Martha Salinas, B2B payments expert and CCO of TreviPay, shares how trust can be a more reliable growth lever than flashy features or the latest technology

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In the evolving world of B2B fintech, the term ‘growth strategy’ often conjures thoughts of automation, AI, and new revenue streams. But there’s one factor that rarely gets the spotlight it deserves: trust.

Over the past five years, the TreviPay team has had the opportunity to work closely with a major player in the European e-commerce landscape. This company oversees a sprawling network of local teams across eight EMEA markets and focuses heavily on the non-enterprise, or what they call the ‘dot com’ segment, targeting small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Notably, the SMB sector accounts for an estimated 60–65% of the brand’s European revenue. It's no surprise, then, that SMBs have become a strategic priority for this organization.

To better serve this market, the company began rethinking its entire proposition. This included an overhaul of its payments infrastructure, centred on flexibility and customer-centricity. One of the most impactful changes was the introduction of a 30-day digital invoicing option, designed to support SMB cash flow, which emerged as a top concern through customer feedback.

“We found cash flow is incredibly important to any small business”, a company spokesperson shared. The new invoicing option, embedded across all European B2B channels, has quickly proven its commercial value.

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Reinventing payments with a trusted partner:

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Of course, the shift wasn’t easy. Transforming the payment experience for SMBs meant rethinking how the company handled its order-to-cash (O2C) process. In particular, it involved moving away from an underperforming third-party payments provider.

The company opted to bring O2C operations in-house, partnering with us to run the engine that would power their new SMB service. While cost was part of the decision-making process, there was a more fundamental factor at play. As the team put it: “We wanted to find a trusted partner to help us evolve, and trust was absolutely key in making that decision.”

The transition wasn’t simple. Shifting from outsourced to internal management required rebuilding relationships and regaining control over customer data–data that had been lost in the previous arrangement.

“We had to start managing the relationship directly with our new supplier and reconnect, but that started with us trying to rebuild all the data and understanding of our customers we’d lost through the outsourcing,” the company explained.

In practice, this meant resetting accounts and re-establishing core knowledge about their customer base, effectively starting from scratch. “It was a difficult transition, and we faced a massive learning curve.” 

But it was also a turning point. By working closely with us to understand the business’s needs and O2C processes, the company began laying the foundations for scalable, long-term growth, built on a platform of mutual trust.

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Why trust powers better B2B experiences:

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One of the clearest learnings from this journey was how much human connection matters.

“A thing we discovered very quickly as we evolved our relationship with our small to medium business customers is that a lot of them want hand-holding,” the company shared. “They want to be engaged and talked to; they want to build a relationship with us so that they feel like they will always get the right proposition for them.”

This need for engagement was especially important when the company rolled out the new 30-day invoicing feature. With O2C running more smoothly, account managers could shift their focus from operational errors to customer success. The results speak for themselves. A more efficient back-end process has freed up the telesales team that is responsible for 70–80% of global SMB sales to do what they do best: sell.

This renewed focus on sales, supported by a smoother financing process, is now a cornerstone of the company’s SMB strategy. In fact, 35% of SMB business is currently closed via telesales, run by a dedicated team of 50–60 people in Barcelona. In their SMB classification, customers typically have up to 250 seats and remain in this segment until they scale into enterprise offerings. Rather than prioritising automation at all costs, the company has leaned into the value of personal interaction. Trust plays a leading role in this approach.

The business continues to focus on getting the basics correct: building a solid, trustworthy foundation before layering in advanced technologies on the strategic roadmap.

Trust, in their words, is also central to a ‘continuous evolution’ of how they work with both colleagues and external partners, ensuring the B2B buying experience keeps improving while allowing for quick onboarding of new SMB accounts.

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Trust goes beyond the customer:

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The role of trust isn’t limited to the customer relationship. It also underpins the partnership between the company and its technology and payments suppliers.

“To me, it's important we bring the right partners to our customers, the right solutions. If I can nurture a good relationship with our SMBs, I am starting strong by being a major brand; but won't necessarily cut it in a financing kind of arrangement with a supplier, which is why I need an expert partner to help me. We know trust scales much better than box features, and if we can build that trust on a basic service, that will help grow my business very significantly.”

As this partnership has matured, the results have become clear. Today, the payments platform processes 17% of the company’s total SMB payments in Europe. That channel alone has grown into a $500 million business, with a target of reaching $1 billion.

Crucially, offering financing-led sales options has boosted average revenue per unit; evidence building trust leads to stronger customer relationships and better commercial outcomes.

It’s easy to underestimate trust in a world where innovation tends to steal the limelight. But in B2B fintech - especially in complex, high-stakes environments - trusts can be a more reliable growth lever than flashy features or the latest technology. As this company’s story shows, trust is not only a feel-good concept. It’s a powerful enabler of operational efficiency, sales performance, and long-term customer value.

In a landscape full of fast-moving trends, trust remains one of the few constants. And for fintech leaders focused on sustainable growth, it very well may be the most important strategy of all.

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