No matter what industry you are in, sales are not easy. While it is a challenge getting people to part with their money, this is even more so the case for brokerages who are set with the task of selling financial products or services rather than a tangible product. Added to the challenge is the lack of understanding of financial instruments and skepticism on behalf of the client. Developing trust with your customers is, therefore, key, as clients are reluctant to trust just anyone with their hard earned money.
Part of the skepticism relates to the inability of the client to be in touch with the broker. When forex brokers only communicate with their traders by e-mail or over the phone, there is the risk of miscommunication or misperception that can inevitably lead to distrust. Being able to hold regular face time with your traders provides the means to break down misconceptions.
Considering that building trust is a major factor that contributes towards business success in forex, in this article, we discuss the use of online communication tools, such as Skype and Facetime. As many forex brokerages are online businesses, we consider the adaptability of these online communication tools and why they can be used to develop that powerful ingredient of trust.
Despite the prevalence of online communication tools, such as webcams, video-conferencing technologies, and social media applications, many brokerages are not fully capitalizing on these tools for the purpose of developing trust with their traders. These online communication tools are fantastic, not only in addressing business needs but also in providing personal interactions where there is a necessity to build rapport with clients.
Repeated studies of human communication show that we pay more credence to communication cues of body language, facial expressions, speech intonation and hand gestures than the words being said. This is because we intuitively understand that people are less in control of these forms of expression than what they are of their verbally expressed words. All too quickly we form judgments about others as we interact with them only through non-visual forms of communication. When you can read nonverbal gestures of communication, you can develop a more personal relationship, which embeds a deeper level of mutual understanding of each other’s behavior. Online communication tools that allow for this visual interaction of more subtle communication can, therefore, be incredibly useful towards building personal rapport and trust.
From our experience, we know that face-to-face communication has the means of strengthening relationships. Through this, a greater level of accountability between broker and trader is created, in both directions. A broker is less likely to be able to let a client down when they have interacted on a personal level, as opposed to interaction via email or phone, creating stronger service support and retention.
Human beings are social creatures who naturally transcend communication for mechanical work processes to create complex social bonds. Online and visual face-time allow us to create a situation where we get to know and understand our traders better. To figure out what inhibits them and also what motivates them to invest. This information alone is valuable enough to implement a system that promotes visual interaction.
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