How to Get Newly-Acquainted People to Pay You?

Gaining Strangers' Trust

Today, let's talk about how to gain the trust of strangers. Last year, I wrote an article about trust. This time, we'll discuss a more specific scenario. For example, if you're involved in private domain traffic or self - media knowledge payment, how can you make customers trust you? How can you make them willing to pay you right after they get to know you?

I saw someone in a group say, "How can I trust him? He has no endorsements at all, and the transaction isn't through a platform. I'm worried that he'll take the money and run. What should I do?" This "running away" is what we often call "lack of trust". Essentially, it's the fear that the other person will take the money but not do the work, and you won't be able to find them online.

That's why there are so many intermediate platforms. Whether it's an e - commerce platform or various knowledge - payment platforms, most of our transactions are completed through third - party platforms. Big platforms like these are unlikely to run away because of your money, so people are willing to make transactions here.

What if you don't rely on a platform and have no authoritative endorsements? The core is to make the other person think that it would cost you a lot to run away.

Why Big Brands Are More Trusted

Why do people prefer to buy branded products rather than unknown small - brand products? In the end, it's because big brands have a very high cost of running away. They can earn more money in other ways, or their existing profit model is already quite good. There's no need for them to run away just to cheat you out of a little money.

Unless they're on the verge of collapse and have no other choice, they might choose to run away. This is actually a last - ditch effort and will only be considered when things are really bad. If they can operate normally, they won't make such a choice. From a rational decision - making perspective, this is easy to understand.

So, to make others trust you, you need to make them understand that it's extremely unworthy for you to run away for just a few dozen, a few hundred, or even one or two thousand yuan. Only then will the other person be willing to pay you first, and then you can deliver the product or service.

Ways to Increase "Running - Away Cost"

How can you increase your "running - away cost"? For example, if you have hundreds of thousands or even millions of fans across the internet, your WeChat account posts high - quality content every day, and it has been active for several years and is still operating normally. In this case, users will naturally be more willing to trust you.

But if your account is just a "no - name small account" with nothing in your WeChat Moments, and you haven't posted any content on platforms like your official account, Xiaohongshu, or video channels, and the occasional posts are just product - related ads, it gives the impression that you can run away, cancel the account, and disappear at any time.

It's like working in a company. If you have a mortgage, a car loan, and other financial pressures, the company won't worry that you'll leave easily. But if you're just an intern or a fresh graduate with little financial pressure, your "running - away cost" is very low, and it's easy for you to leave the company.

The more time, energy, and money a person invests in something, the higher their sunk cost, and correspondingly, the higher their running - away cost. And this high cost makes it easier to win others' trust. Trust is essentially a sense of security, which means believing that you won't do anything out of line and that your behavior is predictable.

An Example of Trust

Let's take two people, A and B, as an example. A is steady and reliable, always keeps their promises, never makes mistakes, and doesn't get distracted. B often brags, has changeable ideas, says they'll do one thing today and another tomorrow, and can change their mind several times a month. Who would you trust more? This trust is actually a sense of security - you can predict what will happen after you give them money, time, or a task, or at least you can roughly guess their behavior.

If you give a task to A, there's a high probability that they'll complete it seriously, keep you updated on the progress, and maintain communication. Although A may not be extremely outstanding, the result they deliver is basically reliable. What about B? They may do a great job, even an excellent one, but there's also a high probability that they'll do a poor job, or even not do it at all and forget about it. You simply can't predict their behavior and the result. In this case, you'll feel very insecure, and your trust in them will naturally decrease.

How to Make Strangers Pay You

So, how can you make newly - acquainted strangers willing to pay you? You need to build your personal IP through long - term and continuous content output and accumulation.

You can continuously post content through various channels such as your official account, articles, and WeChat Moments to form a long - term content line. In this way, others can see your content accumulation over the past three, five years, or even longer. Naturally, they'll have a stronger sense of trust in you.

They'll think that since you've been writing for so many years, you won't run away easily, and they'll dare to pay you without worrying that you'll disappear right after getting the money.

Secondly, your various endorsements and achievement certificates come into play. These are professional bonuses that can further enhance your credibility.

Two Dimensions of Trust

So, trust has two dimensions: one is the cost brought by the time line, and the other is achievements and endorsements. Both are indispensable.

To some extent, I trust the time line more because so - called endorsements and achievements can be faked, but the time line is hard to imitate. You can't pretend to have persisted for five, six, seven, or even ten years just to cheat me. If someone can really do that, I'll admit it and admire them.

Trust isn't built by just talking; it needs to be proven through actual actions and accumulated over time.

Daily Reading & Writing by Xiaolu 2025.07.21 [day686]