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Gaining customer trust with your content

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Trust: it’s the main reason second hand car dealerships exist. Think about it – why else would someone pay more for something they could get cheaper privately? It's a similar situation in the B2B sales process. Nothing kills a deal quicker than a lack of trust and many buyers are happy to pay more for a product from a trusted brand.

The importance of trust

Picture this: you see a poorly written ad in the paper for a car that otherwise seems perfect. Even better, the price is 15% less than any of the others you’ve seen!

You arrange to have a look at the car but when you meet the seller he seems nervous, shifty and is reluctant to let you examine it. After a rushed viewing, he mumbles something about not having any paperwork for the car with him but he assures you he’ll post it within a month if you buy the car right now.

It’s a good model, you haven’t found anything wrong with it and it’s a brilliant price. What stops you from buying?

Establishing buyer trust is enormously important for making a sale – especially in B2B.

It’s not like taking a gamble on a cheap watch, getting a major decision like this wrong is going to have serious consequences.

This is now the third blog post to mention the asymmetry between the positive and negative outcomes of a B2B purchasing decision but it’s a really important point!

With reputations and even careers at stake, buyers simply can’t afford to make the wrong decision.

This is why it’s so important to establish trust with your prospects. Nothing derails a sale quicker than a lack of trust.

What’s more, most buyers are happy to pay a premium for peace of mind:

 

establishing-buyer-trust-content-marketing For a difference of 30p, which would you choose?

So, how can you establish prospects’ trust and win sales?

Relate to their problems

Getting on the same page as your audience and speaking directly to their pain points is a sure-fire way to earn their trust.

Often, marketers push too hard, too soon. With every business touting their solution as the best, it's hard to trust most marketing claims.

There's a time and a place to push your product, sure, but it's not always the best tactic.

Creating content for specific stages of the buyer's journey will ensure you're not always blindly selling your product without thinking of your intended audience.

Imagine you're a building manager given a budget of £50,000 to improve energy efficiency in a social housing complex. There are many different options available: replacing the insulation, upgrading the building management system, installing solar PV panels and so on. You can't go with all of these options within your budget, so you'll need to do some research to decide.

If you're only just becoming aware of the problem and the potential solutions then you're unlikely to trust biased marketing collateral or pushy salespeople.

An objective appraisal of the pros and cons of each solution, on the other hand, is likely to be just what you're after.

A valuable and relevant piece of content like this will draw qualified leads to your content and get your brand in front of more sales prospects. Most important of all though, it establishes your company as a trusted authority in the industry at this important early stage.

To continue building trust from here, be sure to perfect your lead nurturing strategy.

Check and double check

Before publishing your content make sure at least one other person proof reads it!

Making silly mistakes – writing ‘your’ when you mean ‘you’re’, ‘there’ instead of ‘their’, etc. – is a guaranteed way to put people off, especially if they’re grammar nerds.spelling-fail-gaining-customer-trust

If a company is sloppy with its spelling who knows where else it’s cutting corners?

Whilst a high standard of writing is unlikely to win you customers by itself, poor writing is sure to lose you customers. Just check out these 11 fails.

Maintaining high levels of quality shows customers that yours is a credible brand and that your company that pays attention to detail.

Case studies and testimonials

Once customers reach the decision stage of the buyer's journey then it's time to let them know how much better your product is.

But why tell them yourself? Wouldn't it be much more credible to hear it from someone else?

It's all very well telling people how great your product or service is. Case studies show how great it is.

They're an excellent opportunity to showcase your product or service in action. They bring the benefits to life and inspire readers to take action to enjoy the same benefits.

Case studies are also an excellent opportunity to include customer testimonials. Having a well-respected third party attest to your proficiency is far more persuasive than just saying it yourself. After all, you would say your product is the best, wouldn't you?

Case studies and testimonials are hard evidence of your company's trustworthiness. So, if you've delivered fantastic results for a client, be sure to leverage this to your advantage and tell the world!

Trust beyond content

So, you've earned the prospect's trust and nurtured them through the buying cycle. They're almost ready to buy - but wait!

Old-school sales tactics risk squandering the effort you've spent gaining trust. Make sure to check out this blog on inbound sales to maintain customer trust at this final stage and beyond.

 

Prefer getting straight to the point?

Join our weekly "Consulting content round-up" newsletter to get a succinct, straight to the point email with the most relevant information to help you scale your consultancy.