The Know, Like, and Trust Factor 

The Know, Like, and Trust Factor are the first 3 steps of the client buying process. It is a straightforward concept that says that people work with businesses they Know, Like, and Trust. It’s a great concept, but you must fully understand how to LEVERAGE the Know, Like, and Trust Factor to get a solid return on investment in marketing.

When people Know who you are, Like you, and Trust you, they will do business with you.

So, that brings us to the question, “How do potential clients get to know you exist?”

You have to be in front of potential clients for them to find you and know you exist. This is called your “Findability.” This means:

• Your search engine rankings need to be good. On page 1 for your targeted keywords. The higher, the better.
• Your Google Maps listing needs to be optimized and displaying in the first three, so potential clients can find you at the top of the page.
• You need to be in the places that potential clients look for services like yours. This could be Yelp, Thumbtack, Facebook, etc.

Ultimately, you need to be NOTICED. Clients have to know you exist before they work with you.

Once potential clients KNOW who you are, they need to have the opportunity to LIKE you.

It’s rare to buy something from someone you don’t like, and if you do, it’s even more unlikely you will buy from them again. Think about it: Have you ever been in a store, ordered at a restaurant, or hired a service provider only to find that you didn’t like the person who helped you solve your problem? Maybe they were rude, or maybe they provided poor service. It probably annoyed you that you had to pay them.

I was recently speaking with a client who told me she had found THE interior designer that she wanted to work with for her home redesign. The designer had experience, great information on his site, and created beautiful designs. So, she filled out his “request a quote” form intending to hire him. But the designer didn’t get back to her, so a week later, she emailed him. A couple of days after that, she left a voicemail. He finally called her back and apologized, saying he had been swamped, and then he asked her to remind him about her project’s details. Ouch! Huh?

Needless to say, she isn’t going to work with that designer. Although he got himself KNOWN, he dropped the ball on the LIKE factor.

Getting people to LIKE you enough to work with you is part of your marketing strategy. This is done by having a solid social media presence, where you showcase what you offer and connect with clients.

53% of buyers will check out a company on social media before making a purchase.

Make sure you connect with your customer base on social media, show you provide great customer care and response time. Show off your work and use your social media as a place for potential clients to research you while you engage with your current client base.

It can be time-consuming to do this by hand. So, make sure you are on the appropriate channels for your business. We recommend our clients use the Digital Visibility Strategies Social Media Manager.

This brings us to Trust. Trust is the foundation of ALL relationships.

Trust is given by those who know you and like you. At this point, potential clients want to see that what you’re offering is as valuable as YOU say it is. They want to know that what you offer is going to solve the problem YOU say it solves. They need “Social Proof” that shows your current clients value you.

Social proof is a psychological principle. It guides people who are unsure or uncertain to look to others for guidance in making decisions. It can be created with recommendations, client-generated content about your services, and reviews.

A few important Reputation Management facts:

• 9 out of 10 buyers read online reviews before buying.
• A study published by Harvard found that for every 1-star increase a company gets in reviews, it sees a 5-9% increase in revenue.
• 85% of buyers think that reviews older than 3 months are not relevant.
• A business that doesn’t reply to reviews earns almost 10% less revenue than its competitors. This is because buyers spend up to 49% more with companies that reply to reviews.

➡ Bonus: More reviews on Google may increase your Google Maps positioning.

This means it is important to constantly generate new reviews and respond promptly to online reviews and recommendations. Review generation and response can be difficult to track and time-consuming. Our clients use our Reputation Manager to make it quick and easy.

To close the sale, potential clients need to TRUST that you have the expertise to solve their problems. This TRUST is what makes them willing to pay you to solve it.

Trust is the key that turns the lock. It is your most powerful tool to increase sales conversions.