5 Ways Artisans Can Build Clients’ Trust

Many artisans have developed a bad reputation for their use of poor-quality materials on the job, their willingness to lie about their whereabouts, not showing up when they have been paid to work, and more. It is not surprising that trust has eroded over time and clients have become very suspicious of their activities. For your business to thrive as an artisan, you must work on gaining the trust of your clients. Here are some tips to help you achieve this:

1.      Deliver Excellent Service

Many clients distrust artisans because of poor quality work. Some clients have had to hire an artisan to complete a job started by another artisan who did a bad job. Clients want to get good value for their money, which in this case is work done well. Allow your work to do the talking for you. Providing excellent services is a critical step in earning the trust of clients. It keeps them coming back and increases the chances that they will recommend your services to family and friends.

2.       Be truthful and transparent

Nobody enjoys being deceived. The same is true for your clients. It is best practice to manage the expectations of your clients. Be completely honest with them and mean what you say. If you have an appointment with a client and you know you won't be able to make it, let them know ahead of time, provide the reason why, and reschedule the appointment. Furthermore, be open with your client. Take time to explain why you are recommending a particular product, outline the cost of materials, share receipts if possible, and so on.

3.       Be reachable

Ensure that your clients can easily contact you. This will require you to keep your phone lines active and reachable. If you have two work lines, share both of them to increase the client’s odds of connecting with you. If your phone is stolen, try to recover your phone number instead of changing it. However, notify your clients if you need to change your line. This assures your clients of your availability.

4.       Feedback

Make it a habit to obtain feedback from clients in order to better understand how you can serve them. Furthermore, after the first week of repairs, call your clients to confirm if the repairs you performed are in good working order. If there are issues, offer to look again without payment unless more work is required than expected

5. Provide maintenance advice to clients

Show your clients that you care by providing them with maintenance tips and information on how to resolve minor issues.

References

Photo source: Photo by Bernard Hermant on Unsplash