How to Build Trust With Potential Customers Online
Here's how to build trust with potential customers: answer the questions they ask right before they buy, and put those answers where they look you up. Most people check you out before they call. They look at your website, your reviews and your social pages to see if you're real and if you do what you say. Write down the 3 questions buyers ask right before they say yes, record a short video answering each one, and send those videos to people who already know you. That's how a stranger turns into a booked call.
What do potential customers check before they call you? (The Sniff Test)
They check whether you're real and whether you actually do what you say.
I learned this from my own business. For my first 3 to 4 years, my money came from Google ads. People searched, found my page and asked for a quote. But before they called, a lot of them did the same thing. They went and looked at my socials.
I call that the Sniff Test. Is this guy real? Is he still in business? Has he done this for someone like me?
My content didn't make the sale. It passed the Sniff Test, so the ads could. I put $80,000 of my own money into Google ads and turned it into over $1M in sales. The ads brought people in. The content is what they checked before they picked up the phone.
Why don't people trust a business they just found?
Because they've been burned before, and they don't want to be burned again.
Owners say it to me all the time. "I've been burned by marketing people before." Your customers feel the same way about whatever you sell. They've hired the contractor who disappeared, or the clinic that oversold them. So they look for proof before they risk it again.
If your page is empty, or your last post is from two years ago, they don't call. They don't tell you why, either. You just never hear from them.
Does it take a big following to build trust?
No. It takes the right answers in front of the right people.
Early on, my business made about $20 for every view on my YouTube channel. Small views, the right people. Nobody who hires you is counting your followers. They're looking for one thing: proof that you can solve their problem.
Step 1: What questions do buyers ask right before they say yes?
Start with the questions you already hear on calls, at estimates and in your inbox.
Write down the 3 questions people ask you right before they decide. Not the first question. The last one. It usually sounds like:
"How long will this take?"
"What happens if something goes wrong?"
"Have you done this for someone like me?"
Use their exact words. If a customer says "Will my unit make it through winter?" then that's the question, not "HVAC system longevity."
Step 2: How should you answer them? (One question, one video)
Answer each question in its own short video, about 60 seconds, filmed on your phone.
The camera is just the vehicle. Your phone is plenty. What matters is that you look at the camera and answer the question the way you would across the table. Show the work if you can: a finished job, a before and after, the part that broke.
Don't try to cover everything. One question, one answer, one video. Three questions means three videos.
Step 3: Where should you put the answers?
Put them where people look you up: your social pages, your website and your Google Business Profile.
Go back to the Sniff Test. When someone checks you out, these answers should be the first thing they see. Pin the videos on your social pages. Add them to your website next to your contact button. If you have a Google Business Profile, post them there too.
Step 4: How do you get your answers in front of people who already know you?
Send them, one person at a time, with a Thought-of-You Text.
Last week I wrote about the Not-Yet List, the people who said "not right now" or went quiet. Your answer videos are the perfect thing to send them. "Hey (name), saw this and thought of you. It's a 2-minute video on the question you asked me about (their problem). No need to reply."
Now the thing you send does the selling for you. They watch it, they see you know your stuff, and when they're ready, you're the one they call.
Steal this: write your 3 questions
Here's your 5-minute action. Write down the 3 questions people ask you right before they say yes, in their exact words. Then record a 60-second phone video answering the first one. Post it on your main social page and send it to one person on your Not-Yet List.
Common questions about building trust with potential customers
How do I build trust with customers online if I don't have reviews yet?
Answer their questions on video. A real person explaining the work in plain words builds trust fast, even with zero reviews. Show finished jobs and before and afters. Ask your next three happy customers for a review while you're at it.
Do I need professional video to build trust?
No. The camera is just the vehicle. A clear phone video where you answer a real question can beat a polished ad, because it looks like you and sounds like you. Get good light, hold the phone steady and talk the way you would to a customer.
How long does it take to build trust with potential customers?
It starts the first time they check you out. Every answer they find makes the next step easier. Early on, my business made about $20 for every view on my YouTube channel, from small views and the right people. You don't need years. You need the right answers where they look.
What's the fastest way to build trust with a new lead?
Send them one short video that answers the question they asked you. Use their exact words so they know it's for them. It shows you listened, it proves you know the work, and it gives them a reason to call you back instead of the next name on Google.
Once people trust you, the hard part is keeping up with all of them when you're busy running the business. That's what I'm covering next.
P.S. If you want help building this whole system with your team, from the questions to the follow-up, that's what my Accelerator does. You and your team learn to run it, and you own everything you build. Apply to the Accelerator.
Your calendar is the only metric that matters. — Esai
About the author: Esai Salinas is the founder of OneAway Studios. He made his first million with Google search ads, while his content did the trust check people ran before they called. He has worked with Fortune 500 and Inc. 5000 companies, and now trains business owners who sell through booked calls to run their own content and ads.
