Using Transparency to Foster Trust With Prospects

"We're moving forward with another vendor." Every rep's nightmare sentence. I pressed for details. "Their approach felt more open. We actually knew what we were buying into." That stung. I'd shared: ••• Exhaustive feature documentation ••• Dozens of success stories   ••• Complete pricing breakdowns Where'd I go wrong? Days later, I got access to our competitor's sales process. The difference hit instantly: They didn't preach transparency. They lived it. Their follow-up wasn't an email avalanche. It was one collaborative hub where buyers could: ••• Monitor which stakeholders engaged with what ••• See their exact position in the evaluation journey ••• Find materials curated for their unique pain points ••• Manage internal distribution seamlessly My revelation: I was buried in PDFs. They were cultivating partnership. Next prospect, new approach: I built a shared workspace exposing EVERYTHING: → Which team members on our side viewed their data → Critical docs they'd missed → Realistic implementation expectations → Where we excel AND where we don't The buyer's response: "Finally, someone not playing games." Ink on paper in 10 days. Here's what's real: Today's buyers aren't starved for data. They're starved for authenticity. Yesterday's strategy: Bombard with polished assets that sidestep weaknesses. Tomorrow's strategy: Build transparent environments that tackle doubts directly. Your buyers know when something's off. Even when nothing is. Quit running sales like a shell game. Start running it like a glass house. You with me?

The best "hack" for your B2B landing pages: Transparency. Buyers today are more skeptical than ever. They want clarity. They want you to make their jobs easier.  They don't want a goose chase for information. Doing this will get us everything we want too: - Better quality conversations  - Faster deal cycles  - $$$ But we deliberately make it harder hoping buyers will fill out a form or book a call. "If they just have a conversation with us, they'll be convinced they need us!" The reality is - if you treat your buyers like adults and give them the information to qualify themselves up front, everyone wins. The opposite is also true: If you are unclear, your buyers will take longer because they're going to search for information from other sources. And they may never return to you. So what does true transparency look like? 1. Pricing, even a starting range Don't come at me with "but our pricing is complex". You have a bottom dollar that you would accept. 2. What are you and who for The more specific the better: the industries, team type, team sizes, and problems you solve. 3. Sales objections upfront Get real objections from sales calls or customer feedback and put these in the FAQ section. Do not do a "What is a [x] software?" They likely already know the answer. 4. Show and tell Screenshots, gifs, or demos of the product on page. Buyers want to see what the product looks like and how it works. 5. Skimmable then add context  I'm a huge advocate for long landing pages for B2B. But a small tip: if a user ONLY read the headlines on the page, they'd still be able to get the information they needed. --- My math skills aren't the greatest but I know this: Transparency = credibility = consideration  So if you're sitting in front of your landing page wondering how you could make it better, it's not the CTA language or button colors... It's just honesty. Like I tell my 5-year old "Secrets, secrets are no fun. Secrets secrets hurt someone." --- I do this for a living. If you want help, reach out to me here: https://lnkd.in/ewys5rwC

In 2011, Patagonia did the unthinkable. They told customers NOT to buy their jackets— and it 10X’d their brand loyalty. Here’s the marketing psychology behind their genius: Black Friday 2011. The biggest shopping day of the year. While every brand screamed "BUY! BUY! BUY!"... Patagonia took out a full-page ad in The New York Times with a shocking headline: "Don't Buy This Jacket." But here's where it gets interesting... The ad detailed the environmental costs of their best-selling R2 fleece jacket: • Required 135 liters of water to produce • Generated 20 pounds of carbon dioxide • Created 2/3 of damage before reaching consumers Most companies hide these facts. Patagonia put them on blast. The results were stunning: Sales exploded. In just 9 months after telling people NOT to buy their products, revenue jumped 30%. As a sales expert, this fascinates me. It completely contradicts traditional sales wisdom. But there's a deeper psychology at play... See, most salespeople focus on pushing products. But Patagonia understood a fundamental truth about human psychology: When you tell someone not to do something, they want to do it even more. This triggers what psychologists call "psychological reactance." Here's how you can use this in sales: Instead of pushing prospects to say "yes"... Let them say "no." For example: "Would you be against exploring how this could solve your problem?" The psychology behind this approach is fascinating: When you give prospects permission to say no: • They feel more in control • Their guard comes down • Trust increases naturally • Resistance disappears But there's another layer to Patagonia's genius: They understood that modern consumers crave authenticity. By being radically transparent about their environmental impact: • They built deep trust • Created emotional connection • Established themselves as thought leaders This is what I call "noble selling." And it changes everything: In sales, we often think we need to hide our flaws. But Patagonia proved the opposite: Transparency creates trust. Trust drives sales. Sales build loyalty. The numbers don't lie. But here's what most people miss: This wasn't just clever marketing. It was a masterclass in modern sales psychology: • Challenge conventional wisdom • Lead with authenticity • Build emotional connection • Create scarcity through honesty The impact was remarkable: By 2017, Patagonia's sales reached $1 billion. They proved that doing the right thing isn't just good ethics - it's good business. But here's the key lesson for sales warriors: Stop trying to be everyone's friend. Instead: • Be a trusted advisor • Lead with radical honesty • Challenge your prospects' thinking • Stand firm in your values This creates something more valuable than a sale: The key to sustainable sales success? It's not motivation. It's not tactics. It's transforming your sales leaders into true warriors. I teach you how below👇