Shift from Specifications to Trust in B2B

Nobody buys your features. They buy their future. In complex B2B industries, it’s easy to fall into a “feature-first” trap. But no one buys because of: → Feature sets → Technical specs → Fancy terminology → Long lists of capabilities Buyers don’t want to 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 your product. They want to 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 in it. What they’re 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 looking for is: → Confidence in the outcome → Confidence in your process → Confidence that they won’t regret the decision → Confidence that you’ve solved this before—for companies like theirs So how do you build that confidence? 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹-𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 Case studies, testimonials, and measurable results win trust faster than old claims. 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲 Use the words they use. Industry-specific language builds credibility instantly. 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 If you can’t explain it clearly, they won’t believe you can solve it. 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘆, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗲𝗴𝗼 Meet prospects where they are. Their fear of making the wrong decision is real. 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝗽𝘂𝘁𝘀 No one cares how the sausage is made—just that it’s delicious, consistent, and delivers ROI. 𝗣𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗮 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲-𝗮𝗻𝗱-𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 Make the transformation obvious. Show them what life after working with you looks like. 𝗔𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 Don’t wait for them to ask. Preemptively clear the doubt. 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗼 It’s their journey—you’re just the one helping them reach the destination faster and smarter. 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗰𝗵𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 From your homepage to your sales emails, every detail should reinforce “you’re in good hands.” Remember: Your product’s strength isn’t in what it 𝘩𝘢𝘴— It’s in what it 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 for people who need it most. Start there. Stay there. And you’ll win more trust—and more deals. --- Follow Michael Cleary 🏳️🌈 for more tips like this. ♻️ Share with someone to help them build trust with their clients.

the CFO walked into our biggest client meeting with a spreadsheet. every vendor was about to get audited. our stakeholder looked terrified. this was the moment i'd been preparing for. six months earlier, i'd started tracking something other vendors ignored: our key stakeholders internal reputation. while competitors focused on product features, i focused on career protection. because i'd learned the hard truth: in a tight market, my champion's job security was my job security. sarah had been our internal advocate for two years. strong relationship. budget approval authority. genuine belief in our solution. but when the CFO announced budget cuts, everything changed. "every tool needs to justify its existence," he said. "show concrete ROI or it gets eliminated." i watched vendor after vendor present their value: "improved user satisfaction" "enhanced team efficiency" "better collaboration metrics" all impossible to verify and subjective. then it was our turn. i opened a different kind of presentation: "sarah approved our tool 18 months ago. here's exactly how that decision performed." slide 1: cost savings documented by your finance team. slide 2: revenue increases tracked in your CRM. slide 3: time savings verified by your operations data. numbers were independently verifiable. metrics came from their own systems. all claims could be audited. the CFO leaned forward. "this is the first presentation that uses our own data," he said. "how do you track all this?" "we built measurement into the implementation," i explained. "before sarah approved the purchase, we agreed on success metrics. then we tracked them religiously." sarah's relief was visible. the CFO made his decision on the spot: "this tool stays. full renewal." after the meeting, sarah pulled me aside. "you just saved my career," she said. "half the vendors couldn't prove their value. their champions are getting blamed for bad decisions." that's when i realized the fundamental shift: B2B sales isn't about convincing buyers anymore. it's about protecting champions. champions who can't prove ROI become cautionary tales. vendors who can't provide proof become liabilities. the market divided into two camps: tools that make champions look smart. tools that make champions look stupid. your champion's reputation is your retention rate. in a world where every expense gets scrutinized, champion protection is the only business. when your champion gets fired for buying tools that can't prove value, you lose credibility in the entire market. build for champion success. not just product success.

Something strange is happening in B2B buying. Deals are being won and lost before sales calls even happen. Not because of features. Not because of price. But because of something most B2B companies barely think about. Dentsu's massive 2024 B2B buyer study - over 14,000 interviews - reveals a shift that's rewriting the rules of how enterprise software gets purchased. And most companies are completely unprepared for it. The shift? Brand marketing now drives more revenue than most companies realize. And the ROI is measurable, predictable, and massive. B2B buyers only evaluate 2-5 vendors on average, according to TrustRadius's 2024 B2B Buying Disconnect Report. That's it. Once you make that shortlist, you have a 71% chance the buyer sticks with their initial favorite. The entire "evaluation process" often just validates a choice they've already made. But here's the ROI kicker: TrustRadius found 78% of buyers select products they've heard of before starting their research. Forrester's Business Trust survey found 77% of purchase influencers consider a vendor's brand awareness as a key factor in whether they trust that organization. The revenue impact? Forrester found 83% of B2B influencers who trust a supplier plan to continue doing business with them. That's not just win rate - that's lifetime value. The LinkedIn B2B Institute and Ipsos research confirms the pricing power: buyers explicitly state they'll pay premiums for trusted brands because it mitigates risk in complex B2B deals. Brand marketing doesn't just win deals. It wins them at higher prices with better retention. Brand marketing isn't a cost center - it's a revenue multiplier. When 78% of buyers choose from brands they already know, awareness directly equals pipeline. Yet only ~30% of B2B marketing budgets go to brand. We're investing backwards. Meanwhile, 68% of buyers say all vendors sound identical (Dentsu). And every $1 cut from brand investment costs $1.85 to rebuild (BCG). Smart companies track brand perception religiously. They know which buying situations trigger their brand. They measure if messages actually change perception. But 79% of CFOs see no clear metrics connecting brand to revenue. Because most companies guess instead of measure. You should do brand tracking at minimum once a year. You can run one with Wynter and gets results in 2 days https://lnkd.in/dV2umFPy

If you think branding is just for B2C, you’ve already lost. Branding in B2B is more important than ever. Here’s why: B2B marketing used to be about logic. Facts, figures, rational decisions. Creativity? That was B2C territory. But in 2025, the rules have changed. B2B and B2C buyers are the same humans. Closer than ever. Emotions drive them first. Logic comes after. Which is why brand is now the most valuable asset in your business. According to Marketing Week, the shift is clear: In 2021, lead generation ranked 3rd among B2B priorities. By 2024, it dropped to 7th. Brand awareness? Shot up from 6th to 1st. For years, B2B companies became addicted to short-term lead gen and product-first messaging. But when everyone’s offer looks and sounds the same, the real edge isn’t what you sell. It’s how you make people feel. In other words: B R A N D. - Why Brand Wins Over Product - IBM still wins against cheaper rivals? Trust. - Salesforce dominates CRM? Familiarity. Why do people pick one car over another with identical features? You know the answer: brand. Branding isn’t about logos or colours. It’s about credibility, trust, and being remembered when it counts. Why B2B branding matters more than ever then? 1. Reduces perceived risk — buyers feel safer. 2. Shortens sales cycles — less convincing needed. 3. Attracts top talent — people want to work for admired brands. 4. Creates pricing power — stronger brands charge more. 5. Future-proofs your business — products get copied. Brands don’t. Here's how in 4 simple steps: 1: Move from product to purpose. Stop marketing what you do. Start showing why it matters. IBM helps build smarter businesses. HubSpot helps people grow better. Your purpose should be the engine behind everything. 2: Tell stories, not specs. People remember emotions, not features. Use case studies, customer journeys, and founder stories to connect. 3: Invest in distinctiveness. Logos, colours, taglines, jingles... Own visual and emotional space. Think Salesforce’s blue, Slack’s hashtag, AWS’s orange. 4: Play the long game. Brand building isn’t about fast wins. Top-of-funnel activities now outperform performance spend, with 51% of CMO budgets backing it (Marketing Week). If branding is still an afterthought in your B2B strategy, it won’t be long before you fade into the background. Because today in business, the best product doesn’t always win. The best brand does.

Last month, Empathetic AI turned two. Two years, two products, a lean team, and an incredible group of domain experts and supporters who have shaped this journey. This still feels like just the beginning. When I first started, AI for tax did not seem like the obvious choice. It's not the most talked-about industry when people think about AI transformation. After many client meetings, the deeper I got into this space, the more obvious it became. Here are my whys - Because tax is: - Mandatory: Every taxpayer, business or individual, has to deal with tax. (Who doesn’t?) - Repetitive: Same deadlines, same processes every year - Complex: Compliance keeps getting tougher - Data-driven: A perfect field for AI to learn from and improve As a founder doing B2B sales firsthand, I’ve learned some biggest lessons along my journey: 💚AI adoption in businesses starts with trust, not just technology. No one adopts AI just because it looks smart, fast or efficient. Trust is what drives adoption in businesses. Trust does not come from just having the best model. It comes from: - Involving domain experts early - Letting real-world feedback shape the product - Having a proper evaluation framework Along my journey, I started every client meeting the same way: "I used to work in finance before founding Empathetic AI, we speak the same language" And the meetings often ended with the same request: “We need more domain experts like yourself in the AI space. Can I invite you to join our expert hub?" Most of the time, these meetings are not just about product demos. They turn into insightful conversations on how AI will reshape the future for finance and tax as a profession. 💚AI in accounting today feels like cloud accounting 10 years ago, but much bigger Before cloud, accounting was slow and manual. Then cloud accounting softwares changed that situation. Now AI is that shift, but on a much larger scale. The real challenge is not just proving AI works. It’s proving it’s intelligent, reliable, transparent and built for aligning with professionals’ workflows. 💚In B2B, credibility matters more than product features The real questions firms ask are not about AI models. They care about: - "Can this be trusted?" (Explainability) - “Is my data safe?” (Data security) - "How will it affect my job?" (Risk assessment) - "Who else is using it?" (FOMO) Therefore, we have been focusing on: - Being in the right industry spaces: Partnerships, speaking engagements, case study reports - Building credibility: Published the first vertical domain AI evaluation framework with CSIRO's Data61 - Creating a network effect: This is where the flywheel begins. Two years in, and it still feels like day one. As AI models become commodities, the real value comes from deep industry expertise, user feedbacks and trust. I look forward to working with more accounting, tax and finance professionals to rethink how AI will shape the profession.

Building a business, especially one targeting enterprises, is as much about understanding objections as it is about delivering value. Recently, during a client call, I found myself revisiting a familiar scenario—a moment that mirrored countless conversations I’ve had while growing an agency. When we first started Intelekt AI my idea of selling was almost childlike in its simplicity - We build, they buy, and the journey begins. I couldn’t have been more mistaken. In B2B, the decision-making landscape is nuanced, and the stakeholders have evolved. It’s no longer just the CFO scrutinizing risk; every decision-maker is now focused on de-risking, questioning not just what they’re buying but why they should trust it. Midway through this discussion—caught between hypothetical projections and a detailed back-and-forth—I paused and asked, “What’s the one thing stopping you from signing this contract today?” The response was immediate, “We need to know that you’re as invested in this outcome as we are.” In that moment, I could’ve leaned on the strength of our track record, showcasing all the clients who thrive with our model. But I realized this wasn’t about proof. It was about empathy. Instead of defending our approach, I chose to address their concern directly. But here’s the key: the solution wasn’t to change the essence of our model. It shouldn’t be. Instead, I proposed an adjustment, adding a clause to our engagement that aligned our long-term success with theirs—a mechanism that ensured accountability for their goals without jeopardizing the principles that make our work sustainable. That moment of thinking on my feet, guided by empathy, not only preserved the conversation but likely secured a future client. Here’s what I’ve learned: objections aren’t barriers—they’re invitations. They’re a chance to step into the customer’s world, understand their hesitations, and create solutions that honor both their needs and your own. Empathy isn’t just a strategy. It’s the foundation of trust, and trust is what enterprises buy.

Last Tuesday, I watched a $1M software deal die in real time. The champion texted the AE afterward, "My team killed it. They loved the product, trusted the ROI, but said you felt too 'risky' for a company our size." Six months of perfect demos. Strong case studies. Pricing that made sense. But they'd been focused on one person while eight others were making the real decision. In B2B, deals often die from collective anxiety. Your champion can love your solution, but if the CFO, IT director, and three VPs have never heard of you, you're asking them to bet their careers on a company that feels invisible. What we call "trust" in B2B is actually cumulative familiarity across a buying group. It's not one person feeling confident, it's 6-8 people independently thinking, "Oh yeah, I've seen them around. They seem solid." This is where many B2B marketers leave money on the table. We optimize for the champions and decision makers while the real decision happens in rooms we're not invited to. Connected TV (CTV) helps solve for this. That CFO who questioned your pricing? Last night, they saw your 30-second spot during their favorite show. No laptop multitasking. No ad blockers. Just your brand message on a 65-inch screen while they're mentally relaxed. Your IT director saw your retargeting banner during their morning research. Your LinkedIn ad during lunch. Your CTV spot during their evening unwind. That's not multiple touch points. That's one familiarity campaign reaching different decision-makers in different mindsets. Our data at LinkedIn for Marketing shows this opportunity: - 94% of LinkedIn's professional audience can be reached via CTV, - 71% of CTV viewers aren't accessible through traditional TV, - CTV campaigns are 4.3x more effective at reaching B2B targets. Psychologist Robert Zajonc proved that mere exposure creates preference. We don't need to consciously process your message. Seeing your brand repeatedly in different contexts builds what behavioral economist Rory Sutherland calls "subconscious safety signals." When your champion walks into that second meeting, something's different. Your brand doesn't feel new anymore. It feels familiar. "Oh yeah, I've been seeing their ads everywhere" carries more weight than any case study. Because buying groups evaluate solutions and risk. Start building familiarity across ecosystems. Map your buying group. Understand where each decision-maker consumes content. Then orchestrate exposure across channels so by the time they meet to decide, you're not the unknown risk, you're the obvious choice. Because in B2B, trust is built through strategic, repeated presence across the moments that matter. #B2BMarketing #CTV #Trust #LinkedInMarketing

The trust economy isn't coming. It's already here. And if you're still treating it like a "nice-to-have" in your B2B strategy, you're already behind. Here's what 94% of B2B marketers are finally admitting: trust isn't a soft metric anymore. It's THE metric that determines whether your brand gets considered or ignored. But here's where most brands mess up: They think trust is built through polished corporate messaging and generic "thought leadership." It's not. Trust is built through: → Real people saying real things → Consistency over perfection → Showing up even when there's no immediate ROI → Being transparent about what you know AND what you don't This is why personal brands are eating corporate brands' lunch right now. Because people trust people. Not logos. Not taglines. Not another white paper. If your B2B strategy doesn't include building visible, credible personal brands within your organization, you're trying to win a trust game with one hand tied behind your back. The decision-makers you're trying to reach? They're not just buying solutions anymore. They're buying from people they trust. And trust takes time. Authenticity. Repetition. Start building it now, or watch your competitors do it first. What's your take—are you seeing this shift in your industry? #B2BMarketing #PersonalBranding #TrustEconomy #BrandStrategy

Does your sales model resemble Match – or Tinder? The false premise of performance marketing is that transactions occur in the absence of relationships. That in-market customers are just interested in “swiping right” on whoever looks most attractive. This is only true for discretionary purchases with low financial and emotional value. There is a different dynamic at play when the transaction involves a significant level of financial, social or reputational risk. Then the transaction will not occur unless trust has been established. Trust is different from confidence. You can gain someone’s confidence by de-risking the transaction by offering a free trial or a money-back guarantee or through social endorsement (this is the basis of influencer marketing). But there is no Fast Pass to Trust Mountain. Trust requires an investment in the relationship, not just the sale. Trust takes time - and time is the dimension that is missing from the strategy of companies that are focused only on efficiency rather than engagement. Much has been written about Bain’s Day 1 research (the finding that, in more than 70% of cases, bids were won by vendors who were on the initial bid list). This is about the impact of time spent before the transaction. Less attention has been given to time after the transaction. My experience with B2B companies is that customers are less interested in the issue of “do you have the best offering in the market right now?” (Tinder) and more interested in the question “how confident can I be that you will still be among the top three vendors three years from now?” (Match) Earning trust requires that you show interest in a prospect before they are ready to buy – and show commitment to being a partner after the sales transaction has occurred. Efficiency focuses on transactions. Engagement focuses on relationships.

Ask anyone in the B2B SaaS space and they’ll tell you how much more competitive the industry has become in the past few years. Democratization of technology has brought its accessibility to an all-time high, and the competition is fierce. Customer loyalty is no longer built simply on what a product does, but on the tangible, measurable value it creates for the customer. The most successful SaaS companies are moving beyond transactional relationships. They are putting more thought into becoming indispensable strategic partners by understanding their customers’ broader business challenges, improving their operational maturity, and directly contributing to their bottom line. Here are five strategic approaches that I believe add real value to a SaaS product: 1. Leveraging data for business value Customers need tangible business value from software solutions. SaaS businesses need to understand usage pattern data and spend time understanding which features are most used by high-value customers. This will help them assess their current and future software needs while maximizing the solution’s potential. 2. Bundle for the customer, not the business Customization is the name of the game. Bundle services and customize packages that help customers scale sustainably and in a way that makes sense for their business – not just yours. Design for extensibility, through APIs, modular components, and ecosystem integrations. Give customers the flexibility to mold the product to fit their evolving business needs. This creates long-term stickiness and positions the product as a strategic partner rather than a tactical tool. 3. Champion security resilience Customers assume uptime and compliance as table stakes. What acts as a differentiator is a proactive approach to resilience with self-healing infrastructure, real-time anomaly detection, and zero-trust security principles built into the product. Demonstrating that resilience is part of the architecture builds trust and reduces the reliance on external teams. 4. Consistent education is key Standard onboarding processes no longer cut it. Instead, invest in a continuous education platform, including certification courses, advanced workshops, or personalized onboarding paths, that empowers customers to become experts themselves. Include your product team in the educational exercises, instead of simply relying on customer service teams. This benefits not only the customers but also your product teams. 5. Build adaptive roadmaps Static roadmaps don’t resonate in dynamic markets. Instead, build adaptive roadmaps that incorporate customer feedback loops, industry signals, and emerging technology trends. This ensures the product evolves in ways that continue to support the customer’s needs. Let me know what steps you take to add value for your customers in the comments.