Trust. Try googling it and your results, depending on any other words you pair with it, can range from fiduciary explanations to a popular quote from Maya Angelou and President Reagan, who said it in Russian. Look deeper, and there are endless sources offering advice on how to gain it, lose it, or boost it. From business wizards to popular life coaches, everyone has something to say about trust. Including us.
What is Trust?
No matter what kind of trust you’re talking about, trust is a foundational component to any relationship. It might be rooted in money, like a family trust. Maybe it is rooted in emotion, which is why lovers have faith in one another. Or it might be a business decision, a belief that if you order from Sabal, we will deliver the goods. No matter who or what is being trusted, we must have a “firm belief in the character, ability, strength or truth of someone or some thing…” Without it, our socio-economic systems break down.
It is a Business Decision
In business, every action requires some degree of trust. Employees are trusted to do the job, follow your rules, and a dozen other things. You rely on your partners to do what they promise. Suppliers should deliver. The smartest business decisions you make are not based on instinct or intuition or some woo-woo feelings. But they are made based on the degree of trust you have in a certain person, action or item.
So how do we decide who to trust? Well, the short answer is that it takes time. Sure, we’ve all met someone and instantly felt a deep connection. Or made an impulse purchase. (Yeah, how did it turn out?) Are you willing to risk thousands of dollars and the livelihood of hundreds of people on an instant connection? (If so, more power to you!) For the rest of us, and in most cases, it takes time to create rapport, build a relationship, and learn to trust.
Learning to Trust
A 2018 study by Jeffrey Hall, published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, looked at how college students and adults made new friends. For the adults, it took 94 hours with someone to turn an acquaintance into a friend. And it took 264 hours to go from friends to best friends for adults. The study also looks at how people moved from acquaintance to the friend zone. Turns out, it’s not just a matter of spending time together, which is important, but it’s also about what you’re doing and talking about. So making real friends and developing trust requires an investment of time. And for most adults, time is a hot commodity in short supply.
Why Sabal Strategy?
So why is this important to Sabal Strategy and to you? In senior living, marketing is focused on establishing a relationship with the desired audience. In other words, your sales team needs to be focused on trust!
We know seniors aren’t choosing a senior living community lightly. In fact, the majority are convinced they can successfully age in place. Now add the double digit number of touches required to convert a prospect to resident and a two-year timeline, and you have slow, bogged down sales funnels. And that leads to the pivotal question for your sales team: “How can I get my target to trust us, to trust that moving at their age is the right decision?”
The answer is to stop thinking of them as targets, and think about them as individuals, like we do. You need to interact with people who are ready to make a decision. Your team needs to speak to the right, qualified audience. And that’s where Sabal comes in. When we deliver a list of prospects, we deliver a list of the right people for your campaign.
Isn’t it time you reconsider who you’re trusting to deliver the best qualified prospects for your campaigns? Do they still earn your trust? Or are your conversions just ho-hum and more of the same? When you’re ready to see a difference in your campaign results, email Maribeth or Angela to learn more about why Sabal is worthy of your trust.
