Building the Trust Factor for Your Brand
Trust is essential for today’s consumer.
A customer should see your logo or know your brand and feel confidence when they engage with you. One person that is more than aware of the power of trust is Bernie Borges. As the CEO of Find and Convert, Bernie is an expert at brand exposure and genuine lead generation. He is the author of Marketing 2.0 and executive producer of Social Business Engine – a digital media weekly podcast.
Today, Bernie was kind enough to sit down with us and discuss how adding B2B sales staff to the social media plan could improve the “trust” factor for any brand.
A Social Media Presence is a Great Start
One of the best ways to build a presence and confidence is via social media. Most brands have a social media account, like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. These pages are there to help people reach their brands.
A brand could have more reach into the marketplace, however, if they engage all team members in the social media project.
The Trust Factor for Big and Emerging Brands
All brands, whether they are new to the marketplace or been around for years, have to build trust. The annual Edelman Trust Barometer says that employees are the most reliable source of information about a brand. The employees are trusted more than the CEO of the company, according to the barometer.
So, an employee is go-to for independent research and reassurance.
Inserting the Sales Staff Into the Buyer’s Journey
During his interview, Bernie pointed out a critical item: the role of the sales staff in the buyer’s journey.
Salespeople must understand the role of the company, and B2B buyers are only going to talk with sales staff later in the journey. However, if sales staff are not inserted into the journey, and they are not frequently engaging with consumers, then the buyer is never going to start their journey to begin with. Why? Because during the purchaser’s research, they skip over a company, for whatever reasons, because they did not have access to trusted resources.
Sales staff could insert themselves into social media conversations, reach out to customers, and even start the buying journey for them. Bernie talked about an example where a sales professional watched a social media conversation with a competitor and a potential customer. Once he got an idea of what the customer wanted, he approached that customer and started the sales conversation.
The salesperson was successful, because he listened, observed, and saw what was happening.
Using Sales Staff to Monitor Online Twitter Streams
When sales staff monitor activity via social media, they gain insight into what prospective customers are looking for. Furthermore, they can break the ice and approach a lead armed with information about what the customer is already looking for.
Naturally, the process of inserting sales staff into social media is much more than just monitoring and approaching. However, this is one important factor brought up by Bernie during his interview that companies should consider.
To learn more about Bernie Borges and his team, follow his insights shared on Find and Convert’s blog.