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According to new research from Forrester, the most important factor in whether a company will do business with you is “do they trust you?” However, few companies have trust-building programs on par with brand-building and demand-generation programs. According to the study, buyers are almost twice as likely to recommend a company to a colleague if they trust it than if they don’t (85% vs. 48%).
Dr. Ian Bruce, Forrester Senior Analyst
Provided by Forester
Ian Bruce, principal analyst at Forrester, explains why trust is so important for B2B organizations. “This research provides some insight into how B2B buyers behave differently than when they are consumers. It relates to the fact that you are buying something on behalf of someone. They represent a colleague or a friend. Relationships in the buying process are different when you are buying something for yourself personally. are different. And as a result, they behave in strange ways. One of them is that they cause defensive decision-making, that is, the risk equation changes. They approach the purchasing process from a risk-averse perspective. The old adage still holds true: “Nobody got fired for buying IBM.” The other is when the purchasing decision is made by a group of people rather than an individual. The idea of expertise in the purchasing group plays out differently. ”
To make trust a manageable concept, Forrester has defined seven levers that can be addressed in the trust-building process. Mr Bruce said: “One of the things we try to do is break down trust from a very abstract concept to an aspirational realization for most brands. If you read most brand statements, mission and vision statements, , somewhere there is trust. What we were trying to do was turn this complex and difficult-to-articulate concept into something very actionable.”
The seven levers of trust are:
ability – A perception of an organization’s expertise and the belief that something can be done successfully or efficiently with such expertise.
Consistency – An expectation that an organization will always act or perform in the same way. Therefore, individuals can confidently rely on expected behavior or performance in their own plans, actions, and assumptions.
reliability – The expectation that the organization is available, reliable, and able to anticipate and meet the needs and demands of individuals.
accountability – Confidence that the organization will take responsibility for its actions and words. Provide satisfactory reasons for one’s words, decisions, and actions. And be prepared to endure the potential consequences.
transparency – Recognition that the organization operates its business in an open manner and makes every effort to share information about its business based on accurate and verifiable facts.
Honesty – The belief that the organization acts with integrity in accordance with values that are easily recognizable to individuals, and that those values permeate the organization’s brand, decisions, and operations.
empathy – A recognition that organizations are emotionally connected to their customers, employees, and partners, understanding and sharing their feelings and experiences.
But not all levers are equally important. Bruce elaborates: When you do this, you discover what is called shared importance, which levers are most important and which are least important. When you look at B2B buyers, they primarily value three things: competency, consistency, and reliability. ” That doesn’t mean other levers aren’t important. For example, 45% of business buyers said they would not tolerate brands that act contrary to their organization’s values.
What institutions and groups of people are most trusted by buyers? Naturally, your company colleagues and management, the vendors you currently work with, and industry peers and industry analysts. However, they trust social media influencers, government officials, news media, and vendor sales representatives the least. These biases give incumbent vendors a huge advantage and make it difficult for new vendors to break through. So what should challenger brand marketers do to build trust? Bruce advised: “In an environment with established vendors, there are significant barriers to entry for new vendors. It is very challenging. However, there are some tricks you can do. Buyers are looking for stable innovators. , financial security, longevity and innovation are top priorities, tied to the levers of reliability, consistency and capability.”
“To gain permission to talk to buyers, marketers need to do so from a position of trust,” Bruce says. “They need to convey their message to the buyer in a way that gives them a sense of confidence in the outcome, and that is the foundation of trust. The idea that this organization is trustworthy, consistent, and trustworthy. Something that often gets lost in the B2B messaging and marketing process. When you’re approaching a high-risk decision, such as making a purchasing decision on behalf of your organization, it’s important to reduce risk, build trust, and ask for permission to have a conversation. So you have to use these characteristics very actively.”
Bruce continued: “Trust builds because testimonials that strengthen you as a vendor and say positive things come from already trusted sources. If you want to be a trusted voice, you need to reach all of these people. That means you need to have a fairly broad market footprint. You need to build your brand across a variety of sources of influence.”
Although there was some variation in the findings in certain industries, particularly regulated industries where all seven measures are important, and in some regions such as Asia Pacific where integrity is more important, B2B marketers It was clear that people needed to pay more attention to construction. It’s not just about selling products, it’s about building trust. “Don’t just give lip service to this idea of trust,” Bruce insisted. “Think of it as the main determinant of purchase intent, which it really is. And that it’s one of the main motivations for how you communicate with buyers and the market. Also, consider that one of the goals of marketing should be to build trust in a measurable way, and therefore permission to sell.”
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