Prospect Trust Building

What is Business Development?

Every deal requires trust.

Here’s how to build it.

Prospects buy when they trust you.

Trust = Purpose + Empathy + Truth

1. Purpose = Your prospect's Extrinsic needs
2. Empathy = Your prospect's Intrinsic needs
3. Truth = Proof of delivering on a promise

Engagement must increase trust.

Trust is built by advocating for your prospect.

Advocating for your prospect increases intimacy.

Here's how it works:

1. ACTIVATION PHASE:

After catching the prospect’s attention in the Awareness Phase, they enter the Activation Phase with very little, if any, trust.

* FACT: Gallup's annual “Honesty/Ethics in Professions” poll found advertising is consistently one of the least trusted professions.

You must invest energy to incrementally build the prospect’s trust.

The amount of trust is directly proportional to risk.

"Theory of Intent Thresholds"....

- High Intent Threshold (HIT): If a product has high risk (ie., high price, complexity, etc.) it requires more trust before a prospect declares intent.

- Low Intent Threshold (LIT): If a product is low risk, it requires less trust for a prospect to declare intent; like a candy bar impulse buy.

HIT requires more energy invested in prospect engagement than LIT.

PROOF: Forrester research shows B2B buyers require 27 brand engagement interactions, with a corporation, prior to making a purchase.

2. CONVERSION PHASE:

Prospects enter this phase when they declare intent.
The prospect considers your product and competing products.
They buy if they have affinity for you, your product, and corporation.

3. SUCCESS PHASE:

Trust building continues.
If your product delivers on promises, then customer affinity increases.

4. EXPANSION PHASE

Maximum trust is required before a customer buys more of your products and/or advocates for you with positive Word of Mouth referrals that create exponential corporate growth.

So, advocacy FOR your Prospects, begets advocacy FROM your customers.

Tony Gray, BDP
Author of the Business Development Body of Knowledge

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