What if you knew exactly what was going to happen in 2009? Do you think those golden eggs might help you build trust today and throughout the next year?

Well, lookee here:

Nine Predictions for 2009

Author and branding expert Tom Asacker lets the cats out of the bag.  He tells you precisely what will happen in 2009. And as you read, you will no doubt have some realizations about certain trust-building opportunites that are ripe for your picking.

Hope you find this short, fascinating report useful. I know I sure did. Thanks so much to Tom Peters for mentioning this report in his blog.

Richard Dennis

… No, not Indians. Actually …

… newsletter publishers!

Well - “always” is probably too strong a word. But there was a time, back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when I was just blown away by people who could publish their own newsletter. I wished, I wished, I wished I could do it. But I couldn’t.

I was driving a bus back then. Writing and publishing and mailing out a newsletter cost a lot of money. It meant you had to have ideas - which I had. It also meant you needed some pretty expensive technology - which was way out of reach for me.

This was certainly all true as recently as 20 years ago. Today? Anybody can publish their own newsletter, and the cost is close to zero. The technology is readily available. The learning curve is so easy, anyone can master it.

So a wish that was financially impossible for me just two decades ago is now a standard in business. Anybody who wants to publish their own newsletter can do it, at very little cost.

And I believe they should.

“Getting better” is a crucial part of trust-building, especially in this age of rapidly-changing technology. Part of your gameplan to increase trust with your stakeholders MUST be a daily “training session”, designed to get you better at some aspect of life or business.

Not sure? Well, look at it from YOUR viewpoint. Let’s say you are making a choice between 2 possible mentors. You notice that one is a pretty good talker, decent & productive writer, and he also is serviceable with podcasts and can effectively create and present video.

The other is a good talker … but none of the rest is apparent.

Who do you choose? Barring other evaluation, it’s pretty obvious which one has done the work to get better. Don’t you trust them more because of this? Don’t you trust them more to be able to teach you what you need to know, for you to be successful?

I’ll bet you do.

Heck … there are people out there who are very good just at marketing by cell phone. They have spent time learning and doing, and they have found the resources to constantly update their skills. I’ll bet a LOT of people would love to get good at marketing by cell phone. And if they were looking to choose a mentor or vendor or connection, they would have much more faith and trust in a person who could teach them a skill they thought would be really valuable to them.

So the message is … get better. Learn technology. Set aside time every day to learn and get better at some of the most useful technologies around these days. Upgrading your skills will gain you the trust of a LOT of people.

Take care,

Richard Dennis

Richard Dennis

If someone has proof that you have heard them, then they know you have actually listened to them. Their trust for you increases dramatically, because most individuals don’t listen to them. Businesses? Fuhgeddaboutit!

But today’s technology allows you to do some pretty incredible things that PROVE you have been listening.

Do you know you can get personalized M&Ms? You could throw a party for a friend and serve M&Ms personalized with their photo. Might that make an impression on your friend? It might. And if they saw it as proof that you searched to find a unique way to honor their friendship, might you be more favorably inclined towards M&Ms? You might be. More trust.

You can custom design a lot more than T-shirts these days. Sneakers, for instance. Jewelry (BlueNile.com). Perfume (MyDNAFragrance.com). Postage stamps (Stamps.com). Everyone takes pride in being unique in certain ways. The more you can help them express that individuality, the stronger the relationship they’ll build with you … the more they will trust you.

You can go to crushpadwine.com and create your own wine. You won’t stomp the grapes, but you will select them, along with a choice of production processes, and, of course, the packaging.

There was a time when the cost of personalized products was prohibitive for most people. Not today. The technology has brought the cost way down. And you can create an effect worth way more than the expense.

Today, you can mix styles & colors to create your own Reeboks. Within the next few months, you’ll be able to put your own photo into the design. Sure, they will cost more. But what is the effect worth? To many people, that expression of individuality is worth many times the cost.

And if you can help others really send that message of indivuality that means so much to them, how will that translate in their trust for you, their loyalty for you?

Good questions to ponder, considering December 25th is only 4 weeks away.

I appreciate you!

Richard Dennis

Richard Dennis

In my opinion, your best strategy in becoming wildly successful at whatever it is you want to be successful at is … evaluate every facet of your dream in terms of “trust.”

For example:

“Does Step 5 create greater trust with my prospects? Can I tweak Step 5 to create MORE trust?”

Trust. Trust. Trust. Trust. Trust. If that is how you think about everything, you will never go wrong.

Steph Grenier recently wrote the book, “Blog Blazers: 40 Top Bloggers Share Their Secrets”. One of the bloggers she interviewed is David Armano, who does the blog “Logic + Emotion”.

Before you read the interview, consider these questions and how they relate to trust.

• * What are 3 great tips for how to develop your ability to influence when you write?
• * How do you consistently reach out to more and more people?
• * What part do your opinions play in building trust?
• * What marketing creates the highest trust?
• * What is the #1 trust-killer for a blogger?

Now, read the whole interview through the prism of trust and note down the ideas you can use NOW in developing more trust in your business or personal life:

David Armano Interview

Hope you find this interview REALLY useful?

Richard Dennis

PS - Help me focus on what really makes a difference to YOU. Please click the “comments” link and tell us which idea in the interview you can use right now to make a big difference in your life.

Richard

Keep a notebook of your daily activities.

It’s not just what you do or what happens in your life. What’s important is that your visitors can see that you are actively working at building your dream … and you’re sharing the results with them. Keep notes of what worked and what didn’t work. Talk about it in your blog.

The more examples you give and the more stories you can tell, the more credibility you will have with your visitors. And the more they will trust you.

Example: yesterday, I went to visit one of my neighbors. Mike was an Air Force pilot in Vietnam, and he worked for the county government for many years before retiring not too long ago. He knows a LOT of people.

I need a meeting room for an evening business get-together in a few weeks. I could have just picked up the Yellow Pages and started dialing. Instead, I told Mike about it and asked who he would call. He gave me names & phone numbers of 4 people who he’s known for a long time, each of whom has a meeting room that might suit my needs. Believe me, when I drove over to Mike’s house, I never figured I’d get so much good information.

And then we talked for an hour, sharing a lot of thoughts & experiences. We discovered some strong connections between us. I gave him a copy of my book, “Evil Medicine.” (Mike is very interested in alternative health solutions.) I’ll keep Mike in the loop on my meeting, too, and which of his contacts I end up working with. Good chance Mike & I will eventually work together on something.

Points:

1. This story might inspire you to make a connection you would never have made otherwise.
2. People like to help out, if you ask them.
3. Mike and I seldom see each other, but today I have a lot more credibility with him than I did 24 hours ago. Who knows where that might lead?

So you can see several examples of increased trust from what I did yesterday. And if you set your goal each day to somehow create increased trust in one or more people, then over time, you will make contacts that help you achieve your dreams.

I appreciate you!

Richard Dennis

Richard

When I was a kid, we had a milkman. Heck … one of my uncles was a milkman.

A milkman came to your home 3 days a week and left the milk you had ordered on your front step. I haven’t seen a milkman in probably 40 years, but they used to be a standard part of the business scene.

Let’s say you wanted to offer a seminar to milkmen. A couple possible approaches:

1. You could run an ad in the daily newspaper with the date, time, & address of the seminar.

2. You could buy a list of milkmen in the local area and hire other milkmen to telemarket to them, tell them a bit about the seminar, its value to them, and why the best milkmen in town would get great benefit from this seminar.

Which approach do you think might create more trust in the milkman population?

OK. This article isn’t about milkmen, but it sure focuses on an effective way to create trust:

Effective Prospecting - The Red Velvet Rope Policy

I think you’ll find this article by Mark Slatin very useful even if you never drink milk.

Take care,

Richard Dennis
Work With Me

Richard

Many years ago I read - someplace - the idea that in business, you are always working with people in one of these four boxes:

1. People who know you and who know your product
2. People who know you but don’t know your product
3. People who know your product but don’t know you
4. People who don’t know you or your product.

The more time you spend in Box 4, the more you can be certain your business will die - probably soon.

The more time you spend in Box 1, the greater chance you have of creating a wildly profitable business.

These boxes are just another way of assessing trust in your business relationships. Obviously, the more time you spend in high-trust relationships, the better your results. And the more time you spend in zero-trust relationships, the worse your results.

So a big key is to move people out of Box 4 as quickly as you can. How? Give them something valuable. Give them information or training that they can turn into a profit, that makes them much more effective. Reveal techniques that work. The right people will be hyper-sensitive to the right offer from you.

It’s easy to do this from a blog, where most of your visitors will come from Box 4 - the box of death. If you immediately start helping them - with every post you write - you have a chance to move them up a box or two in a hurry.

And also, make sure they can’t misplace you. When they come, make them an offer they cannot refuse … offer them a hot, hot report with follow-up training, which allows you to stay in contact with them at least once a week. That way you can track them as you increase your trust level with them.

Be ready to answer their questions. And be quick to answer their questions and respond to their comments. Never slam a big red “BUY” button in front of their face, but on occasion, weave product references into your communication.

As they return to your community and become more involved, communicate with them more closely in a totally natural way. Email them. Get their phone number and call to talk with them about what they really want to see from your blog. What do they most want from their relationship with you? Ask them.

Go for deeper, deeper, deeper trust.

Never push them in any product direction. They know you are in business, but they feel 100% in control of that buying process with you. You and your customers & prospects will be operating in a high-trust environment, and nothing could serve you better long-term.

Richard Dennis