Prospects do not immediately trust you. They visit your website with a skeptical eye. As they read through your solution pages, About Us section, and blog posts, they’re questioning the quality of your services and wondering if you really deliver value to partners.
Unless your website dispels these concerns, you will struggle to fill your sales pipeline.
How Much Time Sales Reps Spend with B2B Buyers is Shrinking
Prospects spend approximately 17% of a buy cycle meeting with sales reps according to research compiled by Gartner.
That’s all sales reps, by the way. If your prospect is comparing solutions from 4 companies, they’re meeting with salespeople from all 4 companies. Of them, your rep might command only 4-5% of their time.
Of course, you know your prospects aren’t getting all their information from salespeople. They’re spending at least 25% of their time doing online research. That means they’re scouring your website for information both before and after they meet with your rep.
In fact, they’re on your website learning about your services before they ever engage with anyone at your company. In a hierarchy of decision making, if your website is underwhelming and doesn’t provide the minimum information they need to consider you a contender, an otherwise qualified prospect will pass your company by and never engage. That website isn’t going to help the sales team fill the pipeline!
Make it impossible for prospects to ignore your sales reps
One of your prospects’ first stops in their buyers’ journey is your website. When reps are cold calling or following up on MQLs (marketing qualified leads), contacts check your company out on your website before accepting calls, LinkedIn invitations, emails, or unsolicited calendar invitations.
Sending B2B lead generation campaigns to curated lists? People in those lists scan your URL and if interested, jump to your website.
Running digital ads? Clicks take people to your website and landing pages to learn more.
During the sales process, having already fully engaged with a salesperson, decision makers visit your website for quick answers to questions they hadn’t thought to ask, more details about your services, and general background about the company. They’re interested and they’re delving in.
You need your website to be a resource that makes it impossible for prospects to ignore your sales reps when they call.
What decision makers are looking for on your website
As decision makers pour across your website, they want to know:
- Does your company have the services they need for the problems they’re looking to solve?
- Do your values align so your staffs will be comfortable working together?
- Can they trust your company knows what it’s doing and can deliver on its commitments?
These are the questions in the back of decision makers’ minds as they engage. It’s critical that your website be a revenue generation tool from the start of the buyer’s journey through the entire sales process and answer those questions.
7 Trust-Building Features You Want For Your Website
Is your website a revenue generation tool that supports efforts by marketing and sales to fill your sales pipeline and close sales? Here are 7 trust building features to do that.
1. Explainer videos and testimonials
Video testimonials
Engaging, authentic video testimonials showcase your solutions and exceptional client dedication, without having to say it yourself.
Whoever watches the video hears directly from a peer about the phenomenal services your company provides. The videos positively influence your prospect’s decision-making process.
Three More Ways to Use Video Testimonials
Don’t limit the testimonial videos to your website. Marketing can integrate them into lead generation campaigns. Sales reps can use them in prospecting to fill their sales funnel with people who have similar needs. They can also use testimonial videos as references during their sales process.
Explainer videos
Explainer videos are short animations that clearly lay out problems your prospects face and then present your company’s solutions. But they don’t stop with the facts. They bring to life what it’s like to work with you. Prospects watch an explainer video and within a minute or two, know what working with you would be like.
Here’s an example of KLA Group’s explainer video:
Have camera-shy clients? Do this
Even your most loyal clients or most knowledgeable company executives may not want to appear on video. We find this is very common with our clients. They are busy people running successful companies. Creating a video is different from their usual responsibilities. It requires practice time they don’t have.
You can still have testimonial videos and explainer videos.
Did you notice how our explainer video is animated? Use animation to create videos quickly without worrying camera-shy people. This is something your marketing agency can do for you, like we do for our clients.
2. Case studies
Choosing a new solution provider or business partner is financially risky. Case studies dispel concern and help fill your sales pipeline because prospects get a chance to take a walk in your successful client’s shoes.
5 case study success tips:
- Interview your client to capture the story in their own words
- Include metric-based results whenever possible
- For example, Annual costs decreased 20%
- Put the results in the title
- How a Manufacturer Decreased Annual Operating Costs 20% in the Cloud
- Make your client – not your company – the hero of the story
- In the website navigation menu, link to one page with all your case studies so they’re easy to find
Case studies and testimonials should be on your website, but there is a drawback. You cannot force someone who is casually browsing your site to watch or read your client stories. Keep your B2B lead generation system on track and grab prospects’ attention with “quick-hit results.”
3. Quick-hit results
Chances are your prospects have tried a competitor offering your products or services before. For whatever reason, they’re looking for a new provider. Maybe they’re jaded and think all companies like yours offer the same services.
Prove you’re not “just like all the other options”
Display 2-3 key metrics prospects and clients care about. Don’t overthink what to include. Remember from above the 3 things decision makers are looking to answer when they visit your website. Display metrics that reinforce them.
One website we developed for a managed IT service provider has a graphic displaying their Net Promoter Score, the year they were founded, and number of active clients. It’s used on multiple pages so no matter which page a prospect enters the site through, they see strong signals that this a provider they can trust.
4. Vendor partner logos
Your prospects want to work with a competent company that knows what they’re doing and uses well-known vendors.
When your solutions include vendor partners’ products (think Microsoft in IT, Mitel in phone systems, or Bimba in manufacturing), their logos demonstrate credibility and authority. They also show you have access to the additional expertise that comes from the partnership. It makes your solutions more robust and attractive to buyers.
You may fill your pipeline with new opportunities simply because of those vendors’ reputations and your association with them.
5. Badges and awards
You may think displaying the badge that proclaims you’re on a Top 100 list has little value. To you, it’s another industry list that no one pays attention to. The badge that highlights you as a member of a local or industry association may feel irrelevant.
But when prospects see badges and awards prominently displayed on your website, they experience a sense of trust and reliability. Working with you is perceived as less risky because other reputable organizations have recognized or endorsed your company.
6. Company history and values
Stories strengthen connections. A well-written company history in your “About Us” section is not bland corporate-speak. It’s a way to humanize your brand, highlight expertise, reinforce your values, and share key milestones. They are the start of a relationship with your prospects.
For companies with deep roots, longevity is a marker of stability. Don’t worry if you can’t say you were founded 20 years ago, or even 5 years ago. Your history is still a chance to build authentic bonds with decision makers in your target market.
7. Consistent, error-free user experience
When errors accumulate on your website, user experience suffers. That changes your prospect’s perception of you and your company and harms your B2B lead generation and sales efforts. Misspelled words, 404 errors, or a non-responsive website design give users a reason to leave your site and never return.
Yes, mistakes happen
The perfect website does not exist. Links break. Spelling errors get missed. It’s a natural occurrence with websites as they are constantly being updated and changed. The trick is to quickly resolve it.
You or your custom website design partner should regularly monitor your site for errors and fix them promptly.
Fill Your Sales Pipeline With A Website That Builds Trust
In today’s competitive landscape, it’s vital for every page on your website to demonstrate that you’re a reliable partner. You don’t know which of these 7 trust-building features will be the deciding factor for your prospects. What appeals to one prospect won’t matter to another.
You want a mix on your website that supports your revenue generation system by building prospects’ confidence and exciting them to work with you no matter where they are in their sales process.
Elevate your website and fill your sales pipeline
Collaborate with KLA Group for a website that will boost your online presence, support your sales process, and fill your sales pipeline.
I Want My Website to Build Trust With Prospects
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