9 Ways to Quickly Gain Trust in the Sales Process: Part 1

Guest Author: Charles Green, author of Trust-based Selling

Those who sell professional services know the power of being trusted, and strive to be seen that way. I'm often asked, "How long does it take to become trusted?"

Is it the case that "trust takes time," that it is gained only with the passage of time? Or is it a "trust your gut" thing, something that comes in a flash, a moment of intuition or feeling?

Most people in business, if asked without reflection, will come down on the side of "trust takes time." And their approach to selling reflects this. They believe people buy only after they come to trust the seller; and that such trust is created through a history of promises kept.

While true, that's only 25% of the story. The rest of the story is that you can create trust in hardly any time at all and in a variety of ways. And, furthermore, the sales process, far from depending on pre-established trust, can itself be ground zero for the creation of trust.

The Trust Equation
The concept of "trust" is about as varied as any aspect of human relations. We use the term in many ways. The bulk of those ways are reflected in the four factors of the Trust Equation:

                Trustworthiness = (Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy)
                                                               Self-Orientation

Of these four factors - credibility, reliability, intimacy and self-orientation - only one of them necessarily requires the passage of time. That factor is reliability, because by definition it requires repeated experiences.

The emphasis on reliability is what drives so much of the approach to selling primarily used in professional services: references, lists of past clients, success stories, resumes, and processes. All are heavily built around the idea that being trusted accumulated experience built over time.

But reliability is only one factor of four. And the other three often, sometimes mainly, are created in a conversation, even a moment.

• Credibility is established not just in histories, but in symbols, credentials, and insights-and in a firm handshake, a look in the eye, and a straight answer.

• Intimacy is established not only by knowledge acquired over time, but by a knowing nod, a sense of empathy, and recognition of the personal.

• Self-orientation is not just established through a history of customer-focused behavior, but by how we conduct ourselves daily, what questions we ask, and whose concerns dominate our reactions in the moment.

When these areas of rapid trust creation are understood, it follows that we don't have to wait for the passage of time to be trusted.

To a great extent, we can demonstrate our own trustworthiness-and thereby earn the trust of our clients-in the sales process itself. Selling doesn't depend passively on the development of trust; selling can itself be the engine of trust creation.

How to Rapidly Create Trust
There are things we can do to increase the power of rapid trust creation without compromising on the validity or deservedness of that trust. They can all be done within the sales process itself. Here are a few:

1. Give up spin control
Speak the truth-simply, plainly, without embellishment. Answer questions directly. Don't withhold truth. Behaving this way builds credibility rapidly-often within a single conversation. You become known as a truth-teller-one who places integrity and honesty over outcome. Truth-telling enhances credibility more than carefully doling out truth.

2. Admit your limits
If you don't know something, say so. If you're not the best at something, say so. If you don't have all the answers, say so. If you're not clear on something, say so, along with what you are clear about, and what you need to get clear on the rest. This enhances your credibility (after all, who lies about their ignorance?) and your intimacy in your willingness to be transparent.

3. Offer other approaches
If the only recommendation you ever have for a client is "me/us," then no client can ever trust your recommendation. Have recommendations for alternative providers if the client can't afford you, or wants an answer sooner than you can deliver, or requires services that aren't cost-effective for you to deliver. Having alternative suggestions shows high client focus and low self-orientation, as well as enhances your credibility.

4. Take an emotional risk
If you're feeling something, say it. If you notice an emotional fact about the client (distracted, passionate, or concerned), comment on it ("You seem a little distracted," "I get the sense you're really passionate about this," or "I'm sensing some real concern from you about this one aspect.")

There is no trust without risk, and you can't expect the client to lead on risk-taking. The most common form of risk is emotional risk-the intimacy factor-and the inability to be open about emotions. Enable that openness. Do it with respect for the client and with appropriate caveats-but do it.

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Part II will be coming in the next newsletter. This article was originally published in RainToday.com.

Charles H. Green is an author, speaker and executive educator. The author of Trust-based Selling and co-author of The Trusted Advisor, Charles focuses on the role of trusted relationships in selling to and managing relationships with complex organizations.  He is the founder and CEO of Trusted Advisor Associates.

Comments

[Joshua Horwitz]

Nice post. I think the very same practices can be used with (and are sometimes forgotten when it comes to) existing client relationships.

I appreciate that your point is to accelerate the trust building process with prospects, but with time a scarce resource across the organization, I'd encourage all those that maintain the client relationship to follow the same pattern.

[Charles H. Green]

Jill,

Thank you for the honor of using some of your blogspace; I love how you write.

And Joshua, I completely agree. These principles work well with existing clients too. (Hey they even work with family members!).

Charlie Green

[The Gift Guy]

Truly remarkable post! Trust is the culmination of a successful relationship. When client doesn't ask for 3 quotes any more, but is happy to accept your offering, even if at a premium, that is when you've truly arrived!

[Matt Donnelly]

Mr. Green-

Superb ideas and worth taking seriously. They work.

[tony cole]

Wish I could find something to disagree with. I would be interested in your view on the perspective of, "people buy from people they like." I hear this all of the time and I have always felt that people won't buy from people they don't like. But that isn't the same as buying from people they like. I've also held that people buy from people they trust and have confidence in.

[The Gift Guy]

Tony, I have to agree with you on the point of people buying from people they like. Given all other factors like quality and cost being equal, the likeable sales person will get the deal. Good point made by you.

[David Chung]

I am so glad that sales gurus such as Tony and Jill are advocating this client relationship focused approach to sales. I don't think it's necessarily true that people buy from people they like -- but rather, they buy from someone who is genuine about helping them solve their problem at hand.

I could be wrong of course, but a savvy buyer leading the nice sales guy on, putting dreams of large commission checks in his mind...

...is almost the equivalent of a savvy sales guy reeling a prospect in, dazzling them with the "best solution" ever (your boss will call you a hero!).

I still think it goes back to people wanting what they need... but YES -- I do acknowledge that intimacy is a critical dimension, atop professional credibility. People just can't help it sometimes. I've ordered extra rounds at least a few times... just because the bartender was cute and nice. Human nature?

I'd love to have you and Jill come and do guest posts about the importance of "lead knowledge" in facilitating complex sales. Please let me know if you're interested!

I'll definitely be linking to this post in my blog today.