Gimmicks, free add-ons, and reduced fees may be great tools for catching attention, but to sustain business growth, a data center must accomplish three things:
- Offer a service of consistently high quality
- Inspire trust
- Be recognized as an authority
The latter is especially important, as many businesses deliver quality products or services. Any company that goes to the extent of building trust and authority with its clients will have their support for life.
The importance of a repeat clientele cannot be understated: according to SumAll, a marketing analytics company, anywhere from 25 to 40% of a stable company’s total revenues come from returning customers. Building this level of trust and authority takes time and hard work, but can be done if a data center works on three core competencies: consistency, relevance, and reliability.
Consistency
People tend to trust companies with whom they are familiar. The more they see a brand name, tagline, or logo, the more inclined they are to regard it as a stable and reliable source of information. That is the starting point. A data center needs to become an authority in its field to keep the momentum going.
Authority status does not happen overnight. It requires a business to deliver high-quality and relevant information on a routine basis, assuring potential data center clients it is the best source of important content in its given niche.
Relevancy
In a business context, relevance refers to delivering content that informs, entertains, and otherwise engages the recipient. This content must matter to a consumer at each stage of their buyer's journey. To succeed, the data center’s sales staff must figure out what potential clients want and need and then give it to them regularly.
Once a company has gained the trust of enough people, they will talk about it to their friends and colleagues, and in this era of social media, peer recommendations are gold.
Reliability
A company furthers its position of trust when it delivers on its promises; this means sticking to budgets, meeting deadlines, and following up on inquiries. One of the best methods of measuring your company’s reputation is to ask your current clients two questions:
- “Would you buy from us again?”
- “Would you recommend us to others?”
If they answer yes to both, it is a clear sign that your company inspires trust and is recognized as an authority.
The Bottom Line
Building trust and cultivating an authority position is simple in principle and hard work in practice. Sales personnel must treat existing and prospective clients respectfully, deliver quality and relevant content, and follow through on what they promise.
When all of this is done consistently, the data center’s client base and business will grow.
What does your data center do to inspire client trust and present itself as an authority? Let us know your thoughts in the Comments box below.
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