The One Thing Your Prospects Need To Spend Money With You In 2020

Thanks for reading The Marketing Minute, a weekly series where we share the behind-the-scenes stories of impactful growth strategies that we’ve used to get more leads or improve the sales process of our clients and at LinkedSelling.

Want to stay in the know?

Subscribe to this series using the button above and let us know what you want to hear about next week using #MarketingMinute in the comments below. Let’s get started…

Today’s Marketing Minute celebrates the release of my brand new book, “The Trust Equation” and discusses what ONE thing above all your prospects need before they’ll spend money with you.

You’ve heard the famous line by one of the world’s greatest salesman, Zig Ziglar. He said, “If people like you they'll listen to you, but if they trust you they'll do business with you.” As a salesman, he knew firsthand what a difference trust makes in closing the sale.

“The Trust Equation” expands on that idea and tells you how to use technology the right way to maintain the crucial trust you need with your prospects.

(Yes, this post is a shameless plug for the book, but keep reading and I’ll tell you why it matters for small businesses and how you can get a free copy.)

It’s not every day that I write a book. It takes a lot of time and research. 

But this one was worth the effort. 

In fact, people are saying this book is going to be fairly controversial for businesses. Personally, I believe that “The Trust Equation” approach will turn the business world on its head. That’s because, in the book, I show how so many are wrong about the way they get leads and clients - and why they continue to struggle with empty pipelines.

What used to work will no longer work moving forward into 2020.

The reason is simple. There is a definite right way and wrong way to get leads. Don’t believe me? Read the book and see for yourself.

Click here to get a free copy of “The Trust Equation” and learn why businesses need a new approach for 2020.

Why Trust?

While trust can be a hard metric to measure, I firmly believe that every business needs to consider how they’re using and building TRUST between their business and their market. If you don’t, you’re entering 2020 like a ship at sea in an angry storm. Proceed at your own peril. 

As anybody who has been in business for long can tell you, old school, relationship-building strategies are effective. Always have been. I’m talking about marketing your business one-on-one, using personal marketing, just reaching out to people, getting on the phone with people, and going out into the real world. Tried and true.  

At a certain point though, doing things the old fashioned way hits a ceiling. You only have so much time in the day.  We also need to take advantage of automation and technology to try and scale beyond the hours in the day.

And look, maybe you’re like me.  At heart, I’m really an introverted finance guy. And a lot of times I'd rather do the online stuff if I can have it work right. Going out and having a bunch of one-on-one conversations at networking events and trade shows doesn’t get me excited.  

Leverage Technology the Right Way

And yet, for so many of us, technology has failed us. With advances in marketing automation, we were all promised more efficiency and insight into our lead generation and prospecting. And while the promise has been fulfilled, it has caused marketing to become cold and impersonal. Prospects and potential customers are treated more like a number in a funnel instead of a living breathing person with hopes, dreams, goals, and fears. 

If people are making money, why is this a problem?

Over the last 2-3 years, we’ve seen a massive change in the way people act. They’ve become savvier and much more adept at seeing through veiled acts of attention and support that are, in reality, no more than a ploy to get you to support their cause or business.

In other words, trust is at an all-time low.  Trust in politicians, corporations, and public institutions are plummeting quickly. This has seeped into the small business community as well. And many studies show that consumer trust in brands has fallen to a new low. 

In last week’s Marketing Minute, we talked about Stephen Covey, who talked about how distrust is the enemy of both “a competitive strategy and superb organizational execution.” Meaning that no matter how clever your strategy is, or how well-executed if you don’t have trust with your market… it doesn’t really matter.

Studies like the 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer might explain why…

“The 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals that despite a strong global economy and near full employment, none of the four societal institutions that the study measures—government, business, NGOs and media—is trusted. The cause of this paradox can be found in people’s fears about the future and their role in it, which are a wake-up call for our institutions to embrace a new way of effectively building trust: balancing competence with ethical behavior.”

As a result, people have their guard up. To a level never before seen. 

Here’s the landscape businesses are up against... 

• 74% of consumers identify word-of-mouth as a key influencer in their purchasing decision. – Ogilvy/Google/TNS 
• 90% of people trust product or service recommendations from people they know, while only 33% trust messages from a brand. (Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey) 
• 76% of business decision-makers say they use online sources to learn about professional service providers. (Kredible Research) 
• 74% of decision-makers say they prefer to work with professional service providers who also know their colleagues, friends, or acquaintances. (Kredible Research) 

You’ve surely seen it in your business. Most are finding that their prospects are harder to reach than ever before. Your prospects have their guard up, and what used to work is no longer working. 

The Two Questions You Should Be Asking

What’s the solution? There are two questions you should ask:

1. How can you get past the trust barrier?
2. And how can you do so at scale (1-to-1 marketing is just not sustainable for most businesses), while leveraging technology the right way … without destroying trust?

“The Trust Equation” answers both of those questions. In the book, I break it down for you step by step. You can use it to get more leads and clients in a matter of days. Literally.

“The Trust Equation” gives you the solution to overcoming both of these challenges. It’s a revolutionary system to build trust with your best prospects and grow your business. THIS is the blueprint for how business and marketing is going to be done moving forward.  

If you’re interested you can get access to a free digital copy of The Trust Equation book here.

In the book you’ll learn:

• Why most marketing tools & automation software has failed modern small businesses and how you can overcome it
• Why trust and strategic business relationships are more critical than ever in today’s business landscape and how to leverage technology the RIGHT way to build trust
• The 4 pillars that are essential to implement the Trust Equation system to get more quality leads and clients within days or even hours.
• And finally, the tried and tested scripts, email templates, and campaign models that will help you build trust, stay top of mind, and position yourself as the go-to choice in your industry for your prospects.

This book will change the way you view your lead generation and sales processes. It will change the way you get leads and clients. It will teach you how to get past the trust barriers and how to use technology the right way to maintain - and even build more trust with your prospects.

It’s so important that I’m giving it to you now at no charge.

Publishers won’t be happy that I’m jumping the gun here - but I want you to have a copy before it even goes to print.

No charge. Click here now to download your copy of the book.

If you enjoyed this post I have a quick favor to ask:

1. First, if you’re interested in addressing the problems of trust and technology in today’s market, leave a comment telling me you got your copy of “The Trust Equation” book. 
2. Subscribe to #MarketingMinute with the button at the top of this post so you don’t miss a single #MarketingMinute post.

Share this post with your network on LinkedIn if you think they could benefit from the message using the Share button below.