Enhancing trust with next-gen messaging

A few weeks ago, a friend messaged me. She had just started a new role as VP of Marketing at a Series B startup. From the outside, it looked like a big win. Great company. Exciting product. But she was already drowning. No onboarding. No strategy. A CEO asking for results now. And an inbox full of cold pitches from people who saw her LinkedIn update and pounced. She said, “I just wish someone had said congrats and asked if I needed anything” That stuck with me. In B2B, we’ve trained ourselves to treat these moments like lead scores. - Someone changes jobs? Sell to them. - Company raises money? Sell to them. - They visit your pricing page? Definitely sell to them. Clay just launched a feature called Signals that tracks all of those moments. Job changes. Fundraising. Site visits. New tech in the stack. Hiring trends. Etc. Most teams will use it to go faster. More outreach. More pipeline. That’s fine. But there’s a better way. Use signals to actually show up well. To build trust before there’s even a sales conversation. Here’s how: → Job change: Don’t pitch. Just say congrats or share something helpful for a new leader. → Funding news: Offer insight, not a deck. What might they be walking into? Where do they need support? → Tech added: Send something relevant. Help them get more out of the tools they already chose. → Hiring surge: They’re likely buried. Be useful. Be brief. We’re doing this ourselves. We built a Clay table of past buyers who brought in Refine Labs. Marketers who know how we work. Then we track the signals: → Who just landed somewhere new? → Who’s hiring? → Who joined a company that raised a round? We’re not blasting them. We’re waiting for the right moment to reconnect - with context. Sometimes it’s a congrats. Sometimes it’s a helpful resource. Sometimes it’s just being there. Because these aren’t just leads. They’re relationships. This is brand. Not logos and taglines. It’s how you show up when nobody’s watching. Signals give you awareness. But presence is what builds trust. And trust is what compounds. Use signals to see people. Not just to sell to them. Clay can help. #claypartner

Stop letting junior SDRs reach out to your C-Suites. Buyers don’t want to talk to salespeople anymore. They want trusted advisors. Domain experts.  Yet, for some reason, 99% of sales teams completely ignore this fact and let their junior SDRs reach out to C-suites — then they sit back and wonder why their outbound doesn’t work. The WHO factor is more important today than ever before. Here’s what it means moving forward: 1. Trusted Advisors vs. SDRs: Would you take medical advice from a first-year med student? Probably not. In the same vein, expecting a junior SDR to convince a C-suite executive is a flawed strategy. Buyers today want insights from those seeped in the industry, not those reading off a script. 2. The New-Age SDR: These SDRs have authority in their field and are the ultimate subject matter experts. They possess a highly relevant audience of ICP and excel in content creation and audience engagement. They understand the nuances and pains of the prospects and create value-driven conversations, not just touchpoints. 3. Team-Selling is a Necessity: If a CFO checked your website, why in the world would you let your SDR reach out? Facilitate outbound requests to your CFO and ask them to personally connect with the prospect from their profile. It’s about leveraging the right person at the right time to build trust and relevance. 4. Signal-Based Selling: Your outreach should be driven by real-time data and intent signals. Spot the triggers: website visits, content downloads, recent funding, etc. Engage with the right person, when the timing is perfect, with the right message from the right person. This isn’t about volume; it’s about precision. TAKEAWAY: In this new era, it's not about how many emails you send, but WHO is sending them and WHY. In 2024, the most successful companies will have GTM teams that look more like consulting firms than old-school sales orgs. The next-gen of successful sales orgs will be the ones that evolve beyond the old playbooks and focus on trust, relevance, and the power of human connection. The future isn’t just lean. It’s personal.

The brands scaling fastest are treating SMS like a conversation, not a broadcast. Companies that grew their customer base by 300% or more last year had one thing in common. They stopped using SMS to push information and started using it to pull insights. Their messages adapt, learn, and respond like a human team member. SMS is transforming from simple text delivery into something far more sophisticated. The old approach was blasting generic messages, hoping for responses. Now? Messages that actually understand customer behavior. Take order confirmations. Traditional SMS tells you "Your order shipped." Smart SMS asks: "Your order shipped to the office again... want us to remember this preference for future orders?" Same message. Different intelligence level. AI adds layers of understanding that make each interaction more valuable. Messages reference previous conversations. Timing adapts to when customers actually respond. Content changes based on where someone is in their journey. The technology handles the learning while SMS handles what it does best: reliable delivery. But smart messaging still needs human oversight for complex situations. We're building systems that know when to escalate, when to respond automatically. Communication that feels personal at scale. The companies growing fastest? They use AI to enhance human capability rather than replace it. This balance creates customer experiences that actually drive growth. What are you seeing in your customer communications? Like and share if you're building messaging that learns from every interaction.

Being the loudest is no longer enough. Authenticity is now the ultimate competitive advantage. Gone are the days where paid influencers and generic content held sway; people now yearn for genuine connections, ethical brands, and transparent engagements. This cultural evolution is fundamentally altering the foundations of trust-building and business expansion. The recent algorithm update from Meta underscores this shift towards the 'interest graph' over the 'social graph.' Prioritizing content relevance and private interactions over public metrics like follower counts highlights the importance of building real connections over broadcasting to a passive audience. This is a strong signal that genuine connection is more valuable than broadcasting to a large, but unengaged, audience. Key considerations for adaptation include: 👉  Ensuring that your brand messaging deeply resonates to distinguish itself. 👉  Building your Go-To-Market strategy on genuine connections, not just transactions. 👉  You must earn your audience's trust through transparency to maintain loyalty and avoid backlash. Stop chasing fleeting trends and double down on building authentic relationships. Your values, genuine voice, and transparent approach are your strongest assets for growth in today's market. What strategic adjustments have you recently implemented to prioritize authenticity and nurture stronger trust with your audience? Feel free to share your insights! 👇 #GoToMarket #Authenticity #BrandTrust #MarketingStrategy #CulturalTrends #GrowthMarketing #DigitalTransformation

Let’s be honest—press releases and sales pitches are most of the time a boring pile of buzzwords. Faster, cheaper, more secure—and now, AI is slapped onto everything like a trendy sticker, often making every business sound the same. But what problems are you actually solving? I see too many businesses obsessing with showcasing technology instead of solving real customer problems. Tech is just a tool, not the end goal. I believe that to build trust, businesses must ditch jargon, simplify their messaging, and tell stories that resonate. With misinformation and AI-generated content flooding the market, the companies that prioritise human connection will stand out. Customers buy from brands they trust—not just the ones with the best tech. 🚨 Time for a reality check: - 45% of global CEOs believe their companies won’t exist in 10 years if they don’t evolve. Yet, businesses keep focusing on tech instead of the customer. - Trust is the new currency. 63% of CMOs admit consumer distrust in new tech is a major risk. Companies need to shift from product-led to relationship-led strategies. - Customers expect better. Millennials and Gen Z now make up 64% of B2B buyers, and 90% say they aren’t impressed with their vendors. They want seamless, transparent experiences—not jargon. Back to basics. Are you making it easy for your customers to understand your value? 👉 Read the full article featured in Nordic Fintech Magazine (page 38-39) here: https://lnkd.in/diPExHb9 #Storytelling #Fintech #CustomerObsessed #GoToMarket #Partnerships Chris C. pantrium