Episode Summary
Gethin Nadin, Chief Innovation Officer at Benifex, explains why trust now sits at the center of successful B2B growth. He shows how companies can improve ABM performance by helping buyers build internal business cases, using expert-led outreach, and nurturing relationships long before an active buying cycle begins. The conversation also reveals why tailored relevance, trusted voices, and deeper industry understanding help teams open better conversations, influence hidden stakeholders, and win larger deals with more consistency.
Highlights
Introduction
YouTube Short
Episode Q&A Videos
4:34 | How Tailored Selling Strengthens B2B Deal Momentum
“I can’t sell the same shirt to 20 men. If I had an extra-large white shirt and tried to sell it to 20 different men, it might fit three of them, but it wouldn't fit the rest. You have to start all of these conversations with, I’m tailoring this to you based on what you need.”
2:54 | How Internal Selling Improves B2B Deal Conversion
“Any proposal that I sell, I would pitch to you like you were the FD or the CEO. I would ignore the direct buyer and go straight to the CEO. Even though I am pitching to the HR director, what I am able to do is give them the information that I know is going to resonate with their CEO, as well as the information that resonates with them.”
3:11 | Expert-Led Conversations Open High-Quality B2B Opportunities
“I realized quite quickly that if you became a source of expert counsel, somebody would open the door. There’s a lot of evidence that says people want to be closer to the people who have done great things. That works really well because I’m able to sit in those meetings and basically say, ‘I don’t care whether you buy from me or not, that’s not what I’m here to do. I’m here to help you solve a problem.’”
5:09 | Industry Context Improves Targeted Upsell and Retention Success
“It is really about finding who is your subject matter expert, who is your equivalent of me in your organization that you can start to use and lean on, and give that person more time to be able to research your target industries and your target accounts.”
6:01 | Trust-Building Strategies Strengthen Modern B2B Growth
“Across every industry, as a consumer, you've got an industry influence that now owns that segment and is the voice of that industry. That’s where we were ahead of the market: we bypassed that trust by getting them to trust one person, instead of trusting an entire organization.”
6:03 | Long-Term Nurturing Strengthens Enterprise Sales Success Outcomes
“If we didn’t have an existing relationship, we wouldn’t win it. You start building a relationship with someone who has a contract with your competitor, not because they’re unhappy, but so that as soon as they do become unhappy, you don’t have to start selling to them. They already know exactly who you are.”
2:25 | How Forward Planning Strengthens Enterprise Sales Performance
“We have had chief sales officers in the past who have targeted salespeople with not just what you are going to win this quarter, but what you are doing to get yourself 30% along for the next quarter, because they have realized how important that was. It just feels like a mistake to go cold into the next quarter or the next month and then have a blank sheet again. There is always thinking about what else is coming down the line.”
Key Takeaways
Trust Drives Buying Decisions
Buyers prioritize credibility and relevance over features, making trust a central factor that directly influences engagement, deal progression, and final purchasing decisions.
Internal Selling Determines Outcomes
Deals often stall after initial interest because buyers lack internal alignment, making it critical to equip them with messaging that resonates with executive stakeholders.
Relationships Create Competitive Advantage
Long-term engagement builds familiarity and credibility, allowing organizations to influence decisions earlier and improve win rates before formal buying cycles even begin.
About Gethin
Gethin Nadin
Gethin Nadin is Chief Innovation Officer at Benifex, where he has helped scale the company from a 20-person startup to a global organization of over 2,500 employees. With a background in sales, partnerships, and customer strategy, he has played a key role in driving international growth and building relationships with major organizations. Today, he focuses on thought leadership and helping enterprises connect employee experience to business performance, shaping how companies approach growth, trust, and modern B2B engagement.
From the Guest
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Full Episode Article
Building Buyer Trust: Rethinking How B2B Relationships Are Built
This article is based on an interview with Gethin Nadin, Chief Innovation Officer at Benifex
Introduction
Trust has moved from a soft concept to a measurable driver of revenue performance in B2B. Gethin Nadin, Chief Innovation Officer at Benifex, brings a perspective shaped by experience across sales, marketing, and product. His approach focuses on aligning messaging with real market conditions while helping buyers succeed internally. The conversation highlights why product-led selling is losing effectiveness and how organizations can improve outcomes by focusing on relevance, credibility, and long-term relationship building.
Trust Now Drives B2B Buying Behavior
Gethin explains that trust has become a defining factor in modern B2B decisions. Buyers are more cautious, informed, and skeptical of traditional approaches. This shift requires organizations to rethink how they engage prospects from the very beginning. As he puts it, “You have to start all of these conversations with, I am tailoring this to you based on what you need. I am not a product first.” This expectation reflects a broader shift where buyers want to feel understood before they evaluate any solution.
Trust is built when messaging aligns with real business pressures and market conditions. Generic outreach fails because it does not reflect what buyers are actually dealing with. Gethin reinforces this by stating, “That is why trust has become so important, and why thought leadership has become so successful in deals.” When organizations demonstrate awareness and insight, conversations become more relevant, and engagement improves.
Internal Selling Is the Real Conversion Barrier
A key insight from Gethin’s experience is that deals are often lost after initial interest. Once a proposal moves inside the organization, control shifts away from the sales team. This is where many opportunities stall, not because of a lack of interest, but because internal stakeholders are not fully aligned. Gethin addresses this directly by saying, “Any proposal that I sell, I would pitch to you like you were the FD or the CEO.” This approach ensures that the message is already structured for executive-level discussions.
Strong sellers prepare their buyers to succeed internally by aligning messaging with leadership priorities. This includes anticipating financial and strategic concerns before they surface. Gethin emphasizes this mindset by stating, “I would ignore the direct buyer and go straight to the CEO.” By doing so, sales teams equip their champions with the context they need to influence decisions and maintain momentum throughout the buying process.
Long-Term Relationships Drive Enterprise Wins
Enterprise deals rarely begin when they are formally identified. In many cases, the outcome is shaped well before a buying cycle starts. Gethin highlights the importance of this by stating, “If we didn’t have an existing relationship, we wouldn’t win it.” This reinforces the idea that familiarity and trust are built over time, not during a single sales interaction.
This perspective challenges the focus on short-term pipeline activity. Instead, organizations should invest in consistent engagement that builds credibility. Gethin expands on this by noting, “You start building a relationship with someone who has a contract with your competitor.” By maintaining these relationships early, companies position themselves as trusted alternatives when opportunities eventually emerge.
Conclusion
Trust-first selling represents a strategic shift in how organizations approach growth. Success depends on understanding buyer needs, supporting internal decision-making, and investing in relationships over time. The most effective teams position themselves early in the journey and become a trusted voice before a purchase is considered. This approach improves deal quality, strengthens conversion rates, and creates more consistent and predictable outcomes.
ELEVATING CONTENT MARKETING STANDARDS RAISES A CRUCIAL QUESTION:
Why shouldn’t the very act of creating thought leadership content also spark new conversations with in-pipeline deals, top prospects, and high-priority customers for revenue expansion? Or serve as the cornerstone for learning and applying voice-of-customer strategies? That’s the power of ABM Podcasting—engaging B2B buyers and customers in meaningful conversations that uncover essential go-to-market insights, support long sales cycles, reinforce your market perspective, build peer-level trust, and dismantle objections that kill deals.
Steven MacDonald
Steven MacDonald is the founder of Content Strategies, CEO of a MarTech SaaS Company, fractional CMO consulting with leading B2B companies and former Director of Strategy and Client Service at top ten digital marketing agencies.
Steven MacDonald
Steven MacDonald is the founder of Content Strategies, CEO of a MarTech SaaS Company, fractional CMO consulting with leading B2B companies and former Director of Strategy and Client Service at top ten digital marketing agencies.
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