7 Ways Software Sellers Can Earn Trust with Customers

As old as the sales profession itself is the stereotype that sellers are liars. This reputation has been earned, maybe not by such upstanding saints as you and me, but by peddlers throughout history who have been known to manipulate and hoodwink buyers. B2B Software-as-a-Service sellers are not immune to being branded as untrustworthy, and therefore it’s critical for us account executives to earn our customers’ and prospective customers’ trust as early as possible. All things being equal, the personal trust you build with a potential buyer could be the decisive factor in an otherwise even competitive evaluation.

If you’re a SaaS seller with a shred of humility, you are probably keenly aware that buyers rely mostly on your company’s subject matter experts (sales engineers, solutions architects, executive leadership, etc.) – not so much you – to thoroughly evaluate your products and services. And yet, you are still the face of the company – the first and last person buyers typically interact with in the pre-sales process – and thus you have a significant impact on their decision, so it’s imperative prospective buyers feel they can trust you. Beyond just not lying to them, there are several ways for software salespeople to earn and maintain clients’ trust.

This isn’t an exhaustive list, so I’m eager to hear input from anyone who reads this article. Some of these abilities take more time to master than others, so I’ve listed these suggestions in order of difficulty, from things anyone can do to the things that require more experience.

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1. Professional communication. One of the fastest ways to lose trust with a stranger is to be unprofessional in your communication. In the context of B2B sales, there are a few things anyone can and should do: show up to meetings on time, and end them on time; always send an agenda in advance, ask for feedback, and include it in your meeting invite; be explicit about the time, location, attendees and goals of the meeting, then re-state these for confirmation at the beginning of the meeting; always talk about next steps! And of course, follow through on your committed action items in a timely manner.
2. Talk about the customer’s “Why” and stay aligned to it. Always start by asking the customer why they’re looking to make a change now. Demonstrate that their strategic vision and reason for exploring and/or investing in your products is critically important to you. This is not only useful for qualifying the prospect and their use case(s) as a potential fit, but also shows empathy – you get why they are doing this in the first place – and puts you in a position to help the customer develop an effective business case if they don’t already have an approved budget for your solution. Occasionally the person you’re speaking with might not know why the company would invest in your product; this is an opportunity for you to coach them on why other customers buy your solution, further establishing you as a trusted advisor rather than a product peddler. Help them shape and articulate a defensible business case to justify the project and budget request. Don’t shy away from technical/tactical details associated with your product, but always bring the conversation back to why they need to make a change, and why now is the right time.
3. Talk about money early and honestly. Unless your software is free, money is an inherent component of the customer’s business justification hypothesis, so it’s totally appropriate to talk about the cost of your solution at any point in the discussion. I don’t suggest throwing numbers at them in the first call, or handing the customer a list price menu, but being up front about rough orders of magnitude for investing in your solution can help you both qualify the buyer as a potential fit, and establish trust in you as their sales rep. If the client’s budget is under $25k/year, and your solution starts over $100k/year, it’s better for both of you to uncover that gap as soon as possible. Sellers who are coy about money wave a big red flag that implies they’re too expensive or under-confident in the value of their solutions. Work collaboratively with your champion to come up with a configuration that aligns to their needs, and then be confident in the price for your software/services. (Read more about this concept in The Challenger Sale.)
4. Coach your customer on how to evaluate and buy your software. If you’ve sold your solution more than once, it’s likely that you have experienced the process of evaluating and acquiring products like yours more times than your buyer has. The customer is often doing this for the first time; maybe not buying any software, but buying software in your category. Help them understand and visualize the typical phases in the evaluation and purchasing process, with realistic timelines, and help them to anticipate steps that they might not be aware of. This helps both you and your customer in several ways: if you have a good idea of when they need to launch your solution into production, and a realistic timeline to get there, you can work backward to determine when they need to make a nominal decision; by agreeing on all of the required steps in the process (yours and theirs), you avoid potential setbacks that could delay the process; you can set realistic expectations in forecasting the deal internally; and finally, your experience and knowledge of the process reinforces the customer’s confidence in you as their trusted AE.
5. Have an informed perspective on the market you’re in. Your category knowledge can be an invaluable asset for your prospective buyers as they research the market and shortlist potential vendors, and it also helps to position you as a trusted advisor. Do you understand the history and evolution of your market category, and can you articulate it concisely, in plain English? Who are the key players (including your competitors), and what are their strengths and weaknesses? What are your solution’s strengths and weaknesses? Sellers earn trust by sharing an honest perspective of when their product is a good fit, and when it isn’t. Conversely, you’ll lose trust quickly by having a myopic view of the world that starts and ends with your solution as the only option in the market, solving all of their problems.
6. Have a strong (if not deep) understanding of your product and the ecosystem it plays in. Software sellers typically have a pre-sales solutions engineer to help them address technical questions and conduct in-depth product demos, but AEs who can answer initial questions about the software and even (gasp!) provide a cursory tour/demo of the product before engaging an SE can gain a tremendous advantage over their competitors. Pay attention during demos that are led by your SE; play around in the demo environment; watch demo recordings; and talk to your current customers to understand their successes and challenges with your product. Sales reps should be prepared to advise customers on how to roll out the solution successfully and how to navigate or avoid common pitfalls. You don’t need to be a technical expert, but you should be fluent enough to understand the difference between your product category and other adjacent categories, as well as how your product fits in with other tools. This knowledge takes time and effort to cultivate; Google and YouTube are your friends.
7. Have a good network. This is obviously easier said than done and takes more time than any of these other recommendations. I’ve found that the more people I know, and the more networking connections I can help to facilitate, the more valuable I am as a partner and a seller. Building this network is another topic entirely, but it requires a commitment to being out in the field (attending conferences, hosting dinners and meetups, etc.) – I don’t suggest shamelessly name-dropping all the time, but you can build a ton of trust with your customers by introducing them to industry peers, connecting them with your other customers, referring them to industry thought leaders, and positioning your alliance partners. For a deeper dive on building your network with partners, check out my earlier LinkedIn article, How To Be A Good Partner in the Field.

If I had to boil all of this down to two simple behavioral traits, I would say be thoughtful and honest. The domain knowledge and professional network both take time to build, but the juice is worth the squeeze.?

I’m sure I have left out some other useful tips, so I’m grateful for feedback and comments. And as we sellers earn our customers’ trust more consistently, maybe we can put the old stereotypes about salespeople to rest.