It's a common nightmare – you're walking down a busy corridor or giving a presentation only to look down and find yourself completely naked.

We are inherently afraid to reveal too much about ourselves, and as an entrepreneur, this likely extends to your business as well.

But based on growing my business from nothing to over $100 million in annual revenue, I can tell you that less is not more when it comes to business transparency – more is more. Being open builds trust, and trust fosters customer and group relationships. The only exception is not giving your trade secrets to competitors.

Here are three effective ways to build trust with clients and prospects by being more transparent (without leaving you feeling overly exposed to the nightmare).

Connected: How transparency in business leads to growth and customer loyalty

1. Increase sales by 18% or more by increasing your Google reviews

Almost everyone reads reviews before they buy. A study found a large 93% of people read reviews before making a purchase, and on average, reviews produce a 18% increase in sales. In today's online landscape, people put almost as much weight on a Google review as they do on a personal recommendation.

The best way to increase your reviews is to simply ask! According to research70% of consumers will leave a review for a business when required.

About four years ago, we had 486 reviews after serving more than 90,000 customers. We started using Podium to send texts or emails – based on customer preference – asking to leave a review on Google, the Better Business Bureau and Trustpilot.

By May 2024, we had accumulated 2,312 five-star reviews, an increase of 375%. Keep in mind that our account managers have been very diligent about sending review requests to customers and only look for customers who are most likely to respond positively.

Another good way to increase reviews is to automate postcards at the end of an order, thanking someone for their business and encouraging them to leave a review. A physical mailer is likely to be more effective than an email – a study that was surveyed 1,200 consumers found that 76% trusted direct mail more than online methods.

You may be asking yourself, “What about negative comments?” You'll always have a handful of bad reviews, but people look at the ratio of good to bad. If you have a lot more five-star reviews than one-star reviews, they'll ignore the negative ones and assume it's not norm.

2. Improve lead generation by 105% by sharing your customer success stories

Sharing real marketing results has always been a priority for my business, PostcardMania. We currently have 944 marketing case studies and 139 video case studies documenting real people sharing campaign specifics that led to more leads, revenue and new customers for their businesses.

We share these case studies with prospects via email and postcards in the mail to build trust. But recently, we started incorporating these stories into social media video ads. During a recent Meta earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that 50% of all people's time on Facebook and Instagram is spent watching video, so naturally, we went in that direction to gain more attention on the services ours.

We put our 139 video case studies – real business owners talking about their successful campaigns — to work for us on Facebook and Instagram.

As a result, our social media leads doubled. In 2022, our average number of social media leads per week was 174, and then in 2023, the average number of leads increased to 356 per week! This is an increase of 105%.

Of course, our use of social media in this case is part of a larger multi-channel marketing strategy that ties direct mail and digital advertising together, so I suggest a similar approach if you want to see the same results (in fact we have packaged our successful approach into a single affordable marketing package called Small Business Everywhere due to high demand from our clients to replicate this method). Campaigns that uniquely combine print and digital advertising using targeted mailing lists and lookalike audiences have been proven to work time and time again, so I recommend them.

It doesn't matter what industry you're in, your customer success stories can be compiled and included in the marketing plan to grow your customer base.

Connected: How problem solving case studies help you market your business

3. Convert prospects faster by dropping the velvet rope and inviting them in

Being transparent online will help build a positive image of your brand and bring more customers — but you can also take this a step further and allow potential customers to visit your business and interact with your products or services in person. A report revealed this 79% of customers love brands to go above and beyond what they are asked to reveal and provide more information, with two-thirds of them saying they will switch brands for deeper data.

At PostcardMania, we welcome customers to visit us and take a tour of our in-house printing facility. We also have a marketing conference twice a year where clients can meet their marketing consultants face to face and learn more about our business behind the scenes. These clients often end up being some of our best and longest relationships! You can do the same by hosting an event and opening your doors to the public. It doesn't have to be a conference – you can start small with something as simple as a night of food and fun.

Connected: 3 ways to personalize your marketing for higher engagement

Free samples they're also a great way to show customers exactly what they're getting before they make a commitment. This doesn't always apply to every business, but you can try to find a way to allow prospects to interact with your product or service on a deeper, more physical level.

Incorporate any of these tactics and you'll show prospects the most authentic side of you and your business. Trust me when I say that trading your fear of being super transparent for bold authenticity will reap real rewards in long-term growth and customer loyalty.