Why your B2B strategy should start with a story that builds trust | MarTech

Technology can earn trust, but only people deserve trust. Performance can win the first deal; relationships win the next ten.

In a remote world, B2B leaders can’t rely on proximity to build credibility. They need stories that connect performance to purpose – and people to people.

The two types of trust

There are two types of trust in B2B:

• Short term: You trust a technology or a machine. It is episodic: trust can rise or fall after each transaction. Performance is the name of the game and efficiency is a powerful lever.
• Long term: You entrust your well-being to a partner. This kind of trust has deep roots. His responsibility is more than temporary. It comes from human interaction.

One of them is the key to your gift. The other is the key to your future.

How trust is built – and rebuilt

Before remote business, trust was earned in person. You would travel, be physically present, take a walk between meetings, drink coffee, talk about family and exchange ideas to solve a thorny problem.

Those moments told a story: that you were there to work tirelessly for your client’s success. You may work for another company, but the customer understood that this was your priority.

A CEO once told me that the biggest advantage of doing business with a supplier was the salesperson. “He’s part of our team,” he said.

“Part of our team” is a gift that only the customer can give. The question now is: how do you become part of your client’s team when everyone is sitting at home staring at a screen?

Dig deeper: how to leverage the impact of storytelling in B2B marketing

Storytelling helps bridge that distance. When you tell a story where the customer is the hero, you humanize your message and tailor it to their success. It is a story told with intelligence, transparency and commitment.

Like Abdulaziz Alnaghmoosh wrote in Forbes:

“(Stories) are often more memorable and engaging than other communication styles. Effective stories can turn complex data into digestible information, create messages that stick, build trust with your audience, and create relationality.”

Storytelling brings empathy to the conversation. It’s based on understanding your customer’s challenges and showing how you can help solve them. It fosters relationships – and in B2B, relationships are measured by profitability.

Here’s an example of how the right story can connect seller and buyer through humanity and trust.

The story that connects seller and buyer

Company A produces advanced barcode scanners for warehouse use. Everything in a warehouse has a barcode and their devices perform better than others: faster, lighter, more accurate and more ergonomic. For warehouse managers, this translates into measurable gains in employee productivity, accuracy and safety.

Thanks to a new generation of technology, each device can now capture additional information. The data has been collected for the entire fleet and analyzed via our own dashboards. They provide management with powerful insight into opportunities for improvement. Company A introduces this technology as a SaaS offering. It’s their future.

But their competition is formidable. For decades, warehouses relied on scanners from the titans of technology: heavier, older and already installed.

Developing the brand concept

The first step was to conduct qualitative interviews with senior management, marketing, sales and partners to understand their views on Company A’s ideal customer profile, mission, vision, products, competitive assessment and value proposition.

The consensus focused on the productivity gains made possible by the scanners. That became the basis for brand development.

Developing the brand story

An effective story starts with a deep understanding of the customer:

• The challenges they face, both occasionally and continuously.
• How they define success.
• The points of emotional and practical resonance.

It should be relevant at every stage of the consideration journey and continue to evolve throughout the customer relationship.

The next step was qualitative interviews with prospects and customers to:

• Create buyer personas.
• Gain insight into the purchasing process.
• Discover the challenges they face.
• Find out how they define success.

Then the branding concepts were tested: run along the flagpole to see who was saluting.

The result was clear: company A is all about the people on the work floor. Company A’s scanners and technology make every employee more productive, accurate and safer.

Dig deeper: B2B buyers need a reason to believe, not a list of features

Developing the brand library

An extensive content library was needed for two main reasons.

• The majority of a prospect’s consideration journey takes place before direct engagement.
• Customers now expect the instant gratification of accessible content that fully meets their needs – whether it’s an instructional video or a detailed research report.

This library would serve employees and storytellers as well as prospects and customers. Areas of development included:

• Thought leadership and research.
• Vertical content to highlight industrial applications and demonstrate key benefits.
• Use cases that demonstrate specific benefits in the workplace, for example improvements in health and safety.
• Case studies that prove the promised productivity gains.

Developing brand storytellers

A major undertaking was creating a brand messaging guide: a unified resource that built on all previous research and development. It set the guidelines for every message and communication with Company A’s prospects and customers.

The guide included:

• A detailed overview of customer challenges: From warehouse productivity to inventory management, supply chains and sudden spikes in demand, the challenges are complex and interconnected.
• A deep dive into the story Company A’s storytellers need to tell – and why.
• A clear picture of who the company sells to and how they buy: This includes buyer personas, the buying process, and critical areas of focus.
• The measurable impact of company A: The guide documents the full range of use cases, improvement metrics and proof points.

Telling the story

The first campaign divided the market into two tiers, with three promotional waves each.

The offer was developed from the first conversations. Company A had learned that if they could get the workforce on their side – if the employees became champions – sales were much more likely. The same offering was extended across both levels and all three waves.

• “We challenge you to a scan. Your warehouse. Your employees. Your inventory. Our scanners versus yours. Let the best scanners win.”

Level A: Specific warehouses and companies were selected based on the ideal customer profile.

• ABM implementation: Targeted roles included warehouse management, innovation management and purchasing.
• Dimensional package: Delivered by hand to each manager.
• Theme: “Formula 1 – Win the Race to Productivity.” The package contained a toy F1 car and Company A’s portable scanner (with the accompanying glove).
• Posts about the three waves:
  • How we add value to your industry.
  • How we added value to companies like yours.
  • How we can add value to your warehouse.

Level B: Email distribution targeted at decision makers and influencers within the selected industries.

• Fully electronic delivery – without car premium or scanner.
• A three-wave nurturing campaign for those who were interested but not ready to buy.

When trust becomes the differentiator

Standing up for the workers proved to be both distinctive and effective. Employees believed in the story and became champions for the brand. In their hands, the brand story expanded into their own environment: safety, technology and personal productivity.

If you can get the scanners into the warehouse and into the hands of the workers, the chances of a sale increase. The ergonomics, light weight and advanced scanning capabilities all resonate. As one partner said, “If you’re making a sales call, enter through the dock and not through the front door.”

The increases in productivity and accuracy are dramatic – and critical for management in a hyper-competitive environment. Their most important KPI is OTIF: ship on time and in full. These scanners help ensure customer satisfaction.

Selling scanners in the warehouse is simple and involves few decision makers. However, the software is new. Customers haven’t seen this kind of data before, so more stakeholders need to be involved. The software story will likely gain momentum as proven use cases pile up.

Dig deeper: bridging the gap between mental availability and momentum in B2B

Your success story

This case study illustrates how a narrative that champions humanity as the path to success can create compelling competitive differentiation. The technology will evolve – perhaps even be surpassed – but the trust it has built will endure.

You can’t build trust without personal relationships, and you can’t build relationships without trust. These relationships ensure long-term profitability. This story mindset will only become more powerful as business becomes more remote and efficient.

Storytelling builds a bridge across remote and troubled waters and conveys the message that you are personally invested in your customer’s success. You’re on their team.

The place to start is with the content – ​​for three reasons:

• The majority of a prospect’s consideration journey takes place before engagement. Embrace them early.
• Customers now expect immediate, informed answers to every question. Even a short instructional video can strengthen your credibility and engagement.
• Successfully searching in generative search – which already exists – is a completely different story. The principles are closely related to storytelling. It’s time to review, update, or rebuild important content.

Do it now. It’s the first chapter of your next success.

As Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Powers wrote in “The Overstory”:

“The best arguments in the world won’t change one person’s point of view. The only thing that can do that is a good story.”