By Alex Winter
Jan 29, 2025
Topics:
Content Marketing Executives and Leaders Getting Started with They Ask, You Answer Endless Customers PodcastSubscribe now and get the latest podcast releases delivered straight to your inbox.
Trust Drives Sales: Why Trust Is the Currency of Modern Business [Endless Customers Podcast Ep. 85]
By Alex Winter
Jan 29, 2025
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This transcript has been generated by AI and not checked for accuracy.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:00:00
I like so building trust is absolutely critical. All right. And a lot of people struggle with how do I actually do that. So I put a framework together. And the nine steps to build trust are
Alex Winter
0:00:13
Welcome back to endless customers. I'm your host Alex
Alex Winter
0:00:15
winter. And today we are joined by a special guest. Her name is Hannah Eisenberg. She's a certified coach with Trust Builder Coach. Hannah, welcome to the show.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:00:33
Thanks for having me. It's very exciting for me to be here.
Alex Winter
0:00:36
Yes, it's very exciting for us, too. She's talking to us all the way from Florence, Italy. How is everything in Italy? You guys having a good time over there?
Hannah Eisenberg
0:00:44
Florence is gorgeous this time of year. I'm lying. It's gorgeous any time of the year, but right now we have Christmas markets and it's nice and crisp air. So beautiful. That's wonderful.
Alex Winter
0:00:55
Well, I'm really excited to talk to you today. We're talking about something that we talk a lot about here with They Ask, You Answer and with Endless Customers. But I feel like we mention it. We talk about how important it is, but we don't really get into the how and how to implement and the best ways to navigate building trust. And trust is definitely the topic of the day today. So my first question for you just to dive into it is what is trust and why is it so hard to
Alex Winter
0:01:22
define? We know what it is but like why is it so hard to actually define what
Hannah Eisenberg
0:01:26
that means when we talk about business? You hit on something really important here because throughout all my marketing career, throughout all my They Ask, You Answer coaching, trust has always been the one thing. And it was very frustrating to me that people don't make it more of a priority. And then I was thinking, why is that?
Hannah Eisenberg
0:01:51
And it's because this thing that we all know inherently is so important, it's fuzzy, it's complicated, it's layered, it's multi-dimensional. So let's start with your first question. What is trust? If you ask the American Psychology Association, trust is really just the reliance or the confidence and someone's dependability, or in something or on something, right? So we have to rely or depend on just someone else doing something. Okay, that's, that's probably the
Hannah Eisenberg
0:02:30
definition that everyone would kind of give you, I have to rely on someone, I can depend on someone. But for me in in business, it's much more layered, right? If I look at trust, and looking back, this has always been really something that I was fascinated with. For me, trust is really that willingness of me, of the person extending trust, to be vulnerable. Because I'm taking a risk, I'm going to rely on or have confidence in meaning being willing to be vulnerable, that you actually come through, right, I don't have control over your actions, or the
Hannah Eisenberg
0:03:11
that my trust is going to have, but I just have to take that leap of faith, be willing to be vulnerable, and I have to take that risk.
Alex Winter
0:03:22
Yeah, vulnerability is a very, that's a really great word, and I don't think that that's something we say often enough, being vulnerable, which can be scary at times, and I'm jokingly thinking in my head
Alex Winter
0:03:32
about the trust fall activity, where you have to fall backwards into someone's arms, and you have to be vulnerable and hope that someone's gonna catch you, right?
Hannah Eisenberg
0:03:40
Yeah, no, absolutely. And to your second question, why is it so hard to define? Well, because it's fuzzy, it's complicated, it's multi-dimensional, and it's very, very, very subjective and I think that's where this whole thing comes in that we always talk about building trust
Hannah Eisenberg
0:04:00
but we never really sit down and define it or proactively do it, because we can't really, it's so subjective, it depends. Your willingness to trust someone in a business relationship will be completely different from my willingness to trust.
Alex Winter
0:04:15
Yeah, it's very true. So you help a lot of companies, and I know you coach and train a lot of folks on how to do this, and I'm going a little bit off script here, but I have to, as a follow-up, ask you, when you're dealing with companies how do you
Alex Winter
0:04:27
try to find subjectively like what that trust means for different people and different organizations and different industries and so on like do you have a trick or is there like a what like a way that you can tell like is it just intuition or like how do you how do you navigate that as you talk to people yeah
Hannah Eisenberg
0:04:44
so this took me a very long time to figure out because I always went by intuition. But I recently actually sat down and I frameworked it. I'm in the process of writing a book and that really forced me to framework the whole process. But I also really was thinking about this more as a – you could almost see it as a two by two matrix, I guess, where it's like the willingness to be vulnerable and the perceived risk, right? If your willingness to be vulnerable is high, but the risk that you perceive is low,
Hannah Eisenberg
0:05:21
that's a very easy trust, right?
Alex Winter
0:05:24
Yeah.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:05:25
The opposite is complete distrust. And then there's something in between where your willingness is high, but the risk is very high as well. So it's not an easy trust, but you're willing to extend that trust because the reward might be really big and
Hannah Eisenberg
0:05:37
then there's the the opposite of that where it's your Willingness is very low, but the perception of the risk is also low. So it's more like a cautious trust I don't have much to gain but I don't have much to lose either. So I cautiously trust you So where we always want to go is obviously that that quadrant, you know that that easy trust. So we'll dive, I think, in the framework a little bit into the details more later, but that framework
Hannah Eisenberg
0:06:09
sort of gets you there. Yeah, I love that.
Alex Winter
0:06:11
Very cool, I can't wait to dive more into that. But so, can we talk a little bit for our listeners and for our viewers out there, why is it important in today's business environment? I think some people are like, why are we talking about trust?
Alex Winter
0:06:21
I need more leads, I need more sales, I need more insert whatever that is. But I think foundationally, it all starts with trust. So can we talk about why in business it's more important than ever in today's market? Yeah.
Alex Winter
0:06:34
So I'm not gonna take you through the whole history
Hannah Eisenberg
0:06:36
of marketing sales. I think everyone is aware of that. But it's really important just to point out that it used to be quite easy, right? I mean, if we think of the iconic Coca-Cola, The iconic coca-cola. I love to teach the world and I'll show you you can finish that sentence in your head
Hannah Eisenberg
0:06:55
Yeah, right That wasn't that was in the 70s as an iconic campaign was very memorable people just heard it and that's how you build trust and then And just to point out here the salespeople were the one with the information So you gotta have you had to trust them now if the internet everything changed. We all know the zero moment of truth. Now we're doing online research. And we're doing up to 80% of online research before and making the buying journey
Hannah Eisenberg
0:07:24
before we reach out to that salesperson, because we're not trusting anymore. Yeah, we're doing our due diligence, we want to avoid possible mistakes. And we're not doing that anymore. Yeah. And then now with AI, with the zero click, you have seller-free experiences that people want. The world is changing so much into a, I don't trust you at all anymore.
Alex Winter
0:07:48
Yeah, no, it's so true. We're seeing the touchless experience, sales experiences, that's what people want. And we're seeing it too, it's becoming much more predominant, especially with AI these days. You're absolutely right.
Alex Winter
0:08:00
Yeah.
Alex Winter
0:08:01
Yeah, it's just becoming more and more important.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:08:03
And just to finish that off, if everything else changes, the only thing and I quote here, Marcus Marcus Sharon, right? The single most important emotion that someone has to feel in order to exchange products and services. I'm sorry, I'm gonna say that one again.
Alex Winter
0:08:25
Sure, go for it.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:08:26
Just to finish this point off real quick, I'm going to quote Marcus here. Trust is really the single most important emotion that someone has to feel in order to exchange their money for product or services. So it doesn't matter if you predominantly sell on Facebook and that goes away, or you buy a donut in your donut shop. Whatever it is, ultimately you have to trust them.
Alex Winter
0:08:57
I couldn't say it better myself. And Marcus Sheridan preaches that to everybody. It's in his book and it's definitely a core, fundamental piece of They Ask, You Answer. So I definitely hear you there. And can we talk to a little bit about how that affects
Alex Winter
0:09:10
inbound marketing, because we started to touch on AI a little bit. There's a shift happening. So even though the technology may shift or the way people make buying decisions may change, trust is still at the core of why they feel like
Alex Winter
0:09:24
they should make a decision. Is that right in saying that? Yes.
Alex Winter
0:09:28
Yeah.
Alex Winter
0:09:28
Yeah.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:09:29
But it completely impacts how we have to go about this, right? Because we used to have this really almost math driven world of how many customers do you want? I just have to put out this many blog articles and you get this much traffic and you have your conversion. It was a math problem, right? It was
Hannah Eisenberg
0:09:48
beautiful. But now with AI, we have the regurgitated, I love to call it regurgitated, like general content, like what is is this? Or the value of that is almost zero. So it's, we can literally, I tell my coaching clients, we can just take our inbound marketing playbook and just, you know, bury it because it's just not effective anymore. We need to focus on creating unique IP, being the ones that lead with the ideas.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:10:28
We can't just rely on regurgitating, being generalists anymore. We need to be in real life and on the internet, that leading force in the market.
Alex Winter
0:10:38
That's extremely well said. I couldn't agree with that point more. Showing your unique selling proposition is what matters, and being able to disrupt or being able to show why you're different and how you're unique is critical today, it definitely is.
Alex Winter
0:10:51
What are some other misconceptions that businesses have about building trust with their audience? We touched on being unique and how inbound is slowly shifting away from doing that traditional way of marketing, but what else are some misconceptions
Alex Winter
0:11:06
that you see businesses have when you get on calls with them and when you're talking with them?
Hannah Eisenberg
0:11:10
The biggest one is that trust sort of happens as a byproduct. It's, you know, people just feel like it's important and we touched on that before, but no one is actively investing and saying we are going to be the biggest teacher or the best teacher out there or we're going to be better at educating our customers than anyone else in the market. I mean, a lot of the ask, you answer, you know, that's the philosophy of it. And a lot of the ask, you answer people are doing this extremely successful. But that's maybe one or two percent of global companies. There's so much more work to do. So trust isn't just something that should happen as a byproduct of doing good marketing or being great in sales. It should really be something that leads your company culture that really is a active and proactive strategy.
Alex Winter
0:12:20
intentional and to build trust. And you had mentioned this earlier, but there seems to be like nine steps or there's a thing that they can, a list they can follow. I'm sorry, I'm gonna ask this question again, Hannah.
Alex Winter
0:12:32
So I love what you're saying. How can businesses be intentional
Alex Winter
0:12:36
when it comes to building trust?
Alex Winter
0:12:37
And you said earlier, you alluded to that there's a process that you have that we're gonna go through. I'd love to dive into how businesses can do that and be very intentional with building trust.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:12:52
Yeah. So there is a framework to it and I mentioned that before, but before I go into the framework, I just want to sort of explain where this is coming from. Over the last 20 years, I worked at SAP Global Marketing. I did competitive battle cards, that was my first job. And one of the first things that I did there was really like, how can we write this that is absolutely unbiased, it's transparent. And one of the key things actually
Hannah Eisenberg
0:13:29
that happened was my boss in the competitive intelligence department, he always used to say, you have to be able to see your work in the New York Times front page and be proud
Alex Winter
0:13:41
of it.
Alex Winter
0:13:42
Oh, wow.
Alex Winter
0:13:43
Okay. I love that. Yeah, that's a great angle. No, I really like that.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:13:48
So that was me being like 20 years old, right? It was my first job out of university. And you get told that and you're in competitive intelligence. And that sort of sets the stage for everything else. So with that sort of mindset that stuck with me, and that's how I always treated all of my marketing and sales. Everything
Hannah Eisenberg
0:14:08
that I teach is really about this. Well, essentially, it comes down to just building trust. Okay. So, at 20 years, I'm trying to figure this out, really go by intuition, and now I'm like sitting down, frameworking this. What I really learned over the last six months as I'm really sitting down and doing the research on it, completely changed my entire view on this.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:14:34
Okay, so I'm going to talk you through the framework, and I think that it makes a lot more sense.
Alex Winter
0:14:38
I'm excited. No, this is great. I love the intention. Like the just what your boss is saying previously at your last engagement, it's like, be intentional, really be honest, find the deeper meaning behind it and be purposeful with it. And I think that's so important, especially now more than ever. So I'm excited to hear your framework here.
Alex Winter
0:14:56
Let's go.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:14:57
All right, so there's three sort of layers to it. And I know a lot of people will listen to this, so I'll explain it as best as I can. The bottom one is like a fundamental layer. This is where we build cognitive trust. It's fact-based.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:15:15
Maybe it's just a one-off transaction or maybe it's the initial transaction, but these steps have to be taken to build trust no matter what. And these three steps are competence, reliability, and integrity. So competence just refers to the fact of, do you actually physically have the ability to be good on your promise? Do you have the technical capability? Do you have the factory?
Hannah Eisenberg
0:15:44
Do you have the expertise of your coach? Do you actually have the thing that it takes to make that promise come true, to meet my expectation?
Alex Winter
0:15:52
Yeah, that makes sense.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:15:53
Reliability is, have you done this reliably in the past? Are you being consistent in your outcome? Do you have standardized processes that guarantee that that outcome will be for me as well? These two are very, very interlinked because competence gets strengthened by reliability. Reliability strengthens competence. It's like a little circle. Totally. They definitely go hand in hand. Yeah, that I included, because I want to have that coming through on the promise, right?
Hannah Eisenberg
0:16:33
Integrity. Integrity allows us, it's like, are you going to stick to your ethical standards that you set for yourself? Meaning, even if you have the technical capability, and you've reliably delivered in the past, will you actually come through because you're ethically feeling like you need to deliver this to me? Does that make sense so far? Yeah, that makes total sense so far. Awesome. So now we've really built the foundation, but it's really sort of fragile trust.
Alex Winter
0:17:08
It's maybe just a one-time thing. Yeah, and you need that foundation in order to build upon anything else. So that's a critical piece right there. Yeah, that makes total sense.
Alex Winter
0:17:20
All right.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:17:21
So the next layer is what I call transitional. The next layer is transitional, and that takes that fundamental layer and adds that emotional and relationship-building component to it. Right. Now we're talking about having empathy, respect, and benevolence. So if we have empathy, we really understand and can feel what the other person is feeling what their problems, worries and concerns
Hannah Eisenberg
0:17:56
are, we're really truly understand, and we can empathize them. Respect is really that I respect that you give me money, and I will honor that and give you the service. Or I'm going to treat your personal data respectfully. Or I'm actually respecting that you give me trust and I will return that with. So there's a back and forth between the empathy and
Hannah Eisenberg
0:18:23
the respect. But it just takes another layer of emotion there.
Alex Winter
0:18:28
Absolutely.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:18:29
And then benevolence is just, do I have my best interest at heart? And just tying it really, for me, that's really a big, always, assignment selling, right?
Alex Winter
0:18:41
Mm-hmm.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:18:43
If we teach sales teams to have that empathy, respect, and benevolence, and listening to our buyers' concerns, giving them good content, respecting their time, being respectful of everyone's time, and then also being able to walk away and say, you know what, you might not be the best fit for us, or we are not the best fit for you.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:19:08
So, making sure they really, truly understand and have all the information they need to make the best decision for them.
Alex Winter
0:19:16
Absolutely. No, when you, assignment selling is such a critical piece to this and I love that you mentioned that because when you address people's fears, worries, doubts, concerns, before they start to voice them, it shows how empathetic you are and how much foresight you have into meeting them where they are and that helps build trust so much faster and we've seen it time and time again. So I think that's a really critical piece that you highlighted there.
Alex Winter
0:19:39
And it works. If you do it right, it works really well. And that's another thing too is, you made a good point and I love that you said this, that sometimes it doesn't work out. And it's okay that it doesn't work out
Alex Winter
0:19:50
and you may not be the best fit. And sometimes people don't see that or address that and they try to force the issue and that completely breaks the trust and that's where you start to have bigger problems. So sometimes to be intentional with like,
Alex Winter
0:20:03
hey, maybe this isn't the best fit, and we want you to be successful. So we wish you the best of luck, or however that exchange goes. It also really builds a huge amount of trust. And I think that's a big point that people, people should be hearing and hopefully listening to.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:20:15
And the empathy part is actually from Connor, because I had a conversation with Connor about assignment selling, and he said that sometimes when he talks to a business owner and they share their problems, and they have such a – and he just sometimes, because he's a very empathetic person, he just sits with them and says, but I must be really hard, and pause. And they get to feel that, hey, this person sees me for a human. I'm not just a deal, I'm a real human to them.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:20:54
So kudos to Connor.
Alex Winter
0:20:57
Yes.
Alex Winter
0:20:58
For the empathy.
Alex Winter
0:20:59
Connor Delaney, who's a regular on the show here, and we've learned a lot from him, and he does a great job, not selling, but building trust with a lot of folks out there, and shout out to Connor, yeah, for sure. All right, so once we get past the transitional piece,
Alex Winter
0:21:14
the empathetic piece, what comes next? So here's where I think some of the magic happens.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:21:20
And that's why I call it transformational. Now we're taking that fundamental, the cognitive and fact-based that we now layered and deepened the trust with the emotional. But now we're validating that, not only externally, but also with our social norms, with our shared values, with our,
Hannah Eisenberg
0:21:43
because a lot of, something I should have maybe mentioned earlier is a lot of the business related trust building is based on epistemic trust. Epistemic trust is a form of trust that is based on communicated information.
Alex Winter
0:22:05
Okay.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:22:06
And if we hear that communicated information, we have to decide, is that messenger legit? Can we trust the message? But then there's a lot of internal stuff that also goes on. For example, is it an authoritative figure that is communicating this message? Should I trust them? There's also a lot of social
Hannah Eisenberg
0:22:27
norms going on, where there's validation coming in from external sources. So that's why I included here social proof. So this is your normal customer case studies, testimonials, customer journey videos, all that reviews, all that stuff. But then there's a layer of shared values. So for example, do I have, for example, I really am into sustainability. So I love my Patagonia jacket, because I
Hannah Eisenberg
0:23:02
know they have the same shared value. And I will always buy a Patagonia jacket because I really align with their values or their values align with mine. Then there's another layer that's social alignment, and that's the third one in this layer, which means it's very related to the shared value, but it's social alignment. Social alignment really relates to is choosing this the socially accepted choice?
Hannah Eisenberg
0:23:34
Gotcha. Okay. Right. If people in my circle, are they going to be okay with it? And it shouldn't always be the thing that makes the trust, but we're social creatures as humans and psychologically,
Alex Winter
0:23:49
that drives a lot of trust. It absolutely plays into it. Whether we want it to or like to admit it or not, it does play into that. So that's a really important piece. Wow. Very cool. I love how you laid that out, and I really think it makes a lot of sense when it comes to building trust. So how does this play out as you start to talk to people? And again, I'm going a little bit off script here, but are there shortcuts to building
Alex Winter
0:24:16
trust, or are there ways that you can make this happen faster or slower? So for people listening and watching, I'm sure they're like, how do I do this? If I'm on a call with a potential client, like what's the fastest way to do this or the path of least resistance?
Hannah Eisenberg
0:24:29
Yeah, so there's no shortcuts in building trust. I think that's not really gonna be a surprise. Trust has to be earned, but there are certainly accelerators. Okay. And I tend to have,
Hannah Eisenberg
0:24:47
there are certain types of companies who are inherently want to do the right thing. Their core DNA is, I want to write what's right for my customer. I really want to, I couldn't care less about my competitors, I couldn't care less about all those naysayers, I'm just going to go for it. And those companies are going to be really successful and if they invest in that because there is There's like three accelerators that I've identified so far being
Hannah Eisenberg
0:25:22
transparent which makes a lot of sense if you think about competence reliability integrity It's great. If you have all these things But you need to communicate them people need to know about your customers. So being 100% transparent, if it's sometimes uncomfortable, that's part of the deal. But the result of that is having an educated customer, one who really, truly makes the best choice for them. The second part of this is being unapologetically aligned with what the customer needs.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:26:05
And unapologetically I put in here because it will piss people off. It will piss your competitors off if you do that, right? Marcus was actually sharing at Impact the other day a story where he was doing exactly that. he changed having instead of sand, gravel underneath the fibroblast pools, right? Because it's just better, it doesn't get washed away, it holds longer. And that is truly being
Hannah Eisenberg
0:26:33
unapologetically aligned with your customers needs. And that results in advocacy. So you now you're advocating for fair pricing in the market, you're advocating on behalf of your customers to have outdated practices like the sand versus the gravel, you know, being obsolete and changing that.
Alex Winter
0:26:55
Yeah, and you're right, it did disrupt and piss some of this competition off, but that's what the customers wanted, that's what the marketplace needed, so unfortunately, it's almost like change is inevitable and it has to happen, and you're either gonna lead
Alex Winter
0:27:10
that charge or you're gonna be following somebody else who's leading that charge. And I think the goal here, especially when we're talking about trust, is to be at the forefront and to be unapologetic about it and just go for it. Cause you know, deep down that that's the right thing to do.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:27:23
Yeah. And then the third accelerator is, I think my favorite. And so if it's a consequence of the other two, disruption, like actually physically, not just advocating, but doing something about it, changing the thing in the market. And when you actually are brave enough and courageous enough to do that, and one of my customers is making massive, courageous changes right now in a very old fashioned and very closed industry, my god, it's, it's like a game changer. And all of a sudden you become the leader of the industry.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:28:05
Marcus calls it the voice of trust. But you're the most trusted brand in your space and all of a sudden people are looking up to you. They're not sensitive about price anymore because they want to work with the best. They want to work with the people
Hannah Eisenberg
0:28:22
that they trust more or the most.
Alex Winter
0:28:26
I couldn't agree more. And disruption, I think sometimes disruption may have a negative connotation and people almost cringe when they hear it. They're like, oh, no, we don't want to rock the proverbial boat. Yeah, exactly, exactly. But the results and what's possible if you have the courage to do what we're talking about
Alex Winter
0:28:43
is substantial, and it can really be a game changer, not just for your customers, but for your industry at large, which is exciting. Yeah, so how can companies implement this and start putting this into their processes and start practicing it and start living and actually breathing what we're talking about?
Alex Winter
0:29:01
So taking absolutely to heart that you have
Hannah Eisenberg
0:29:05
from a corporate culture perspective, if that resonates with you that you want to do the right thing, then I would definitely say think about defining what that looks like for you. And because it's so fuzzy, and because it's so difficult to pin it down, I'm currently creating like an assessment that people can just take and based on where they're at in that assessment, they then could see what the next step should
Hannah Eisenberg
0:29:44
be. So for each of the nine steps that I laid out before, I'm going to have like an emerging intermediate and like leadership layer of what does it look like to be a leader in competence, communicating your competence. And there's going to be very specific elements that you can check off and say, okay, in order to sustain or advance in my level of competence, I need to do these things, I need to do these five things. Once I've done that, I move on to reliability. Okay, I'm like, just
Hannah Eisenberg
0:30:21
crossed over from emerging to intermediate. Here are my next things that I'm going to do. So that assessment, when it comes out, hopefully early 2025, should give people a really clear step by step plan.
Alex Winter
0:30:35
That's very exciting. I love it. And just for everyone out there, Hannah coaches and trains a lot of companies on this. You're extremely good at doing this. And I really appreciate all your insights and sharing this wealth of knowledge about trust, which I think we needed a deep dive on this. So this is the point in the show where I want you to just shout out if people want to get
Alex Winter
0:30:56
in touch with you, if people want to learn more from you, how can they do that?
Alex Winter
0:30:58
LinkedIn. LinkedIn is, I think, the best place.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:31:01
Hannah Eisenberg. Hannah Eisenberg on LinkedIn. We'll make sure to put in the show notes and make sure that
Alex Winter
0:31:05
all your contact info is there so people can reach out because you're an excellent resource. All right. So now for my favorite part of the show, it's the one thing moment. I just want to ask for this whole conversation we had about trust and all the different steps you can take and the different levels of building trust,
Alex Winter
0:31:25
what's the one thing that people really need to think about as they're going through building trust with their customers?
Alex Winter
0:31:31
Hmm, that's a good question.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:31:33
So the one thing I would say that people should take away is When you make a marketing decision or a sales decision Ask yourself is it going to induce more trust if the answer is yes, go ahead It's probably the right thing to do if it's no or I'm not entirely sure It's probably a waste of time
Alex Winter
0:31:56
Well said well said well Hannah. Thank you so much for your time and for being on the show. We're definitely gonna have to have that back on and talk again in the future.
Alex Winter
0:32:06
Thank you so much.
Hannah Eisenberg
0:32:07
It was really a pleasure. I enjoyed myself. Excellent, excellent.
Alex Winter
0:32:11
And for everybody that are watching and listening, this is Endless Customers. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you on the next episode. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you on the next episode. you
About This Episode
In business, having your customers trust you is one of those things that sounds nice. But in reality, it is the cornerstone of business success. Trust can be one of those concepts that is easy to talk about and hard to define, let alone implement. It can feel intangible and elusive, especially for medium-sized businesses trying to cut through the noise.
In this episode of Endless Customers, we sat down with Hannah Eisenberg, a certified "They Ask, You Answer" coach and CEO of 3P Creative Group, to demystify trust-building for modern businesses. She broke down why trust matters more than ever and how companies can implement actionable strategies to foster it.
Why Trust is the Ultimate Differentiator
Trust is not just an abstract feeling. It is the foundation of every transaction, every business relationship, and every customer decision. As Marcus Sheridan has said, “Trust is the single most important emotion someone has to feel to exchange money for a product or service.”
But trust is more complicated than it seems. Hannah explains, “It’s layered and multidimensional, and every individual interprets it differently.” For businesses, this means trust-building is not a one-size-fits-all process. It requires thoughtfulness, intention, and, most importantly, consistency.
The challenge is that today’s buyers are more skeptical than ever. With the rise of AI and the zero-click experiences of tools like ChatGPT, many buyers are completing their research independently. By the time they reach out to a business, they are well-informed, guarded, and wary of being “sold to.” For businesses, this shift requires a fresh approach.
The Three Levels of Trust
Hannah introduces a framework that simplifies the complex concept of trust into three levels. Each level builds upon the other, creating a strong foundation that evolves into deeper, long-lasting trust.
1. The Fundamentals: Cognitive Trust
This foundational level is about facts, reliability, and integrity. It answers questions like, “Does this company have the ability to deliver what they promise?”
- Competence: Can you deliver on your promises? Do you have the technical expertise, the right tools, or the capacity to meet your customer’s expectations?
- Reliability: Have you consistently delivered results in the past? Are your processes structured to ensure repeatable success?
- Integrity: Do you follow through on your commitments, even when it’s difficult? Customers want to know that you will act ethically and with their best interests at heart.
Building cognitive trust lays the groundwork for initial transactions. Without it, businesses struggle to get a foot in the door.
2. Emotional Trust: Empathy and Connection
Once the basics are in place, businesses must create an emotional connection with their customers. This involves understanding their needs, respecting their time and resources, and acting with genuine care.
- Empathy: Show customers you truly understand their problems and concerns. For example, if a business owner is worried about making a costly mistake, address their fears head-on with transparency and solutions.
- Respect: Treat customers as partners in the buying process. Respect their time, their intelligence, and their ability to make informed decisions.
- Benevolence: Demonstrate that you have their best interests at heart, even if that means walking away from a sale. As Hannah notes, “Sometimes the right answer is to say, ‘We’re not the best fit for you.’”
Empathy and respect help customers feel seen and valued, while benevolence builds goodwill and reinforces long-term loyalty.
3. Transformational Trust: Social Alignment and Shared Values
The final layer of trust is where businesses can truly differentiate themselves. Transformational trust goes beyond individual interactions and looks at the broader alignment between a company and its audience.
- Social Proof: Share customer success stories, testimonials, and case studies. Seeing that others trust you can validate a prospect’s decision to do the same.
- Shared Values: Align your brand with causes or principles your audience cares about. For example, sustainability-focused customers are more likely to trust and support brands like Patagonia that live their values.
- Social Alignment: Reinforce the idea that choosing your business is the “right” choice, not just on a practical level but also on a societal one.
When businesses reach this level, trust becomes their most valuable asset. They are no longer competing on price or features—they are the go-to name in their space.
Accelerators for Trust-Building
Hannah emphasizes that while trust cannot be rushed, it can be accelerated with the right strategies.
- Transparency: Be upfront about pricing, processes, and potential downsides. Customers appreciate honesty, even when it is uncomfortable.
- Customer Advocacy: Go the extra mile to fight for what is right for your audience, even if it disrupts the status quo.
- Disruption: Lead the charge in changing outdated practices or norms in your industry. Businesses that take risks to improve the customer experience often become market leaders.
These accelerators are not shortcuts but multipliers. When paired with a strong foundation, they help businesses build trust faster and more effectively.
Practical Steps to Get Started
So how can businesses put this into action? Hannah suggests starting with an honest assessment. Ask yourself:
- Are we consistent in delivering on our promises?
- Are we actively listening to and addressing our customers’ concerns?
- Are we being transparent, even when it’s difficult?
From there, focus on creating content, processes, and customer interactions that align with your answers. Whether it’s writing a blog post, creating a pricing page, or having a sales conversation, always ask, “Does this build trust?”
Trust is the Ultimate Competitive Advantage
Technology is reshaping every aspect of business as we know it, yet trust remains a constant. It is the emotion that drives buying decisions, the reason customers stay loyal, and the key to long-term growth.
Hannah’s framework gives businesses a clear path forward. By building trust step by step—from the fundamentals to transformation—you can not only win customers but also create advocates who will champion your brand for years to come.
Take the first step today. Start building trust, and the rest will follow.
Connect with Hannah
With 25 years of experience in marketing, Hannah naturally gravitated towards coaching and training. In 2022, she became a certified They Ask, You Answer coach, a framework she’s successfully applied for the last eight years. This approach transforms an organization's digital sales and marketing by empowering internal teams and fostering a customer-focused culture.
Connect with Hannah on LinkedIn
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Endless Customers is a podcast produced and distributed by IMPACT, a sales and marketing training organization.
We coach businesses to implement our They Ask, You Answer framework to build trust and fill their pipeline.
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