Trust (part 1)

Today and Tomorrow, I'm featuring a two-parter from Jill Konrath's Selling to Big Companies Blog:

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.

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