Experience vs. keeping up with the times as a confidence-inspiring building block in the acquisition of new customers

Being both experienced in a field and on the cutting edge can be important when approaching new clients. Is it an either ... or ... or a both ... and ...? Which provides more confidence for the potential customer?

I would like to look at this question using the example of doctors.

When I go to a general practitioner with a common illness (say a severe flu), the doctor's experience is immensely valuable. He has seen similar cases hundreds of times, tested different treatments and observed the healing process accordingly. It has happened to me with a good and experienced doctor that I walked through the door and he knew immediately what I had. That's great, of course. An experienced doctor only needs to look at your eyes and skin. He then asks a few more questions to rule out any contingencies. In principle, however, it is immediately clear what needs to be done. That's good for him because he can devote himself to the next patient, and it's great for me because I have the feeling that I've been treated competently and can get back to bed quickly.

In contrast, it is very important for an infectiologist with a severe corona disease to know the latest drugs. We all know that something new comes out every month. Of course, it helps that he has seen and treated various other infections in the last few years. But what is crucial in this situation is that he has his finger on the pulse, has read the latest scientific studies and can possibly even try to place me in a clinical trial if the worst comes to the worst. I would therefore go to a university clinic with a severe corona disease and not rely on the personal care of my family doctor.

If one day I should get a heart problem that entails a complicated heart operation, the experience of the doctor treating me would be very important. At the same time, I know that new methods are constantly being developed in this field and new materials are being used. I would definitely like to benefit from that. So that would be equally important to me. Here we are dealing with a topic where I, as a potential client, would look at the two aspects of experience and being on the cutting edge when doing research.

So those who have both experience and are motivated to continue their education are well off. This can be transferred to all sectors and thus applies to every entrepreneur and every company.

When it comes to experience, everyone needs to ask themselves what kind of experience matters to their customers. In today's fast-paced world, the challenge, especially with new customers online, is that they spend very little time per page. The average dwell time is seven seconds and many homepages have a 70% abandonment rate. This means that 70% do not see more than the first page and only for a very short time. Long texts are therefore not the order of the day. My tried and tested method for conveying experience is to work with numbers. Numbers with one to three words to explain transport very quickly how much experience you have. To stay with the doctor's example, 1,000 surgeries in the last 12 months would make a big impression on me. It is important to consider what values are important to the customer. On many websites of companies that don't have a lot of experience yet, you then see information like 18 cups of coffee per day or 7 employees who come to work by bike. I sometimes wonder what the creators of such content are thinking about when they are Content Creation must have thought. Does that seem trustworthy? Maybe kind of nice, but certainly not a reason to get in touch. From the point of view of a SEO Agency I therefore do not recommend providing such information.

But what do you do if you are just starting out? If you have no experience as a start-up, you're better off making the point that you're at the forefront, that you bring the latest findings with you and perhaps have researched them yourself. This is a great opportunity to position yourself to outperform long-established companies.

So it depends on what the entrepreneur can show and what is important to the customer. If the company is in the fortunate position of being able to credibly depict both areas, it should put itself in the shoes of its potential customers in order to sense the priority. Another factor can be the differentiation from the competition.

When considering what to communicate and how, the following questions can be helpful:

• How often do my customers ask whether we have mastered the latest technologies or use certain materials?
• How often do clients ask about the specific experience in a particular field?
• In which of the two areas is it easy to achieve and show a unique selling proposition?