📈 The 10-Second Trust Test

Read time: 4 minutes

Every day, I see people trying to sell to CEOs on LinkedIn by posting carousels filled with "5 top tips".

It doesn't work. And they can't figure out why.

Here’s the reason:

CEOs don't want frameworks. They've seen hundreds. They want credibility signals and war stories from people who have been in the room.

A lot of people make this mistake - they pick a content format and blindly stick with it without asking whether it matches how their audience actually thinks.

For example, carousels may be the best performing format on LinkedIn. But that doesn't mean they'll land with your buyer.

How Trust Works

When someone is deciding whether to follow you, buy from you or hire you they're not just evaluating your ideas.

They're evaluating whether you understand their world.

And different audiences trust different things:

• Visual industries (design, architecture, real estate) → they buy with their eyes. Show the work.

• Senior executives → they've seen every framework. They want war stories and proof you've got the judgement to help them.

• Founders → they want real numbers, real failures, and lessons from the trenches.

Here's what it looks like when you get it right:

Jennifer helps commercial real estate developers buy art for their buildings, so her content is VERY visual:

• This painter’s process - 7,795 reactions

• Art is much more than decoration - 7,424 reactions

Real estate brokers take people on tours around beautiful homes:

• Home buying journey in Dallas - 1.5M views

Gal sells to CEOs/CROs and tells war stories about sales:

• Lessons from 17 years in sales - 6,120 likes

• Firing the VP of sales - 3,661 likes

These posts match how their buyers actually think.

The 10-Second Trust Test

So how do you implement this yourself?

1. Write down your buyer's job title Not "business owners." Specific. "Head of Marketing at a Series B SaaS company" or "Homeowner in London renovating a Victorian terrace."

2. Ask: what would make them trust me in 10 seconds? For a design client, it's seeing your past work. For a VP, it's knowing you've solved their exact problem before. For a founder, it's proof you've been in the trenches.

3. Build your content around that answer If they need to see it, show it. If they need to hear experience, tell the story. If they need proof, lead with numbers.

Understand what your buyer needs to see/hear and communicate in that format.

Try It This Week

Pick one piece of content you were planning to post.

Before you publish, ask: "Is this the format my buyer actually cares about?"

If not, adapt it. Then publish.

You'll be surprised how much faster people connect with your message when you start speaking their language.

See you next time,

Will

P.S. Two things:

• I do all my content research in Saywhat’s Inspiration section. Try it today for free.

• I just dropped a new 8-min YouTube video on how to NEVER run out of LinkedIn post ideas again. Watch it here.

Will McTighe

Forwarded this email? Sign Up Here
Connect with me on LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram