Know, Like and Trust – And the Winner Is?
Bob Berg states in his best seller “Endless Referrals” that “All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like and trust.” This has become an axiom in almost all arenas of marketing. If every other aspect of what one proposes is on par and equal to what others are offering the deciding factor becomes personal. Knowing, liking and trusting tip the scales.
But, one of the three factors has a more obvious influence than the others. One factor far out weights the other two. Which would you choose? Knowing? Liking? Or Trusting?
Think about the last time you made a business buying decision. Perhaps it was a physical piece of equipment or a business service or a seminar or conference registration fee. There were silent and subtle influences at work in the realm of “know, like and trust” that led you to your ultimate choice.
It is helpful to “like” something before you would be willing to make purchase, but it certainly is not necessary. Say your doctor told you that a change in diet and exercise was a necessity to avoid becoming diabetic and he or she recommended a nutritionist and a trainer. You meet both of these people as suggested but find that you really don’t “like” either one. But, because it came from your doctor you go ahead and use their services. Perhaps, as important as “like” is, it is the most significant requirement to making a purchase or use a service.
In the same situation you most likely did not “know” the nutritionist nor the fitness trainer. But, you implicitly trusted them before you met them because you trusted your doctor’s recommendation.
Of the three, “trust” stands out as the one element that cannot be compromised. One need not “know” or “like” a person, product or situation in order to do business. But, without “trust” no interaction will happen. Regaining trust when it is lost is very challenging. One must re-prove themselves to be trustworthy. Ever lose the trust of a co-worker, boss or loved one? Then you know what it takes build trust back.
So, it makes sense to firstly develop a trusting persona, brand and business practice. Trust comes from doing what you said you would do and when you said you would do it or, saying that you won’t be able to do something on time and then re-promising. You become reliable through being in communication.
Trust is developed when customers are in agreement and a consensus is reached that a person or business is entitled to be trusted. Trust is a privilege and honor to be guarded. When people are confident in your actions, they believe what you say and know you are count-on-able. Only then do you become trustworthy and respected.
Benefit From The Leverage Of An Online “Turn Key Franchise”
A “real” online turn key franchise boasts all of the advantages of an offline traditional brick and mortar franchise, but none of the frustrating disadvantages. Some of these disadvantages include the massive start up costs, paying wages, insurance, rent and having to keep inventory on the shelves.
The most important aspect of looking for a suitable online franchise is to be able to work out what are the real genuine opportunities, and what are the scams that are just trying to get your money.
Look closely for testimonials that are backed up by legal proof, and also for companies that have stood the test of time and have been around for a while. If you find a company that has been around for at least 3 years and also has real examples of people that have created results, then you know it is at least worth exploring further.
A good online franchise must include a state of the art internet marketing system. This is how you create the leverage that makes it a turn key business. The internet marketing system will do all the selling, telling, sifting and sorting for you with a professional sales funnel.
The internet marketing system will provide you with qualified prospects that have come through your sales funnel, and put their hand up to tell you that they are interested in your products.
This prevents the need to be chasing people and pitching your business to anybody with a pulse. A good franchise (online or offline) will always be based around proven systems, and by using a professional online marketing system you will be taking the human element out of it as much as possible.
Any decent online franchise will require a decent amount of start up capital, but nowhere near as much as an offline franchise. There are loads of so called businesses on the internet that cost next to nothing to join, but in almost all cases you get what you pay for.
An online franchise that uses the top tier direct sales business model will enable you to be making very large commissions per sale, without the need to build a down line similar to multi level marketing company.
Uncovering Various Franchising Alternatives
One way of growing a brand name or a company’s products or services is to expand via franchising. While this is an excellent way to see some tremendous growth, the key to this process is not just following the letter of the law, but more importantly, it is about making sure that franchising is the right move. If it is, then so be it, but if it isn’t, for whatever reason, you might want to look into certain franchising alternatives. What is commonly understood is that while franchising is a good and proven way to grow, there are some other ways to go about it.
The first thing you will want to understand about franchising alternatives is to first understand what the textbook definition of a franchise is. How it is typically defined is in three steps, the use of a common trademark, the availability of training or support and the collecting of fees over a designated period of time. The reason why knowing this is so important is because the low cost franchising alternatives will tend to only vary slightly from what a standard franchising agreement would be.
One way would be to simply not collect fees until the initial 6 month period is over. You could do everything else like a franchise would, but without the collection of fees, this would constitute a “no fees” agreement and technically not a franchise.
However, you need to be very careful, while this can work, if the non franchisee buys anything from you and your company that could be viewed by some state laws as collecting fees. This sort of violation could end up costing you big.
Another option is by using a trademark license. This happens all the time with sports stars. They can lend their name to a car dealership, a clothing line or something else. However, you have to understand that unless you have a marketable name; it is extremely difficult to grow your business in this manner. Of course there is always company owned growth as well. While not as cheap as franchising it is one of the Franchising Alternatives.
One of the biggest disadvantages of franchising is that when you have other people representing your products or services, and if something goes bad, it reflects poorly on your brand. Even with many of these Franchising Alternatives, that problem will still exist. That is why so many companies find it more agreeable to go with company owned growth instead.