How to Earn a Client’s Trust

Businesspeople would be well-served to study the concept of trust. In my role as a sales and negotiation trainer people say, “I am a trusted advisor to my clients,” and then when I ask them what their favorite chapter in the book, The Trusted Advisor (David H. Maister) was, they go, “Oh, there’s a book?” To me, that diminishes trust if you’re a poser.

A key component of Maister’s famous trust equation is the mitigation of self. For me, trust revolves around lowering my self-orientation. I reinforced this by coming up with an acronym called OTHERS.

The “O” is for Opportunity. Every business conversation is an opportunity to grow by listening to the perspective of others.

The “T” is “Try on their shoes.” We all know the old saying, “You are on my friend when you walk in my moccasins.” In business development, they experience the other’s challenges or frustrations from others' viewpoints, not theirs. A traditional “problem solver” will miss this one early and often.

The ”H” is Help them get to a place where they’re on, where they are talking in a transparent manner.” Simple statements like “Tell me more, or can you be more specific enable this?”

The “E” is Erase; erase all negative impressions or judgments you might encounter at first. Early in my career, I would judge the devil’s advocates in the room and even give up on the business because I didn’t like the contrarian perspective. By erasing that judgment and being grateful that they are in the room and validating their style, it has been a game-changer.

The “R” is Resist, with conviction, the urge to talk about you, yourself, or your products and services…until you have earned the right.

The ”S” is “Stay with them.” Keep them talking. In business development, I believe we need to earn the right to present. That means, gaining their fingerprints on the problems or challenges and capturing their words and their core values. People don’t argue with their own data and that means you must capture their data. Your presentation should reflect that data, their words, and core values, not the canned PowerPoint that your marketing department gave you and insists that you use.

Trust is sacred in a business relationship. How do you intentionally develop trust?