In today’s fast-paced world, Considered-Purchase Brands should shift their emphasis to gaining trust faster if they want to shorten the decision-making process and speed up sales.
Beyond price, features and value perceptions, trust is the single most important factor in the buying decision. And nowhere is this trust factor more evident than when a customer is considering a high-priced, high-consequence purchase. There is a lot at risk, so we all understand that trust is an imperative – no matter how long it takes. Imagine the value to your company if you could overcome a buyer’s fear and get them to trust you in an instant?
According to important research from author and psychologist Kevin Dutton, if companies and brands can adopt the same SPICE model that he recommends for people, they are more likely to gain trust much faster – perhaps even in a split second
In his new book, “Split Second Persuasion, the Ancient Art and New Science of Changing Minds,” Dutton defines the five elements that make a person sufficiently persuasive and compelling to be instantly trustworthy:
- Simplicity – Using plain language and direct rhetoric
- Perceived Self-Interest – Allowing the other person to think they win or are getting what they want.
- Incongruity – Using distraction, much like a magician would with a card trick
- Confidence – Speaking like you have an army standing behind you.
- Empathy – Making it personal and people will want to act.
Calling these five SPICE elements the DNA of persuasion, Dutton claims that most of us, with practice, can deliver the kind of persuasive arguments that will build instant trust.
Sales At The Speed of Trust
So how can your company practice gaining trust faster? Here are 5 translations of Dutton’s principles that can help your marketing and sales teams ramp up to the speed of instant trust:
- Leverage Twitter: Simplicity
Nothing quite like distilling your message into only 140 characters. Twitter is perfect for practicing your brand’s art of plain speech.
- Put WIIFM’s First: Perceived Self-Interest
Your every message must lead with the answer to the customer’s only real question: What’s in it for me?
- Sell By Comparisons: Incongruity
Use well-researched competitive comparisons to give context and power to your persuasions.
- Build Knowledge: Confidence
If your sales team, website and social media networks are not all armed with an army of knowledge about your brand and your offers, retrain, revise or replace now.
- Lead with a Larger Purpose: Empathy
Today, consumers (and businesses) are eager to support businesses that support causes they care about. The emotional translation is easy: If you care about what I care about, then you must care about me too – and therefore, worthy of my trust. From saving the planet to saving animals to saving the arts, be sure your brand’s cause is aligned to your primary audience and part of your sales messaging, in order to build trust faster.
Whether it’s buying wealth management services or choosing the healthcare facility for their parents or buying a new resort home, trust is the biggest moving force behind every fast-moving sale.
As marketers, remember that often our mission is to overcome fear by first building trust.