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- They Don't Trust You
People think objections are just the fact of life for sales people.
But in reality, there are objections in marketing as well. The only difference is that sales gets immediate feedback, and for marketing?
Well…we marketers just get ghosted.
Getting rejected isn’t fun. Just ask the 18yr old version of me in high school.
What’s even worse than getting rejected? Is not knowing why you were rejected.
Well fear not marketing friend! Just like in high school, I’ve reverse engineered rejection for you to get to the REAL reasons why you aren’t getting more wins than losses.
Now many of you are probably thinking, “There could be dozens of reasons why people won’t buy from us, how are you going to cover them all?”
The customer could be telling you things like:
The price is too high
I don’t have the budget
It’s not a priority right now
I don’t want to sign a long-term contract
Or the same thing Cathy Leong told me in 9th grade…”I’ll think about it”
I respectfully disagree.
After some deep thought and a few glasses of wine, I believe you could boil down rejection or what we can also call, sales objections, into 3 core reasons.
(And the good news? 90% of these reasons are addressable by marketing & sales!)
Reason #1 They Won’t Buy From You - They Don’t Trust You
Some days I feel like 90% of marketing is gaining the prospect’s trust.
Did you know there was a study done where they found that B2B buyers would gladly choose the 2nd best option that was from a trustworthy brand, over the 1st best product in the category from a not-as-well-known brand?
Lack of trust is a customer objection that’s rarely told to your face.
What are Signs of a Lack of Trust?
There are a couple of signals I could think of from a marketing and sales perspective.
Buyers just won’t engage. They bounce from your website. You get lackluster response to your marketing campaigns. They just don’t take you seriously.
Or they inexplicably choose your competitor…despite checking off all the checkboxes, they STILL choose your competitor over you.
Gaining credibility and trust isn’t a linear thing. There’s also an inverse relationship when it comes to trust coupled with price.
The higher the investment, the higher the trust barrier you must leap over
The lower the investment, the more likely they’ll take a chance on you
As marketers, how do we get over the trust barrier?
The Three Levels of Credibility
There’s 3 levels of credibility. Each of which earns us more trust from consumers.
Let’s cover each one in detail and the best approach to earning trust.
Implied Credibility - Comb Your Hair and Tuck In Your Shirt
Implied Credibility is basically first impressions a consumer has when they first experience anything from your company.
Is the grammar of your website copy on point?
Your website. Was it created professionally or by a $100 Fiverr freelancer?
Is your brand regularly posting on social? Or has it been 6 months since the last post?
Is your tradeshow booth the massive one on the floor? Or is it the small tiny one in the corner by the washrooms?
Addressing implied credibility as a marketer is table stakes IMHO.
Spend the money to have a professional creative director define your brand book
Write copy that has meaning and character, not one that’s straight from ChatGPT or worse meaningless, calorie-free, marketing jazz-hands language
You don’t have to have the biggest budget, you just have to look on par or better than your competitors
Cheaping out on your brand and how you outwardly present yourself to potential buyers is the equivalent of a sales person meeting a prospect in flip-flops and jogging pants.
Make the effort!
Perceived Credibility - Show That You Ain’t No Chump
If implied credibility was the appetizer, perceived credibility is the meat & potatoes.
This is the stuff that signals to the world, you’re the real deal.
It’s not that easy to achieve, but also not impossible.
What are some forms of perceived credibility?
Your executives regularly keynote at major national conferences
Social media raves about the latest research study you just put out
Your social accounts have 100K followers rather than a paltry 1000 followers
Influencers regularly refer or recommend your products
Getting 5-stars on Trust Radius or G2
A big VC is your primary investor
Oftentimes, many companies stop here and don’t pursue the next level up of establishing credibility. Either because they can’t or they don’t need to.
And oftentimes in a market that’s not super competitive, this just may be enough to leap that trust barrier.
Earned Credibility - Flex that You’re a Top 10 Percent-er
Now this is the peak of Mt. Credibility.
The one that is very hard to fake. Earned Credibility.
The type of credibility only YOU can achieve and very few others.
What are some examples of Earned Credibility?
Showing the logos of tier-one clients like Microsoft, Apple, etc.
Flexing that you have millions of users!
Strong case studies that show measurable results
Video testimonials from happy customers
Metrics to show massive product adoption or customer benefits
Being in the upper-right quadrant of the Gartner Magic Quadrant for your category
Wrapping Up Reason #1
Now that you know what to look for, and ways you can amp up trust and credibility, you can now look with a critical eye at the entirety of your marketing.
Are you truly using all the assets at your disposal to leap that trust barrier with your buyer?
Review your ads, sales materials, websites, etc.
Look at your marketing campaigns and how you show up with the lens of “Are showing up as a trustworthy brand?”
When you do, you have addressed the main reason most people don’t engage in the purchasing process.
Where’s Reason #2?
My friend, this is just the first of three emails in this mini-series on addressing marketing objections.
We’ll do a deep dive into reasons #2 next week!
TTFN.
Stay thirsty my friend!
P.S. - I need a favor. When you think of “Squeeze the Funnel”, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Reply and let me know. You’d be doing me a solid ✊🏻