Who do you trust more?
I loved reading Archie comics when I was young, and now with the revival of the characters in the new Netflix series Riverdale, I am reminded of the differing personalities of Betty and Veronica. Veronica was the cartoon character that was rich and cared about money and popularity. Betty was the girl next door who helped out, obliged and genuinely wanted to be nice. Put in business terms: Veronica chased revenue. Betty was all about customer engagement.
Without Veronica, your business can’t survive. Without Betty, your customers won’t trust you and Veronica can’t collect. You need both on your team but in today’s sales and marketing environment, how do you get Betty and Veronica in alignment to achieve your digital sales and marketing goals?
Today, people want to self-serve. They want to self-educate before engaging with a sales person or a Veronica. They don’t want to be “sold”. They want someone to take the time with their website or online content and explain value. They want someone to help them out with their business challenges in a “what’s in it for me” way. Not a “here’s what I can sell you” type of way.
Recently, Marketing Experiments published a blog post on the importance of building trust. They surveyed 2,400 consumers who shared their thoughts about trust in the engagement process. One of the hardest things today for marketers to do is build trust online.
How do you get to know people when you can’t look them in the eye?
Here were the top findings from Marketing Experiments research:
1. You only get what you give
In other words, to get you must give first. (Betty) What are you giving as part of your online strategy? Is it just free content, or is their real value in the content you offer and the work you do to create it? The most important part of building trust is the value exchange. Just asking for a like or follow via content in social media means you have to really take part and give as much as you receive.
2. Building long term relationships
Any marriage therapist will tell you that a good marriage takes time. You can’t propose to someone on the first date yet that’s what we do when we do things like “Buy Now” or “Get a Demo” on our home pages. People don’t trust you yet and even if they have been on your mailing list for years, you need to understand what it takes for them to have enough trust to say yes. Your sales team may be looking for a quick fix but helping them understand the nature of a long term relationship and what it takes to build them, will create better alignment between sales and marketing which is what it takes to build a repeatable lead generation engine.
3. Putting yourself in the shoes of the customer
Without this, nothing much works in sales or marketing today. If you don’t understand what matters to your customer and the problems they are trying to solve, your content is likely useless and not hitting the mark. When you put yourself in the shoes of the customer, it changes the way you act and respond. It moves you away from being a Veronica too soon and focuses on being a Betty until it’s time to call Veronica.
Here’s a little test:
• When was the last time you listened to a colleague or customer and helped them solve a business problem with no gain for you or your business?
• When was the last time you referred someone for a job or for new business?
• When was the last time you gave away something for free that helped a client or colleague do something better in their business? (Golf balls don’t count!)
If you answered “never” to all three questions you are likely a Veronica. And while Veronica has a role to play in your business, leading with Veronica is likely what’s hindering your lead generation results.
If you answered, “yes, but not in the last six months”, you are probably a Veronica masquerading as a Betty.
If you answered “yes to all and just last week” then you are definitely a Betty. Being a Betty allows you to:
• Test out concepts with colleagues and customers in the spirit of sharing
• Buys long term goodwill
• Helps you to learn something new
Be a Betty. Betty’s build trust and trust wins online.
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