In the days before the internet, or, to be more precise, the evenings, working in telemarketing involved being handed a dog-eared script – which you absolutely had to stick to, unless you wanted to get fired then and there – and being told to work your way through the names on a page torn out of the phone book.

And a very long list it was, too.

How much in the way of double-glazing was sold that way, who’s to say – but I’m willing to bet it wasn’t a lot, since I speak from experience.

And that’s because the script was pretty much about trying to sell the total stranger at the other end of the line on the idea of being visited by a double-glazing salesman.  And back then, they had a reputation for persistence.

So, in short, there you were, with no flexibility in the way you interacted with someone whose dinner you’d just interrupted, trying to get them to agree to something they didn’t want in the first place – at your very first – and only – contact.

All in all, if that particular telemarketing outfit was getting paid on a commission-per-appointment basis, then it’s very likely they were losing money hand over fist.  They had to hire the office space, get some second-hand desks, install those phones, copy that “sales” script and somehow acquire a sacrificial phone book.  Oh, and of course, there was the small matter of paying supervisors and staff – of whom there was a very high turnover indeed.

Maximum effort, minimum results.

But now, in this digital age, some people are still putting in a huge amount of effort when it comes to their B2B telemarketing, and still paying through the nose for far too few results.  OK, so phone books are pretty well a thing of the past, because it’s a simple matter to source names and numbers online these days, but you can still end up with a long list that’s very long indeed.

And if it’s possible to get past their gatekeeper and through to anybody on that list, rather than trying to establish a relationship, those people are trying to sell them straight away on their service or product.

How much more effective would it be for them if their initial call was looking for an expression of interest in what they could provide -something quick and easy as in “May we send you an email giving you more information for you to look at, at your leisure”?

If the answer is yes, then it’s time to start establishing a relationship via email – hardly the most expensive messaging medium on the planet.

And if the answer is no, well, there’s always the next name on that long list.

Trust is one of those things that your business cannot survive without. Unfortunately, it is also one of the hardest areas to develop effectively. You can buy yourself the flashiest website, sell the best products in your industry and deliver the slickest, most faultless customer service imaginable. But without trust between you and your customers, you still won’t sell. Why is this, and why are trust built relationships important to your business?
 

What is trust?

Without a doubt trust is the one thing that has a huge influence over our decisions in life without anyone really being able to put their finger on what it is. Ask 100 people what trust means to them, and you’ll almost certainly get 100 different answers. Trust is the difference between getting a lift home and choosing to walk. Trust is sharing secrets. Trust is handing over cash with the confidence that you’ll get a return on your investment. And in business, trust is the difference between making a sale and losing another prospect.

Trust in the buying process

We all have our own ways of evaluating the trustworthiness of a company before we choose to do business with them. Some of us will look for independent reviews on the internet, others will ask friends for advice. The more astute may check the company’s credentials in terms of business registrations and licenses. Being able to trust in a business is what makes us decide to buy, or in some cases not.

Take, for instance, those businesses that are founded on a review and feedback system. Amazon, for example, or eBay. Consumers know that they can buy with confidence if the person or business they are buying from have enough positive feedbacks from past customers, and that is why this system works.

In a Nielsen survey from 2009, respondents cited recommendations from friends, consumer opinions online and editorial content such as newspaper articles as much more important factors in evaluating trustworthiness than any of the forms of paid advertising available. The good news about this is that these types of PR are the cheapest to implement; the bad news is they are also the most difficult.

Does trust equal sales?

So we know that positive PR, and the right type of PR, can directly influence the level of trust your customers perceive in your brand. However, the critical factor that will put trust high on the agenda of your business is whether it directly influences sales.

According to marketing professors, Morris B. Holbrook and Arjun Chaudhuri, who have researched extensively on this subject, the answer is yes. These experts conclude that brand trust results in both purchase loyalty and a loyal attitude to the brand, which has positive impacts on sales figures. Additional research by Mext Consulting shows that:

• 83% of consumers will buy more of your products if they trust your brand
• 81% will recommend a trusted brand to their friends and contacts
• 47% will pay a premium for the brands that they trust

In summary, trust not only leads to greater sales right now, but will also secure your business a loyal following for long into the future, and that organic growth through word of mouth and social recommendations that your customers value so highly. To overlook the building of trust is to miss out on a valuable opportunity for your business.

A recent LinkedIn discussion on the merits of email marketing showed the massive polarity of responses.  On one side was heard:

• I hate spam.  I never read any email from anyone I don’t know
• It doesn’t work – I’ve tried and failed
• Email is dead anyway, numbers using email are declining.  Social Media is the way forward
• No one read our marketing emails that we’ve spent a fortune having designed

And on the other hand comments like these appeared:

• Email is a great channel to find new customers
• We mainly use email to retain clients
• Our email strategy gives the highest ROI of any of our marketing

So what’s going on?  How can a relatively homogenous group have such different views on the effectiveness of email as a promotions and sales channel?

I believe the difference is between those that see email as a broadcast medium and those that seek to engage contacts by sharing knowledge and advice.  To differentiate the two, I have coined the phrase email selling to describe this second activity.

The difference is stark:

So next time you are thinking about your email strategy think email selling over email marketing.