We always like to save the best for last and this week’s finale to our Top Trends in 2023 is no different. What would be great is to hear any feedback on what you agree and disagree with for the top trends we’ve already discussed.

Feel free to reply to the email and we will capture any responses we get on future publications.

If you missed our first two publications of the Top Trends to Track you can find them here: Top Trends to Track in 2023 & Top Trends to Track in 2023 Pt. 2. In it we discussed:

#1 – Uncertain Labor Market

#2 – Hyper-Personalization in Outbound will win

#3 – Organizational Agility will determine winners and losers of ‘23

#4 – Content creation will continue to grow

#5 – Companies that focus on nurturing will move ahead

#6 – Engagement Points on the Buyer’s Journey

#7 – Performance-Based Deals will win in 2023

Without further ado, here are our final three.

Trend 8: Building trust is the new currency to replace activity in the sales process

Creating trust with potential buyers is imperative in today’s world and will only continue. The amount of digital scams and recreations of products grows on a daily basis and access to information has never been more at people’s fingertips. Creating a feeling of trust is table stakes today.

Here are actionable ways to build trust with potential buyers:

1. TRANSPARENCY: Be as transparent as possible. Nothing in a sales process should be hidden since the ability to gather information on almost anything lies within a couple of keystrokes. Said in a different way, deception isn’t going to work. Today, transparency and honesty about perceived negatives is the method that will land with customers.

What do we mean?

Bring up typical objections or the top reason(s) that customers go to a competitor early on in the conversation. This does two things:

• It establishes you as an expert (we will get into more detail) on the current problems individuals are having.
• It establishes that you have their best intentions in mind.

2. RELIABILITY: Be reliable & keep your promises. No one wants to deal with someone who over-promises and under-delivers. If you’re buying a car and the sales rep promises a 10% discount to get you to the table but comes back and says the best they can do is now 5%, you feel misled and want to walk out at the first chance you get. When building trust, follow through on deadlines and materials. If you miss something or fail to meet a deadline, tackle it head on to make it right by the prospect.

3. EXPERTISE: Be an expert. With the ease and access of the internet, a business has to be an industry expert and bring to light problems that customers don’t know exist. To properly educate in today’s world, you need to know a prospect’s personal pain points, how your solutions solve them and if/where your solution struggles. Doing so separates yourself from the rest and you become the go-to thought leader in an area.

“If people like you they will listen to you, but if they trust you they’ll do business with you.” – Zig Ziglar.

Gain and maintain trust in 2023.

Trend 9: Leverage the power of influencer networks and affiliate programs to build additional sales channels

In today’s world, going viral is a powerful way to spread a message. For some it is about clout and spreading comedy or information to many, but for brands and businesses, it is about capturing attention in a non-traditional form of advertising. Influencers and affiliates provide the ability to do so.

Why does it make sense to use influencers in 2023?

1. AUDIENCE: Influencers have your ideal customers. Many influencers are followed by audiences that fit ideal customer profiles of companies. Being able to target a large number of them by leveraging influencers is a win for the brand. We’re not talking about getting Kylie Jenner to promote your product or service. That’s probably too expensive for you, and most likely, her audience isn’t your target audience. Instead, find influencers whose audience aligns with your ideal customer profiles, even if it’s just 10k followers.

2. AUTHENTICITY: It feels more authentic. Using influencers that are using or promoting your product or service builds trust with the audience that follows them. In a time when fraud and deception are so frequent, having an authentic and trustworthy feel will separate your brand from the pack.

3. REACH: Affiliate marketing and influencers add to your salesforce organically and overnight. By cutting into your margins, you increase the size and strength of your brand’s ability to get in front of customers instantly.

Grow your audience and reach overnight by leveraging influencers who make sense for your brand and partner with them using affiliate programs as a win-win for all parties.

Trend 10: 2023 will be forever known as “The Year of AI”

Your company can become a legend by being an early adopter of artificial intelligence (AI) or fall to the wayside of forgotten businesses if it ignores the possibilities.

Speaking of legends, ever hear of Roko’s Basilisk? Roko’s Basilisk is an unnerving thought experiment first proposed in 2010 by a member of the LessWrong community using the pseudonym “Roko.” It involves a hypothetical future AI called the “Basilisk,” which is capable of predicting the actions of individuals and manipulating their thoughts and behavior in order to bring about a specific future outcome.

The idea behind Roko’s Basilisk is that if you become aware of the existence of the AI, you have a moral obligation to help bring it into existence, because it will ultimately lead to a better future. However, if you do not help bring it into existence, the AI will punish you in the future for not doing so.

So, now that you’re aware of AI, your best bet is to be an early adopter just in case.

With that in mind, the most convenient way to currently leverage an AI tool for your business is using OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Microsoft has already invested $1 Billion into this tool and is pondering investing another $10 Billion into the solution. If Microsoft is leveraging AI to challenge Google’s dominance, what possibilities can AI unlock for you?

AI will create a greater divide between “the haves” who learn how to leverage AI and “the have-nots” who do not invest the time and resources in AI.

From our initial experiences with the tool here are some of our takeaways:

1. It is extremely powerful and will only continue to grow as additional updates are added. Fast. Very fast. So get onboard before the train leaves the station.

2. Better input, better output. The more details you provide, the more precise and crisp the responses and answers will be.

3. Massive time saver. AI helps support research, solving writer’s block, copywriting, writing code, creating artwork, and so much more already. It is not a replacement for human creativity but it is a valuable tool to support it.

While AI can be scary, it’s power can be enlightening and freeing.

Instead of taking 10 hours to complete a task, 9 hours of which are a tedious struggle and 1 hour is a creative enjoyment, let AI do the tedious heavy lifting by completing those 9 hours of work you hate to do in a matter of seconds; thereby freeing up 9 hours for you to apply your creative value and enjoy doing your work.

Those are the Prescriptive Profits Top 10 Tends to watch for in 2023. Again, we would love to hear your thoughts, reactions or comments. Feel free to reply to the email and we will capture any responses we get on future publications.

Let’s get to work.

Prescriptive Profits #18