When selling, your business must generate trust or the marketing game is over before it begins. Trust is defined as “a willingness to rely on an exchange partner in whom one has confidence”. Trust is the foundation of any sales situation whether it is “low touch” on the web or “high touch” face-to-face selling.
At Orbit, you often hear us talk about apathy killers and kickers. Apathy killers are sexy attention getters that highlight the branding promise of a company and typically stretch your customer’s limits – in a good way. Then there is the antidote to the apathy killer – the kicker, which simply brings people back to their comfort zone and saturates them with trust factors. When you are doing a “sell, sell, sell” marketing piece, you lean towards the apathy killer, but when you are doing a “leave behind” marketing piece, you lean towards the kicker. Both need trust to effectively work, but both elicit different types of trust.
The Four Types of Trust
In a 2002 study (McKnight, Choudhury and Kacmar) three important types of customer trust were identified: ability, benevolence and integrity. We agree with the study’s findings, but think that enthusiasm is a type of trust that is also crucial to providing for your customers beyond their needs.
- Ability – Does your customer trust that your company is capable of getting the job done?
- Benevolence – Do you have your customer’s concern at heart or are you just after the almighty dollar?
- Enthusiasm – Are you excited to work with your customers? Does your passion for your company fuel customer service that goes above and beyond?
- Integrity – Do you adhere to a set of principles or standards – a moral compass that your customers can trust?
If you break down trust into these four categories, then you are better able to take real measures to build – or maybe fix – your company’s relationships with its customers.
Here are some examples of how to portray each different type of trust through your marketing messages:
- Ability — Stress innovative capabilities or products. Show how your capabilities far exceed your customer’s expectations and your competitor’s offerings. Practice what you preach – If you are selling sleek, hi-tech printers make sure your marketing materials reflect sleek and hi-tech printing technology. Conversely, if you are selling inexpensive, environmentally friendly products, print on recycled paper.
- Benevolence — Inject genuine support and concern into your marketing and make money a secondary issue. Focus on the quality and reputation of your company’s brand and products.
- Enthusiasm – Be excited about the products that you sell and the services that you provide. Your excitement will create a domino effect that spreads to your customers and beyond.
- Integrity — Meet 3rd party standards in your field by attaining academic credentials, finding endorsements, joining respected membership organizations or publishing industry papers.
Marketing Pieces and Trust
Even the wildest ad or direct mail piece must have trust signals if it is to be successful. Of course, any decent apathy killer, with its over-emphasis on the firm’s branding promise, is going to signal trust in ability. By showing a strong passion for a product or service, you are sending trust signals of benevolence and enthusiasm – i.e. would we be this fanatical if we were only concerned about money? The kicker (the closer) is where customer integrity trust lives. From endorsements to credentials, the kicker looks outside the company for integrity trust factors. An effective marketing piece carefully addresses each of the four types of customer trust. Build a solid launch pad of trust under all of your marketing initiatives and watch your company take off.
Brand well and prosper!
Andy Cleary