it wasn’t until I was past the 8-figure mark that people started hiring me to help them get to seven- or multiple-seven. Same thing when I was first starting out as an advertising consultant — I told people, “I’m not new to advertising, but I am new in my business.” People appreciate honesty. And in fact, being honest and not exaggerating has always helped me make more sales, not less. 3. Showcase yourself. Like the health coach who shares their fitness routine and day to day habits. Or showcasing you having the results you help others with. Like showing your flashy lifestyle and success, which is a super common way, and works. But as you probably know by now, that’s not really my preference. Instead, I prefer to showcase via demonstration: Anyone who follows my content for even a short amount of time can tell that I know what I’m talking about. And my marketing and business skills — including the time and effort I’ve put into developing them — become fairly obvious pretty quickly. You can’t hide skill, or lack of it. So let those skills you’ ve spent so much time, sweat, and tears building, shine! 4. Answer q’s. This is an easy way to get started with tip #3 above. In my earlier years, I used to do this via livestreams. I’d get on, talk, and then answer questions live. That often included doing some on-the-spot coaching, which as you can imagine, shows that you know your stuff like few other things can. 5. Show up. At this point, I’ve got almost a decade’s worth of talks, interviews, and my own content floating around the internets. And let me tell you — that consistency builds trust like nothing else. These tips are obvious in retrospect now , but honestly? I didn’t have some big masterplan to do these things when I started out. I just did what I could, every day, year after year. But I think that’s great news — and hopefully you agree. Because that means you can create that too, and have it build up for you , just one day at a time. 
 To trust, Luisa Zhou PS - If you’re ready to grow your business and you’d like my and my team’s help, here’s what we’ve got for you… If you’ve been wanting to build a business and leave your 9-to-5: [The 4-Step Formula I Used to Build My Coaching Business and Replace My Salary BEFORE I Left my 9-5]( If you’re ready to go from 1-on-1 work to no longer trading time for money: [Successfully create & sell your own online course for true financial freedom]( And, if you’re at 6-figures ready to scale to multiple 6- or 7-: [Go from Hustling Coach/Course Creator to 7-Figure Business Owner]( If you no longer wish to receive these emails, click here to [unsubscribe]( Zhou Ventures, Inc. 459 Columbus Ave #4049 New York, NY 10024