A Simple Framework to Turn Strangers into Paying Clients

You’ve probably heard the old saying “trust is hard to build, but easy to lose.” While that may be true in the physical world, I have some good new for you…

Building trust in the digital world is way easier!

Why?

Because the digital world is primarily built by digital assets. Assets you can set and forget.

With solid planning and execution, you could have a trust-building machine built in hours or days. It will build trust while you sleep, while your at the gym, and even while you’re on the toilet.

Here is a simple framework to drive strangers down your funnel through trust 👇

The funnel

First, we must understand a basic funnel.

The Client Acquisition Funnel is comprised of 4 main parts:

1. Awareness
2. Trust
3. Desire
4. Action

In this newsletter, we will focus on trust, as it is a pivotal point in the funnel, but can be a sticking point for most entrepreneurs.

What’s important about this stage?

The client already knows you exist, and they have a problem that needs to be solved, but people only do business with people they trust.

On top of that, they need to trust that your product / service will deliver the desired results.

With enough trust, the client will ride down your funnel like a waterslide, turning THEMSELVES into a paying client.

So the big question is, how do we build trust online?

The answer is in our Bronze, Silver Gold method.

Bronze, Silver, Gold

Prospects will fall into 3 levels of trust.

For each stage, we will know:

• How much trust a prospect has in us
• What questions we need to ask them
• The “next steps” to upgrade them to the next level

Bronze

Someone in the bronze phase is usually a stranger who recently discovered you exist. They don’t know you, but they know what industry you are in. (pro tip: A High quality profile alone can get them close to silver. Load your profiles with the solution to their problem and social proof)

Bronze trust definition: Prospects at the Bronze level have very little trust.

Questions that need to be answered here are:

• What do they care about?
• What are they trying to accomplish?

How to move to Silver:

1. Brainstorm cares & needs
2. Determine what would help them. Put within CRM
3. Create 5 value items we could drip DM’s.
4. Field in CRM next to “Wants and Needs”
5. These can come from other people’s posts, can be videos, blogs, articles, or just an idea you had for said prospect
6. Drip High Value Content Offerings (HVCOs) to the Bronze level prospects (decks, videos, documents, etc)

Silver

Someone in the silver phase usually knows you pretty well, and they assume you are good at what you do. Conversely, they may like you as a person, but aren’t quite sure if you are great at what you do.

Silver trust definition: Prospects at the Silver level have some trust in us.

Questions that need to be answered here are:

• What objections do they need to be answered to move to Gold?
• Would they be interested in a free consultation meeting to help determine marketing needs?
• What proof do they need to see to move to Gold?

How to move to Gold?

1. Brainstorm objections
2. Create social content answering step 1’s objections
3. Drip social proof (reviews/testimonials, objection answers, case studies)
4. Once a month offer “X free consultations this month”
5. Scrub Silver level prospects contacts for a referral source and then ask for a referral.
6. Get a meeting with the prospect and bring up the Grand Slam Offer if it feels right.

Gold

Someone who has Gold-level trust in you believes you could undoubtably help them solve their problem. If a Gold prospect has the problem you solve, it’s basically a done deal.

Gold trust definition: Prospects at the Gold level have a lot of trust in us and our skills.

Questions that need to be answered here are:

• Are they scared of seeing a dip in their marketing?
• Do they have a current contract with another company?
• Are they the decision maker?

What to do when a prospect hits Gold status?

• Get a meeting and hit ’em with the Grand Slam Offer

Build it

Once you write out this system, start to compile the “assets” you will use at each stage.

For example:

• Have a list of posts or resources to DM bronze prospects
• Have “Objection” posts and HVCOs for silver prospects
• Scrub your network for referral connections
• Hammer down your offer and say it 100 times!
• If they don’t feel stupid saying “no”, make it better

That’s all I’ve got for you today. Now go build some toilet trust.

Every Saturday morning, I send out a newsletter helping entrepreneurs build a predictable revenue source through digital ads and marketing strategy.

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