Jill Rowley’s big announcement: Jason Lemkin joins the Nearbound Summit!

Back in 2013, I went to my first SaaStr meet-up on Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley. There were maybe 100 people in the room.

Today, SaaStr is the world’s largest SaaS community and it didn’t happen by accident. It happened because Jason M. Lemkin put powerful principles to work - way before most were talking about these things...

Jason keynoting the Nearbound Summit is a big deal. He’s the Godfather of SaaS and a prominent VC.

I can’t wait to learn from him, as I have for many years.

Secure your spot. Elevate your expertise. nearboundsummit.com

– Jill 

B2B buyers want to trust you

Many B2B companies view themselves as honest and ethical, and, more often than not, live up to that perspective. 

But getting buyers to believe the same is another story entirely. 

Forrester calls this the B2B trust gap—the disconnect between what organizations think of themselves and what audiences believe about them. 

Though the gap is larger than it’s ever been, buyers still want to believe in us. 

According to a Forrester analysis of almost 20,000 survey responses across multiple market segments, trust was always the most important brand attribute for buyers.

So, how do we shorten the gap? Ian Bruce, VP Principal Analyst at Forrester, explains that buyers tend to trust those in close proximity, "physically, psychologically, and in their circumstances." These include:

• Industry peers. Bruce writes, "Over 90% of survey respondents say that buyers completely or somewhat trust peers in their industry. A further 85% say they trust the customers of vendors in their industry."

• Independent voices. 80% of respondents said that influencers viewed as objective are more trustworthy, such as industry analysts and business consultants.

The least trusted group was salespeople, followed by social media influencers and national media.

Buyers want to trust you, but they aren’t going to take your word for it.

To close the trust gap, buyers need to hear your story from those who have been where they want to go.

The 30-30-30 path to trust

Dan Sanchez, Founder of Audience Growth School, joined the Nearbound Marketing podcast to talk about how to build trust with your audience in the age of data overload.

He shared with host Logan Lyles that he often uses what he calls the 30-30-30 plan in his content: 

• He reads 30 books on the subject

• He interviews 30 people who are experts in that field, and

• He writes 30 blog posts on what he’s learned. 

A huge part of this framework’s success is that Dan learns out loud from experts in the subject matter he is pursuing. He shares:  

I would do these like 30-day deep dives where I was doing like 30 interviews over 30 days, reading every single book on a topic, posting about those books...I was essentially putting on my student hat and calling out, ’Hey, I’m going to climb this mountain. This is what I’m going to learn. Come with me.’  And I was inviting people onto a journey to go and learn something and do something new. And guess what? It started working.

Dan isn’t claiming to be an expert in every field, but he is surrounding himself and his audience with people who are. By producing content throughout the journey, he too becomes associated as a subject matter expert. 

To learn more from Dan, watch his full podcast episode here. 

Growth advice from Jay Alto 

Image source: Jon Youshaei 

Jay Alto is a rising star in his own right, but he has also helped with the success of major YouTube influencers MrBeast, Ryan Trahan, Colin, and Samir. 
 
Alto was recently a guest on Created with Jon Youshaei from the HubSpot Podcast Network. In the interview, he explains why content creators shouldn’t focus on short-term benefits, and instead on long-term sustainability: 

[Don’t chase] short-term views over long-term views...that might be by repeating an idea that you know has done well before. Same with clickbait. Even clickbait that, in a sense, isn’t clickbait, but you’re just leaning a bit too far into the exaggerated realms of thumbnails. Yeah, you’ll get that click in that moment, but what does that do to the viewer’s trust over the long-run?

Even if it’s not instant, you can only do that so many times before the viewer goes, ’I know what they’re up to at this point. I know they’re never going to quite deliver on what they promised.’

No matter the channel you’re focusing on to reach your audience, Alto’s reminder is one we can all learn from: 

Trust takes time to earn. Don’t damage it by prioritizing short-sided wins. 

Stuff you don’t want to miss!

• Join the official Nearbound Summit community brought to you by Partnership Leaders — Partnership leaders’ goal is to connect people interested in learning about partnerships around the world. Join here.

• October 25th —Firneo Partner Strategy Forum (Day 2): How to Prioritize the RIGHT Partners— Learn how to make sure you’re investing your (limited) resources in partners that will generate a meaningful. Register here

• November 1st —Firneo Partner Strategy Forum (Day 3): How to Get Executive Buy-In for Partnerships— Learn how to secure resources & support from key stakeholders that are critical to partnership success. Register here

• November 6th-9th —Nearbound Summit 2023— The future of GTM is Nearbound. Join us for the biggest-ever remote experience in GTM where B2B leaders across departments unite to share how they’re winning with Nearbound strategies and tactics. Register here.

• November 16th —Elevate Your Presale GTM with Tech Partners— Learn from industry experts like Kelly Sarabyn (HubSpot), Jared Fuller (nearbound.com and Reveal), Sunir Shah (AppBind), and Alexander Buckles (Forecastable). Evolve your GTM strategy with tech partners. Register here. 

• Enroll by November 17th —Firneo’s Mastering Partnerships Strategy (4 week course)— Registration is now open! Learn how to diagnose and solve your partner program’s biggest challenges from the world’s top partnership leaders. Use the code "NEARBOUND" for a 1:1 Strategy Coaching package (worth $1,000) for FREE. Enroll (or check out a free preview) here 

• April 19th-20th –SaaS Connect 2023– It’s that time of year again! Get your spot early for the 11th annual partnership conference in San Francisco, hosted by Cloud Software Association. Register here. 

A SaaS Icon is keynoting the Nearbound Summit

Jason Lemkin will break down what is and isn’t working for revenue teams in the current market on Startup Day at the Nearbound Summit. Get your spot today!