Why do customers choose one business over another, even when it costs more? Building customer trust through your Unique Human Proposition® (UHP®) can influence buying decisions, show your value, and give people a reason to choose you instead of comparing price alone.
Summary
- Trust is a commercial advantage and can outweigh price when customers are deciding who to buy from.
- Customers aren’t just comparing costs; they’re assessing risk, reliability, value, and whether you’re the right fit.
- Your Unique Human Proposition® (UHP®) helps build trust before a sales conversation even begins.
- Trust grows through consistent, human actions like showing up, listening, following through, and delivering what you promise.
- When customers understand who you are, what you stand for, and why you’re different, price becomes only one part of their buying decision.
Imagine you’re looking for someone to help you with an important part of your business.
You find two people offering what seems like a very similar service. One is cheaper.
The other costs more, but you’ve been following them for a while. You’ve read their posts, heard them speak, maybe talked with them, or been introduced by someone you trust. You like the way they communicate. You understand what they stand for. They seem to understand people like you and, most importantly, you feel confident they’ll do what they say they will.
Who are you more likely to choose?
For many of us, it’s the second person.
Why?
Trust!
This is where businesses sometimes get their sales strategy wrong. They spend so much time worrying about price, competitors, packages, products, and propositions that they forget something incredibly important: trust is a commercial advantage.
Trust can be one reason somebody chooses you when cheaper options are available.
Your Customer Isn’t Only Comparing Prices
Your potential customer isn’t sitting there with a spreadsheet comparing prices and automatically choosing the lowest number. They’re actually assessing risk:
- Will this person/company understand me?
- Can they deliver what I need?
- Will they do what they’ve promised?
- What happens if something goes wrong?
- Do I feel comfortable working with them?
- Can I trust them?
The more important the purchase, the more important those questions become.
Yes, choosing the cheapest option might save somebody money, but choosing the wrong option could cost them far more in wasted time, poor results, frustration, stress or having to start all over again.
Trust Starts Long Before the Sales Conversation
Here’s something else to consider. Your potential customer may have started deciding if they trust you long before you know they exist. They might be reading your LinkedIn posts, listening to you on podcasts, watching you speak at events, reading your blogs, or checking out your testimonials.
They’re picking up little clues about you and your business all the time.
This is why I talk about your Unique Human Proposition® (UHP®). Your UHP® is the human layer of your business. It brings together your values, strengths, language, stories, personality, and those little ‘isms’ that make you memorable, and every time you let those things show up in your business, you give people another reason to understand who you are and what it might be like to work with you.
That’s how you can begin creating trust before price ever enters the conversation.
Your UHP® Gives People Something Price Can’t
If you only sell the thing, it’s incredibly easy for a potential customer to compare you with everybody else selling the same thing.
- A coach can be compared with another coach.
- A consultant with another consultant.
- An accountant with another accountant.
- A software provider with another software provider.
When everything looks the same, what’s left to compare? Often, it’s price, but when you bring your UHP® into the equation, the comparison changes because no one else can deliver your service exactly as you do.
- Nobody else has your experiences.
- They don’t have your stories.
- Your communication style is unique to you.
- They don’t have your particular strengths, values, personality or approach.
- Your relationships aren’t built in the same way.
That doesn’t mean you slap a massive price tag on something and expect people to pay it because you’re fabulous! You still need to provide genuine value and deliver what you promise, but your UHP® gives people reasons to choose you that go beyond the features of your product or service.
Trust Is Built in the Small Moments
We sometimes think building trust requires a clever strategy, but it’s more likely to happen through simple actions like doing what you said you would, following up when you promised, and listening.
None of these things is complicated, but together they tell your customer something incredibly powerful: You can rely on me.
When a customer trusts you, they’re not only more comfortable buying from you, but they’re also far more likely to come back and tell their friends.
Stop Competing on Price and Start Communicating Your Value
Before you consider lowering your prices, ask yourself whether your potential customers understand your value well enough:
- Have they seen your expertise?
- Do they understand your approach?
- Have you demonstrated that you understand their world?
- Can they see what you stand for?
- Have you given them a sense of the person or people behind the business?
- Have you built enough trust?
If all they can see is what you sell, they’ll naturally compare your offer with someone else selling something similar. Your UHP® helps them understand why buying from you feels different, and that difference matters. It’s all about customer service vs customer experience!
Customers want their problem solved, of course, but something else drives the buying decision: reassurance that they’ve made a good choice, they’re in safe hands, and you understand exactly what solution they need. Are you making sure your customers know this?
Think of it this way. Your customer isn’t thinking: “You know what? I’ll pay more because I like this person’s LinkedIn posts.” No! They’re thinking: “They’re the right fit for me.”
What Does Your UHP® Say About You?
Take a look at your own business through the eyes of someone who hasn’t bought from you yet:
- What would they learn about you?
- Are your values clear?
- Would they get a sense of your personality?
- What evidence of your expertise is on display?
- Would they remember you? (or rather, would they trust you?)
If the answer to some of those questions is “I’m not sure,” then it might be time to dig deeper into your Unique Human Proposition®. Remember, your UHP® already exists. It’s the combination of your strengths, values, experiences, language, stories and personality that nobody else can replicate. All you need to do is uncover it and start using it.
Are you ready to discover what makes people choose YOU?
Book a 90-minute Breakthrough Session, and let’s get down to business and explore the human elements that make your business different, memorable and trusted, so you can stop feeling like you have to compete on price and start showing your customers the real value of choosing you.