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Your surroundings are
a key factor
in establishing trust with
your clients/audience.

How can you use your surroundings to establish trust with your customers and your audience?

I reckon you will agree that trust is one of the pillars on which the customer-business relationship stands. Once you get this right, your efforts to market yourself and your business become so much easier.

Your audience will become loyal , and don´t we all yearn for a loyal audience?

Everything seems to be revolving lately around alignment, every post, every coach, they all recommend us to be in alignment as the only way to have a meaningful and successful business.

Well, TRUST is exactly what alignment represents.

Social media audiences are not newbies any more, they don´t buy the fake life that some public figures were trying to sell. People are savvy, they immediately know whether you are living the life you preach about or whether it is just another sly marketing tactic. They can “smell” a put-on personality and a fake lifestyle.

As serious entrepreneurs who are in this because we have mission and because we want to make an impact as well as a living, trust becomes a must, a non-negotiable feature we need to strive for.

The most successful entrepreneurs and I am not just speaking about numbers here, but those with the most loyal followings have achieved that loyalty because they come across as trustworthy, you can clearly see that their life matches their speech, their speech is in alignment with their life and business.

However, it is not an easy trait to communicate, or is it?

You must be thinking, but surely it takes months, even years to build trust, you must prove time and time again that you are the real deal, right?
Well…although time will reinforce the trust you are able to establish with your customers and your colleagues, there is one thing you can start doing today that will help you communicate and build that trust!

I am going to give you a key piece in order to ultimately build trust with your audience. It will immediately make you appear more trustworthy, it goes without saying you should be honing your message and really living your message every day.

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Your surroundings are a key factor in establishing trust with your clients.
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As we have learnt in previous weeks, (you can read previous posts in our BLOG), your space and your backdrop are a very powerful communication and marketing tool. When they are not in alignment with your message, you won´t come across as professional, trustworthy and you won´t be able to be seen as an expert.

Let me put it simply:

What you say you can do for your clients and what they see in your surroundings matches, it is cohesive, it speaks the same language, expresses the same message, in the same style and voice.

What you say and what they see, fits perfectly.

When you are in alignment with your business, you transmit trust. Every piece fits in, there is no deceitful feeling about what you say or do.

On the contrary when what you say and what your audience perceives or sees clashes, when it does not “sound and look” the same, your audience is confused. They do not trust that you can actually deliver what you say you can deliver in a way that will benefit them.

To give you an example: a website designer who states they can create a sleek, clean looking, easy to navigate, up to date website that will attract high end clients for your business but who happens to work from a messy, shabby space…well, you would have a difficult time trusting that they can really deliver what they say.

However, if their workspace is clean, tidy, sleek…then you can definitely picture them delivering the perfect website.

So what can you do to start building trust with your audience? Here is an easy test you can do:

Look at your surroundings;

-Do they show your expertise?
-Do they match your level of knowledge?

-Do they communicate your unique way of doing business?

-Do they reflect your success and your clients´s successes?

-Are they able to attract your ideal client?

If you cannot decide for yourself, you can do this simple test:
Without giving any information about what you do, post a picture of your space and ask these questions:
– What do you think the person who works in this space does?
– What would you say is their expertise?
– What would you say is their level of success?
– Would you say they are a well-established business?
– Would you trust them to do business with?

In order for this exercise to work, avoid saying this picture has any relation to your business. A good way of testing this is to post in a group where they don´t know who you are, maybe a group where you have been quiet, or you just joined.

Would you like to let your surroundings speak for you in front of your clients/audience?

Download my FREE CHECKLIST and get all the elements you need in place to create The Perfect Office.

Let your surroundings enhance your expertise.

Let your surroundings enhance your expertise, MelanieFalvey.
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Our work space or office is such a powerful tool. It is so in two ways.

On the one hand, it is where we need to be the most productive, creative, efficient…and HAPPY.
On the other hand, it expresses a lot about us: our business style, our personality.

When we meet clients or when we hold Skype calls, webinars, we are sending out a very powerful image of how we are able to help them.
So take a minute to reflect upon this. Is that space that you are showing your clients or potential clients the best reflection of your knowledge and savoir-faire?
Is it going to make them trust that you can put their business in order when you are sitting in front of a messy shelf? Oh yes, a pile of books might reflect knowledge , however, the way those books are set says so much more about you.
Hadn´t you ever though about it? Well, it´s time you did. We are all very visual, it´s not by chance they say an image is worth a thousand words, it is the way our brains work. The first perception, lasts only seconds,but immediately makes an assumption about what our brain is perceiving. It doesn´t say, oh, let me get all the data I need about this and I will study it in depth and I will get back to you when I make up my mind about you. No! It doesn´t work that way.
In order to survive, our primitive ancestors had to make quick decisions – so they either ran for their lives as soon as they saw a lion or well, let´s put it simply, we wouldn´t be here today, would we?
So make sure those first seconds when someone gets to see you and your surroundings are capable of sending out the best impression of yourself and your business.

Imagine you are a web designer wanting to get a new client. You jump on a Skype call with your prospect. You might have even put on some make up (well, ladies, I guess, though I will not be the one to judge you if you are a man), you are nicely dressed, or maybe not . You´ve got your fancy presentation and you proudly show your client portfolio and all your great work.
But, all your potential client can see is the stain of a coffee mug on your desk, a messy shelf at the back and a pile of laundry on one corner of the room.
Now, the truth is that if you are selling them the concept of a great designed, sleek looking website… well, excuse me for being blunt but you are sending out contradicting messages.You get it, right?

So, first impressions DO matter in business. Obviously you might be , and I am sure you are the most efficient web designer out there, and yes, you think showing your messy office gives this nerdy-geeky-vibe which equals being a great web designer. Em, no! Or maybe they´ll think you are messy because you have so much work because you are so good at what you do, that you could not possibly have the time to style your office. No, again! Or you are just this free spirited entrepreneur who has this incredibly laid-back style that clients will adore…no!

That is where most people get it wrong. Your space can reflect that you are an easy going individual, no need for fancy, stiff decor. That´s not the point. The point is you must portray your best image in order for your clients to trust your professionalism. It might have nothing to do with how well you can perform your work, but unfortunately we have been wired to trust our first impressions.

If you are selling the image of a well-established multi-figure (I do hate that type of jargon) entrepreneur, how can you have such a shabby (without the chic) work space? You see, it just doesn´t match. Your space should align with your speech.

Your space should align with your speech. MelanieFalvey
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So here is where you can start:
Look around your space and be objective, does it truly reflect who you are and who you want to be perceived as?
If not, think what element (colour or object) you can introduce to make it “more you”. Start small, one element at a time-introduce some object that bears your brand colour ,or
maybe a nice pen that will make you feel good and important. It doesn´t have to be pricey, but it must feel special to you.
For instance, I recently bought a flamingo pen. I adore flamingos since I was a little girl and now, having become quite a trend I can find them more easily. I have actually even created a whole collection with the flamingo theme, it will soon be available in my shop.

So I placed my new pen in my pen holder and every time I look at it, I associate it to signing: signing contracts, cheques (in order to cash them!) or who knows, maybe a book some day?*

That simple little item is “so me”, anyone seeing it knows this, they associate it with my style. Obviously my whole office reflects who I am because this is what I do, but everybody, absolutely everybody can learn how to create spaces that enhance them, reflect who they are at their best and make them more efficient, productive, creative, happier…which therefore leads to SUCCESS!

Ergo, what does your space look like?
What small change can you make today to improve it and make it more you?
Let me know by posting a comment below or by posting on social media using hashtag #MeMyOfficeAndI

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Join our  School of Style on Facebook or sign up for our FREE RESOURCES.

Thanks for reading!
Melanie x

* After writing this post I actually wrote a book!

All rights reserved. Copyright Melanie Falvey 2016