Business Moves at the Speed of Trust and Credibility

If we were to consider the ingredients for long-term success in a business relationship, Is there anything more important that Trust and Credibility?

I think not, although I am open to suggestions.

So what does it take to build Trust and Credibility with your clients? This I would suggest is easy. There are four main ingredients:-

Intent - If your intention is to help your customers, they can sense this. If you intention is self-serving, they can sense that too. The first is very appealing and the second, not so much. If you get your intentions in the right place, then everything else in the relationship will fall into place. (I learned this from my friend - James Muir)

Competence - This is a major part of earning credibility with your clients. It's essential for salespeople to have great domain expertise. Top performing salespeople have a great understanding of their products, the market in which they operate, their competition and how their company stacks up against them. This is sometimes referred to as subject-matter-expertise or industry knowledge. Competence is critical to building credibility.

Respect - Professional courtesy is an incredibly important element when it comes to showing respect for your client. Showing up to meetings on time, dressing appropriately, being well-groomed, shaking hands professionally, exchanging business cards at the appropriate time, looking the person in the eye, preparing well for the meeting. All of these things demonstrate to the customer that you respect their time and them.

Rapport - A salespersons ability to find common ground with their clients is still an essential element of building trust and credibility. (But it can't be all you are today). Many salespeople of yester-year have made sales careers from this single element, but today Rapport alone will not suffice.

"Business Moves at the Speed of Trust and Credibility"

Stephen Covey wrote the book, The Speed of Trust - The One Thing That Changes Everything. While I loved this book, I believe that Trust and Credibility are the Two things that change everything in business. (You can trust that someone has your best interests at heart, but may not believe that they can help, because they lack credibility).

One of the simplest and most effective ways of building trust and credibility is done through effective call planning. So how can this be achieved? Through the use of a calendar invitation with clear value-based objectives for the meeting (for both the client and the seller) and with a proposed agenda for the meeting.  Choosing the right valued-based objective is done by researching the company and using the salespersons knowledge of the industry, identifying the right-person in an organization (that is similar to another organization, that the salesperson has already helped) and by taking the time to identify the solutions that you have that may solve these problems for the customer. (Jeff Koser would call this 'Selling to Zebras' - People who look like your best customer)

This approach is a 'Superpower of Selling.' Why? Consider what is achieved when an agenda is used in this way.

Firstly everyone who needs to be at the meeting will be there. Why? Because the calendar invite has a clearly stated value-based objective included, which means that when the client reads the invitation and understands what the desired outcome for the meeting is, they will instantly know who from within their organization needs to be present for the objective to be achieved. (This may result in the meeting being postponed or rescheduled to include those people, but that is a far more effective use of the salespersons time than attending a meeting, where the desired outcome cannot be achieved because the people required to accomplish it aren’t present).

The chances of the meeting being cancelled or forgotten are significantly reduced. Why? Because the meeting is on the client's calendar, and if the meeting organizer (the salesperson) sends a confirmation email out, 24 hours in advance of the meeting or sets an automatic reminder on the meeting invite, this will further reduce the chances of the meeting being cancelled or forgotten.

Next, the salesperson's 'chances of success', increase significantly through the use of this approach. Why? Because trust and credibility are so important to the long-term success of a business relationship and what better way is there for a salesperson to demonstrate their credibility to a potential client, than by showing them the level of professionalism at which they operate? Which, in turn, will help the salesperson to build trust with the client, and their opinion of the salesperson will be much higher.

Using this approach will also 'increase deal velocity'. In other words, the salesperson will close deals faster. Why? Everyone who is attending the meeting knows what the objectives are, and can prepare for the meeting in advance. There is a reduced likelihood of the client showing up unprepared or without the necessary people or information, which in turn will result in fewer, shorter, more productive meetings, making the salesperson more effective and shortening the sales cycle.

There is a greater chance of getting the meeting in the first place. Anyone who has been in sales for more than ten years will tell you that it is much harder to get in front of clients today than it was ten years ago. Why? Because the modern buyer is 'time-poor', they have to do more work than ever, with fewer resources because their organizations demand more from their employees today. Which means clients will now only take meetings where there is a definite value to them or their organization. Through the inclusion of value-based objectives, the clients understand what’s in it for them (The WIIFM of the meeting for them), before deciding whether to take the meeting.

For all of these reasons and more, it is clear to most sales professionals that using a calendar invite with value-based objectives and a proposed agenda will develop greater trust and credibility with their clients and in turn improve their overall sales effectiveness.

If you have any other tips for developing trust and credibility with customers, please share them with us in the comments, Thank You.

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