The Importance Of Legitimacy In Sales

Humans are more likely to buy from people we know, like, and trust.

That’s a common statement in sales and business we hear all the time. As creators and entrepreneurs, we do quite a good job of making ourselves known and liked.

People like to feel important.

Generally when we like someone it is because they have taken an interest in us. They have asked questions to learn about us as people. They have expressed an interest in things that are important to us.

They have established a bond by discussing things where we have common interests. They have made us feel comfortable with them and since they seem to care about us we tend to care about them.

The ones who read our content, and learn something from it will automatically know us and like us. That’s why they follow us to keep getting more and more content from us.

But now, let’s come down to a harsh truth—how many followers of yours become your customers? Very few ones right? Why is that so?

It’s just a matter of trust. I am not saying you’re not a trustworthy person, it’s just that you aren’t able to successfully show that trust.

There’s a simple reason for that:

We as humans, look for reasons why we SHOULDN'T trust someone so that we can rule them out quickly and move on.

That’s why you definitely will not buy from someone you dislike unless the deal is just absolutely a no-brainer. Those types of deals are few and far between. You can like, be neutral, or dislike someone.

You could easily buy from someone you like or are neutral on. However, it is very hard to buy from someone you actively dislike.

We can’t INCREASE our trust, but we can BUILD and SUSTAIN it for great results.

When it comes to increasing your chance that someone buys from you, 5 Buying Filters are used.

1. Like – buyers have to ‘like’ the salesperson.

2. Trust – buyers need to ‘trust’ the salesperson.

3. Believe – the salesperson must be ‘believable’.

4. Care – buyers have to ‘care’ about what the salesperson is telling them.

5. Relevance – information provided by the salesperson must be ‘relevant’ to the buyer’s needs.

It’s important to note that not ALL of these filters must be used to sell, but using them increases your chances of selling.

“Yes, but B2B is different right?”

B2B is different, but all of that is now changing fast. Trust is the single most important factor in B2B because you MUST be trusted by the businesses to sell to them.

However, you can increase the chances of selling by making yourself known and liked by the decision-maker. For example, Stripe in their early days, targeted developers (the ones using the platform) and made them feel good and understood.

“Okay, now I understand it, but how do I build trust?”

Huh, that’s a very broad question, and since I am not a psychiatrist, I can’t exactly answer this question. But as an entrepreneur, I can tell you the ways to look more legitimate.

If you have a hard time converting your followers into clients or customers, then you have a trust problem. And if you have a trust problem, you probably have a legitimacy problem.

And when it comes down to legitimacy…it’s all about perception. I'm here to talk about whether or not you are giving the appearance of being legitimate. Are you putting your best foot forward and making it easy for people to BELIEVE that you are legitimate?

Here are some of the few ways you can make yourself (and your business) look more legitimate:

• Design

• Social Proof

• Humanity

• Resonance

• Honesty

• Recent Data

To be honest, all of these points could be made into a series of newsletter posts, or much better an email course. Huh, that’s a good idea to build an email course named: “How To Look More Legitimate—7-Day Email Course”

Reply to this post with “email course” and I’ll make one.

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