As a sales professional with WWICS I sold a dream which the clients only realized after three to four years .To close a sale, trust was Key, starting from the marketing function, through the face to face meeting and post sale.
Some of my colleagues thought that by talking to the prospect in the vernacular or change of voice tones would do the trick.
They would realize occasional sales however to get consistently high sales one had to take specific steps that address Trust.
If you want to build trust with your prospects, clients or your friends, there are three things that you can do.
- Keep Your Questions Open. It’s a conversation you are having with your client; not an interrogation. Open questions get people talking, and the more your clients talks, the more they like you. Starting your questions with words like, “who, what, tell, describe”.
- Stay Away From Problems. Meeting someone for the first time, and immediately asking about problems does not build trust. You have to earn the right to get to the deeper issues. I want to hear all about my friend or my client, and the problems can wait… for now.
- Base Your Pace On Personality. We are building a conversation here. Some people are social, and that means your initial, open questions might include questions about family. Some people are more analytical or dominant, and that means your initial, open questions would need to be targeted towards the reason why you are there.
To consistently achieve high sales never, ever assume that building trust is created in some magical way because you are smart, speak the same language or are genuinely a trust worthy person.
It should be a conscious goal!
