Confidence and Increased Sales

I had a situation recently that caused me irritation and led to a decrease in business for one company, and an increase for another.  Earlier in the fall, I had sown a tremendous amount of rye grass so my yard would look green and vibrant for the holidays.  The rains came, and the rye grass started to grow rapidly.   I scheduled my lawn to be mowed before the Thanksgiving holiday with our landscaper, only to learn he had closed his doors!  I quickly contacted another company, who came out to meet me and assured me they would take care of our lawn  before the holidays.  For the next several days I heard very little from this company as the holiday approached.  Finally, two days before Thanksgiving,  I sent a text to the owner, and heard nothing from him.  I contacted another company,  who assured me with a phone call, that they would mow our lawn the day before Thanksgiving .  So I cancelled with the previous company that would not answer my texts.  I then heard from the owner immediately,  but it was too late!  The other company came just as promised, mowed and manicured our lawn, and everything looked great when our many guests arrived on Thanksgiving day.

From the above related incident there is one word that sums up why one company lost business while the other gained a client and a potential long term relationship.  That word is Confidence.  I lost confidence in the ability of one company to perform.  Webster’s on-line dictionary defines confidence in this context as, “a feeling or belief that someone or something is good or has the ability to succeed at something: the feeling of being certain that something will happen or that something is true.”  When others have confidence in you, they will give you their business and be loyal to you and your organization.  There are two main qualities that cause others to have confidence in you.

• Communication– Timely, consistent, and on-going communication increases confidence and indicates to clients they are top of mind and you will perform as you have stated.
• Performance– Doing what you said you would do, when you said you would do it, and doing it exceptionally well, will cause your customer to have and increase their confidence in you.

Do you want to increase your sales?  Then communicate, perform, and cause others to have a firm confidence in you.
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