Contributed by Neal Polachek, Founder of ThinkLikeAnApp

When you build trust with your customers and prospects, that trust is translated into more sales, better reviews, more genuine referrals, and ultimately, healthy growth for your business.

And nothing stops the development of trust more than the Anxiety Gap.

What Is the Anxiety Gap?

It’s a term we’ve coined to label where your potential and existing customers are often hanging out before they do business with you.

In today’s information-heavy world, the modern consumer knows they need to do due diligence on any business before a transaction. However, the process of doing that information gathering can be daunting, and leave them unable — or unwilling — to make a buying decision.

Fortunately, you can use the second pillar of our ThinkLikeAnApp Trust Triangle to move your customers out of the Anxiety Gap and into a trusted, long-term relationship.

That pillar is Transparency. At its most basic, transparency is about being open, honest, and straightforward. Really though, that’s the baseline — the bare minimum. Think of it like an ante to a poker game.

True “Transparency” happens when you focus on empowering your customers with knowledge and information that helps them make a “smart” buying decision.

Done well, transparency extends beyond the transaction. It leaves your customers with a sense of comfort in knowing they made the right choice. A choice they can feel confident in recommending to their friends and peers, in one-on-one conversations or across the Internet.

Transparency pulls your customers deeper into your business. It offers them a richer and more differentiated customer experience. It relieves their anxiety, ultimately creating an advocate and not just another customer.

How Can You Be More Transparent?

When you share knowledge that you have, that your customers don’t, you are being more transparent. You are relieving their anxiety. The bigger the knowledge gap between the customer and the provider, the more important transparency becomes.

The more high-stakes (think: big ticket) or complex (think: real estate) the transaction, the larger the Anxiety Gap.

As the business owner, you have the most information in any transaction. When you focus on high communication, high knowledge sharing and high engagement, you are being more transparent and relieving anxiety.

Join Neal and Dori live as they coach businesses on a specific implementation plan. This bonus webinar happens on September 23, 2021, at 1 pm CT.