How to Sell When Nobody Trusts Anyone: 3 Tools for the Trust Recession | Guest Blog
- Mango Marketing
- 54 minutes ago
- 7 min read
A few weeks ago, a new client asked me how long I typically recommend they give themselves for a launch.
I had my answer immediately (it’s 6 weeks absolutely minimum, not including time for prepping, batching content, getting all of your tech set up, in case you were wondering), but I also had to qualify it with a lot of context because y’all… sales in 2025 are different than I’ve ever seen before, and as small business owners we’ve got to know what’s up because things are only going to continue this way into 2026 and beyond.
From founders who’ve been around for years making multi-six figures a year to founders in the early stages of building out their offers and getting regular, stable MRR, everyone I know is seeing changes in the way people buy.
Folks take longer to consider.
There are more people who say yes, I’m so in only to ghost.
People have more questions, more concerns, more fears.
You might have heard the term ‘trust recession’ thrown around lately, and that’s a big part of what’s changing the way people are buying.
Here's what's happening: We're all navigating economic uncertainty, political and social changes, and basically living in a dystopian world we've only ever read about in books or seen in movies. Fun times, right?
Plus, the online business world spent years operating like the wild west… deeply unregulated and full of bait-and-switch tactics and broken promises.
So we've got a lot of people feeling skeptical and deeply uncertain. And here's the thing about human biology: when we're uncertain, we naturally resist change. Which is... a problem when you're trying to sell something, because no matter what you’re selling, buying anything requires change.
I’m not just dropping all of this to make you feel like no one will buy again and your business is doomed, because I can promise you this: people are still buying. They’re just doing it in a way that requires more trust.
The small businesses that are going to thrive in 2025 and beyond are the ones who are able to know their ideal customers so well that they know exactly what to do, say and create in order to make their people feel seen, safe, and ready to take action (aka buy).
And once you understand your people this deeply, you’ve guaranteed to be able to sell without being salesy because when people feel truly seen and understood, selling becomes about serving, not convincing.
Let’s take a beat to look at this in another context. Think about a time when a best friend, family member or partner gave you a gift or did something for you that moved you to tears.
When that happens, it’s because they’re showing you that they know you so well, they can get the perfect gift or create the perfect experience to make you feel seen.
That kind of connection creates connection, and it’s the kind of connection that we naturally want to move closer toward.
So in a trust recession, there is nothing more powerful than people able to make your people feel seen.
Bonus? This is a super power you have that bigger businesses can’t really touch. Even larger brands in your industry may not be able to leverage this as effectively as you can, because when someone tries too hard to connect or be relatable in a way that feels forced, well… it falls flat.
The question, of course, is how do you make sure your sales and marketing content leaves your people feeling seen, safe and ready to take action?
I’m so glad you asked…
Empathy Is Your Edge
When marketing content falls flat it typically comes down to one thing: your people didn’t get that you were speaking to them.
And yet, I find that almost every founder I know (myself included…) avoids doing the deep work of clarifying their ideal customer. At least beyond a basic blurb like service based small business owners who want to grow their revenue and their impact while staying aligned with their values. Right?
But that's not enough to create an empathetic connection to your people… and most Ideal Customer worksheets and exercises you’ll find online and from business coaches aren’t going to cut it, either.
Which is why I’ve crafted a whole ecosystem of tools to help you connect with your ideal customers.
But rather than using tools from the branding and marketing world, I’ve adapted exercises from acting and creative writing, because there’s no place better to learn about creating connection by feeling what someone else feels than those two space.
We’re going to cover three tools: Spinning on Problem, Draw from What You Know, and Slice of Life.
Pick the one that speaks to you most, and dig in…
Spinning on Problem
Spinning on Problem is an acting technique that helps you fully embody your audience’s lived experience.
Explorations to Consider…
Identify the core emotional tension in your audience’s experience. Not just naming the problem they’re having (as it relates to your work/offers/products), but describing the internal conflict they’re feeling. How do they describe their problem, or think about it? Are they torn between two desires? Stuck in a cycle of frustration?
How does your audience ‘spin’ on their problem without realizing it? Identify the thoughts, excuses, or patterns that keep them stuck. What do they keep telling themselves that prevents action? What questions are they asking that aren’t the real issue?
Take a look at people you know. Those could be real people, current clients or customers, or even characters from a book or movie. Choose characters who, in some way, are your ideal customers. Identify specific aspects of their personality, little quirks, or things you like, and weave those into your final step.
Once you’ve done the above, grab a pen and paper and write in the first person, as if you were feeling that tension. Write from their POV and see what comes through.
Slice of Life
Explorations to consider…
Pick a “mundane” event that probably occurs in the your person’s life, and write it out as a scene. You might choose one of the people you identified from Spinning on Problem, if that feels useful. Pick an event that might somehow relate to your offer. Maybe it's their Monday morning routine, checking email, getting dressed in the morning. Pay close attention to your person’s emotional reaction, their perspective, the interactions with those around them, and their dialogue.
Write multiple versions of the same scene from different emotional states. Let’s say you’re a health coach helping people over 40 get in the best health of their life. How does that Monday morning routine feel when they're confident vs. when they're overwhelmed vs. when they're frustrated with their body? Notice how the same actions take on completely different meanings depending on their internal state. This also gives you a way to speak not just to pain points, but also to desire and possibility.
Look for the micro-moments where your work becomes relevant. If you working with small business owners, for example, maybe it's the pause before they hit "post" on social media, the moment they're about to join a networking call, or when they're explaining what they do at a dinner party. What's happening in their body? What thoughts are running through their mind?
Empathy Mapping
Empathy Mapping is a way to step into your audience's world and feel things from their perspective.
Explorations to Consider…
What are the most common thoughts and feelings they have, especially related to the work you do? What triggers those thoughts or feelings? Get specific about the moments when your work/problem becomes top of mind for them.
Walk in their shoes: Spend a day literally doing, thinking, and feeling what your ideal customer would do. If they're a busy parent, what does their morning look like? If they're a new entrepreneur, what keeps them up at night?
Imagine you’re acting as this person. What are their motivations? Desires? How do they speak, think, carry themselves, dress? When they experience your offer, what don’t they understand about it? What questions do they have? What feels scary, confusing, confronting?
Pay attention to their self-talk and the stories they tell themselves. What do they mutter under their breath? What do they rehearse saying? What do they avoid saying out loud, even to themselves?
Once you’ve gone through any of all of these exercises, document all of this information into a database you can return to.
Pro tip: I recommend going through this process for each offer, not just your overall brand. If you’ve got a bigger offer suite, start with the offer you most want to sell in the next 90 days.
Then, review your database before creating any sales or marketing content, before writing or updating a sales page, etc. Connect to your ideal person first, then create for them.
Your ability to create genuine connections is your unfair advantage right now.
While so many folks are trying to scale and use AI to automate everything, you can be the business owner who actually understands their people. In a world where trust is harder to come by, that's not just nice to have, it's your secret weapon.
Pick one of these tools and try it this week. Your customers will feel the difference (and so will your bank account).
Chelsea Quint is The Business Whisperer, an ex-corporate marketer turned sales and messaging strategist who helps brilliant founders get their genius offers seen and sold. After cutting her teeth in marketing for major brands like Pilot Pens and Party City, she now uses her marketing expertise to help entrepreneurs break through the noise with crystal-clear positioning, one-of-a-kind messaging, and cult-status offers that convert.
Chelsea specializes in crafting emotionally resonant sales campaigns that build trust, spark desire, and skyrocket sales without chasing trends or driving burnout (for founders or their audiences). Her approach treats business building as both art and science, focusing on the strategic storytelling that transforms best-kept secrets into bestselling offers.
When she's not helping clients design sales systems that book out their services (or sell out their digital products), you can find her on the East Coast with her chef husband, corgi, and two cats, probably trying to eat Mexican food for every meal and improvising songs about what her pets are thinking.