Do you trust gravity?
Imagine you are standing outside with an apple in your hand. You let go of the apple and it falls to the ground. The apple does this every time you drop it.
You’ve never seen a time when the apple didn’t drop to the ground. Or heard rumors that someone else did. Or been told an alternative theory to what happens if you let go of an apple.
If someone was willing to bet you a thousand dollars that the apple wouldn’t drop to the ground, you’d take the bet immediately.
Why are you so confident?
Because there’s no variation in your experience. The apple always falls to the ground.
If only prospective customers felt as confident in you as they do in that apple falling to the ground. But they don’t. Unlike their experience with apples, they’ve had a lot of variation in their business dealings and it’s left them cautious about you and your offer.
On the other hand, you are completely confident in your offer. You’ve spent your whole career building the kind of capability that your customers need.
You know you are trustworthy. You know you can help this person and their company to improve productivity, lower costs, or increase revenue. Your current customers know they can trust you.
Why can’t this new person trust you? Your suspicion is that they aren’t listening or they don’t understand or they just “don’t get it”. They seem irrational.
But it’s not possible for a prospective customer to trust you. Too much variation in their experience has shown that, no matter what you say or demonstrate or prove, there is a reasonable probability that you won’t fulfill.
If you don’t fulfill there will be a serious consequence, both to the buyer personally and to the buyer’s company.
Buyers are taking a risk and they have to manage it.
Instead of asking them to trust you, convince them you will help them to manage their risk. Do this by answering their questions and demonstrating you know how to solve the kinds of problems they face. Start with a small project and offer a guarantee. Show who else has worked with you and that you’ve done this type of project before.
You can’t persuade new buyers to trust you, but you can persuade them that their risk is low.
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