Sometimes it’s the simplest things that make the difference. I’m often surprised when I’m speaking with people which points resonate most with them. Recently I ran a workshop and was lucky enough to get some feedback direct from one of the delegates a couple of days later. He said that one of the ‘nuggets’ he found most useful was my throw-away comment that: “We buy from people we know, like and trust.”
To those of us trained in sales and marketing, this is a well-known, even hackneyed, phrase. However if you have been technically trained in science or engineering you may not have come across this phase. Therefore, let’s examine what it really means.
Know
We can only buy, fund, book etc if we are aware of the product, service or person. Nobody ‘buys’ what we do not know!
The first job of marketing is to raise awareness that you, your product or service exists. Simple as that.
Like
This is where it gets interesting. Given choice, we all buy from people we like. There would have to be a very compelling reason for us to buy from someone or something we hate.
If you are working in sales or marketing you will have heard the phrase which the late, great and wonderfully named Zig Ziglar used to say
‘People buy with our emotion and justify on logic.’
Zig Ziglar
This is true no matter how logical you think your choice of product or service is, you will have always have had what is often called a ‘gut reaction’ first.
Sometimes the reason we like the person or organisation in front of us is because they seem very much similar to us. Sometimes it’s because they are completely different.
You’ll be more successful if you have identified your ideal client profile and then develop understanding as to why they like you. A good start is to examine your existing clients.
Trust
Finally, given choice, we will buy from those we trust.
Again it can be that ‘gut reaction’ where we feel we can trust them or we feel that, even though we might like them, something isn’t quite right.
In marketing terms that feeling of trustworthiness, can often be identified as an issue with brand and consistency.
The role of brand in know, like, trust
A brand that looks professional gives the buyer confidence that you have spent some time thinking about how your appearance! It’s a bit like going into an interview in the right clothes and doing your preparation research beforehand.
In early-stage businesses having a professional brand is simply the first step into gaining trust.
For growing and scaling businesses, the brand can develop to become as an asset in its own right (which is another reason for having a strong brand).
The importance of consistency in know, like, trust
It’s all very well having a professional looking brand, but your investment will be wasted if it is used inconsistently or varies across media and channels.
That ‘gut feeling’ of lack of trust could be because every time you encounter an individual from an organisation they tell you something slightly different. Or an organisation’s website, social media page, sales proposal and email signature all look different in some way.
A further inconsistency may be in processes. If the purchase journey is different every time, even existing clients will begin to question whether they can trust an organisation and start looking elsewhere.
This is why as your company grows having a style guide that everyone can refer to plus robust systems and processes become increasingly important.
Again the more consistent you are with your brand the more value asset value this will have later on should you choose to exit.
For further exploration on how the psychology of building know, like and trust through ethical influencing, check out.
Contact Su via Calendly or email if you’d like help with improving consistency across your brand and client interactions, to improve know, like and trust.