If you’re going bungee jumping, you don’t commit to it until you trust that the cord is going to keep holding onto you as you fall.
Making a B2B purchase isn’t necessarily the same as bungee jumping, but it does require a leap of faith. There’s a lot on the line – money, professional reputation, the continuation of important processes – and prospects want to know that when they take the jump and buy your product, it’s going to be strong enough.
Anyone can say that their product is the right choice for a prospect. But how do you convince them that you really mean it? By gaining their trust.
Earning trust is easier said than done, especially when starting with cold outbound. Here’s how you can warm things up.
Do your research and use it to personalize.
In B2B selling, doing your research means looking into both the prospect and their business. If you come into a cold call with an understanding of their pain points, you can immediately speak to the challenges they face and offer relevancy right away. The better you understand the person you’re contacting, the better you can connect with them – and prove that you can solve their problems. And when you only have a few minutes to make a good first impression, that ability to connect right away makes a huge difference.
There are lots of ways you can research a prospect and the company they work for to personalize your communication with them. One big option is to use intent data. With Lusha’s Warm Outbound, you can look into what topics a company is currently searching for to get a better understanding of their pain points or potential operational goals. With this information, you can drop in a few key points that will quickly get their trust.
Another benefit of doing research before you even reach out is that you can get a better understanding of how prospects like to be contacted. Are they most active on LinkedIn? Always connected to their phone? If you know how your prospect prefers to receive communication, you can deliver value to them in the way that best resonates.
There are a lot of great sources of intelligence you can use to research a prospect: LinkedIn post history, recent likes, Twitter posts. Just make sure that if you bring up something personal to your prospect, it’s actually relevant to them. Don’t comment on their college’s basketball team if they never showed any sign that they follow sports. The most important personalization you can do is talking to their pain points, although anything extra might help you get your foot in the door.
Respect the buyer’s process.
Trust doesn’t happen immediately – like all good things, it takes a little time. In your personal life, you don’t ask someone to make a big commitment to you within the first minute. So why would it be any different when asking someone to commit to an investment?
If you jump into the deep end and ask for a sale right away without showing the prospect that you are someone you can trust, they’re more than likely going to be turned off of the idea of working with you. Instead of being pushy with the sale, get a feel for their timeline. How soon are they looking to implement the solution? What does their process look like?
You don’t want to come across as pushy when you’re trying to be trustworthy. Building real trust means saving the big ask for later — right now, it’s all about learning more about your prospect.
And if it seems like it’s taking a while, don’t give up. Statistics show that a whopping 80% of sales happen after at least 5 follow-up calls. Sales take time and tenacity. Don’t give up, and use that time to focus on building up a good relationship between you and your prospect.
Use texting wisely.
Texting is becoming a hot topic in sales. And with good reason – 60% of prospects read texts within 5 minutes. But text messages are also a pretty personal method of communication. You have to earn trust first; only then can texting can become a good way to build up your buyer/seller relationship.
If you plan to add texting to your sales process, respectfully ask for permission first. Consider something simple like, “I know this decision is a priority right now. Is it okay if I send you a text about it later?”This can build urgency while also helping the buyer through the process.
Once you’ve established a texting relationship, you have to use it wisely if you want to continue to build trust with a prospect. Here are a couple of ways to keep it professional (and keep your prospects’ trust) when using SMS:
- Don’t just text to check in. Have a reason, like sending a meeting confirmation or sending a useful link.
- Keep text communication direct and brief.
- Text during your prospect’s business hours so you don’t intrude on their personal life.
- Wait until a bit further in the sales funnel, when a degree of trust has already been established.
The quick feedback you can get from texting your prospect is powerful, but like all powerful things, it must be handled with care.
Ask good questions.
Asking questions that foster real, honest discussion isn’t always easy, but it’s one of the fastest ways to earn trust. Several years ago, the New York Times published an article about “36 questions to fall in love” that went pretty viral. The questions aren’t really about creating a love connection; they’re actually designed to create a degree of closeness between two people in a short time (regardless of whether romance is on the table).
Now, we’re not suggesting you start asking your prospects, “what would you change about the way you were raised if you could change one thing?” while staring deeply into their eyes. In fact, please don’t do that. That’s kinda creepy.
The point here is that thought-provoking questions lead to interesting conversations and can build trust quickly. So ask your prospect the tough questions and actively listen to them. Let them vent, even if it might make you feel like you’re put on the defensive. Open-ended questions can give you a lot of insight into your prospects’ goals and challenges. If you listen carefully you can present them with an empathetic yet informative response. Not to mention, letting them feel truly heard will go a long way in earning their trust.
Be consistent.
Do you have a “usual” at your favorite coffee shop? You probably order the same thing over and over because you know you can count on liking it every time. The quality and the taste will be the same as always – consistent.
If you want your prospects to keep coming back to conversations with you, then offer them consistency.
Predictable doesn’t have to mean boring, especially not when you want to gain your prospect’s trust. To gain trust, you have to show consistent, predictable behavior. Prospects need to know that when you say something, you will do it. That means no promises of “this will only take 5 minutes,” before talking for 10 instead. No promising deliverables right away but sending them half a week later.
Inconsistent behavior equals untrustworthy, so respect your customer’s time, fulfill their promises, and show up when you say that you will. Show that you’re a person of your word, and your client will learn to trust you – and trust what you say about your product.
Offer up social proof.
When you buy new furniture or a kitchen appliance, you probably won’t invest without first taking a look at the reviews. If other people can vouch for the quality of something, we’re a lot more likely to take the plunge. It’s human nature.
The power of social proof is hard to ignore. People are social, and tend to trust something more when we see that others have used it with few complaints. Use that to your advantage to build trust with a prospect. Have your current or former clients recommend you or post endorsements on social media. Make sure to have compelling case studies on hand. When a prospect sees that someone with a similar problem is happy with what you’ve done for them, they’ll start thinking that maybe this could work for them too.
Be transparent, even when it comes to what you can’t do.
No one product or company is perfect. And while it sounds wrong to admit any weakness, it can actually be a huge factor in winning trust (and winning the deal).
People don’t like being sold to because it often feels fake. But vulnerability opens a clear path to listening on both sides and builds trust. There’s even a whole name for it: the Pratfall Effect. According to social scientists, people trust and like you more if you show imperfections.
Perfection isn’t real, so don’t bother pretending that your solution is better in every single way. Case in point: consumers are more likely to buy products rated 4.2- 4.5 stars than 5-star products.
Plus, admitting what you can and can’t do for your prospect opens the door to an honest conversation where you can learn about what’s really important to them in a solution and how you can make your product work for them.
Ultimately, genuine communication is the key to building trust, both in real life and in sales. If you want to earn a prospect’s trust, keep it real all the way from the cold call through to contact signing (and beyond).
Key takeaways:
- Start your selling process off on the right foot with honest communication, and don’t be too pushy.
- Being consistent, doing research, and asking the right questions goes a long way in creating trust with a prospect.
- Social proof is an important part of showing that your product can be trusted.
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