Your Trusted Selling Brand

Target Audience and Why Your Trusted Selling Brand

Your Trusted Selling Brand is new, so I thought I'd use my first post to explain who I hope will benefit from reading this blog.

Your Trusted Selling Brand Blog is targeted to a relatively narrow niche:

1) Salespeople, service professionals, consultants and business owners who sell services or more complex products.

and

2) Individuals who want to be successful by selling with professionalism, honesty and integrity.

Item #2 is the main factor that makes this blog more of a niche.

Your Trusted Selling Brand blog will most likely not appeal to you if you are a "traditional" seller who believes things like:

1) Buyers lie, so it's okay for me to lie when selling.

2) "Manipulating" is not a negative word and it's fine to manipulate prospects.

3) I'll do whatever it takes to win the business.

4) Selling is about overcoming objections and closing.

5) Selling is purely a numbers game.

If the above examples fit your selling "style," you will not find this blog appealing.

For those of you who use a  "non-traditional" or "consultative" or "non-manipulative" or "relationship-based" or just believe in a straightforward selling style, I'd like to help you find even more success in selling.

One of my favorite quotes from Neil Rackham who studied over 35,000 sales calls:

"Many years ago, at the start of our research, I would have told you that sales success lay in the broader areas. I would have chosen global factors like personality, attitudes, interpersonal chemistry, or overall account strategy to explain why one person sold better than another. I don't believe this anymore. Increasingly our research has shown that success [in selling] is constructed from those important little building blocks called behaviors. More than anything else, it's the hundreds of minute behavioral details in a call that will decide whether it succeeds."

My main focus with this blog will be sharing ideas from myself and others on the small things you should do or not do, during the sales process to increase the level of trust with your prospects.

Why is thig Blog Called "Your Trusted Selling Brand?"

To help explain the focus of this blog, I've cut and pasted the following blurb from the intro to a new whitepaper I've just completed. Essentially, it explains my personal philosphy that in most selling situations, the seller who is able to build the greatest level of trust with the prospect will win the sale.

From "The Importance of Your Trusted Selling Brand:"

In today's competitive and cynical environment, it has become extremely difficult for companies and professionals to create clear separation points for their company, product or service brands. It takes a lot of marketing effort to build a brand that is perceived as different enough to make it onto the prospect’s short list of potential providers.

Once your product or service is on the prospect’s short list, though, the brand that has the greatest impact in differentiating your solution is not the brand of your company, product or service. Instead, it is the personal brand of the individual selling your product or service that will significantly impact, if not replace, any previous brand impression the prospect may have established with your company.

In other words, any separation point created by the brand of your product, service or company is only significant while the prospect is selecting options. Once an opportunity reaches the selection phase, it is the personal brand of the individual seller that most often determines who wins. And the winning seller has a very specific type of personal brand – the most trusted.

To win more customers, individual sellers and professionals must build the most trusted selling brand with prospects to create a separation point from the competition. Companies that rely solely on their product, service or company brand to create the separation point will usually lose the business.

 

Building Trust Only When It's Convenient?

David Maister has an interesting blog discussion going on the topic of, “How Polite Are You?” It’s not mentioned in David’s blog, but how others perceive your politeness is part of your personal brand. The discussion on his post reminded me of a recent, similar situation.

Late last year, I attended an American Marketing Association meeting in St. Louis. I went specifically to hear the speaker talk about a subject that is very interesting to me – creating a trusted brand. The speaker was the founder and president of the company.

His company has some nice quotes on its website:

“Every brand is a promise. How will yours be kept?"

"Quite simply, business is built on trust."

"Every brand is a promise and every touch point represents an opportunity to make or break that promise – building or destroying trust in the process.”

Quite frankly, the speech was very interesting – at least to me. In fact, I sat next to the founder/president and we talked at length before his presentation.

Because I’ve studied trust development and the sales and marketing processes for a number of years, I asked the founder of this company if he’d be interested in taking a look at a report I’d written and give me his thoughts. I thought there may be some business synergies that would make sense. He said he’d be interested in taking a look and we decided on the best delivery mechanism.

I emailed him a link to the report. No response. I waited a few weeks and sent a follow-up message. Still, no response. I then “snail mailed” a hardcopy of the report and followed up again a week later. Again, no response. One last follow up a few weeks later. Again, no response.

Okay, so I got it. For whatever reason, this gentleman had no interest in talking – or even responding to me. That’s fine, it happens all the time in business.

But take another look at the quotes on his company website. He even mentioned a few of them in his presentation. “Every touch point represents an opportunity to make or break that promise – building or destroying trust in the process.”

I’m not sure there is a stronger touch point than one with the founder and president of a company. Reading his website and then hearing his speech, I had a very favorable impression of his company and personal brand.

Now? Uh, not so much. Hey, if you tell someone you’d be interested in taking a look at their report and ask them to take the time to send it to you, the least you could do, in my opinion, is reply. Am I wrong there? Even if it’s to say, “I’m sorry, I don’t have the time right now.” Or even, “I read the report, don’t see any synergies.”

I don’t know. Perhaps we’re all so busy in business today that we must pick and choose with whom we want to establish a favorable, personal brand and “weed out” the folks that we don’t. Has it come to that?  Are we at the point in business where we think to ourselves, “Hmm, I see the potential to make money with you, so I want to establish a trusted brand. This person, on the other hand, it doesn’t look like you can help me in the immediate future, so I don’t have the time to care what you think of my personal brand."

If someone has that mentality, should anyone trust them? Should we trust someone who only wants to build trust and have a favorable, personal brand when it's conducive to improving their own business situation?

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Rob Reed is president of Terrakon, a sales and marketing consulting firm based in St. Louis. Terrakon specializes in helping clients incorporate trust building sales and marketing strategies and processes to attract and win more customers.

Selling Power Live Interview by Jeffrey Gitomer

I was recently interviewed on the topic of trust development in selling by best-selling author, Jeffrey Gitomer, for the award-winning Selling Power Live audio magazine. It's my understanding from Jeffrey's producer, Lisa, that the interview will be published in the upcoming October issue.

While you have to be a Selling Power Live subscriber to listen to the full cd, Lisa was nice enough to send an audio of my interview with Jeffrey. I'll have it posted on the main page of the Terrakon website as soon as I receive the audio cd. Should be in the next couple of weeks.

Introducing New Selling Perspective

I just completed a report on HAVE™ Trust Selling, a new sales process improvement methodology. I'd be interested in your thoughts and feedback.

HAVE™ is an acronym for the four key factors that determine how much trust you develop with prospects. I identified these four key factors by researching over 20,000 pages of material on the sales process and trust development. HAVE™ helps you identify the small actions and steps that align with these four key factors to either build or diminish trust levels with prospects. 

HAVE™ Trust Selling is best suited for professionals who:

• sell services or more complex products where some level of perceived risk exists for the prospect
• firmly believe in selling without lying, deception or manipulation

Click here to begin the download process for the report on this new sales process improvement methodology.

Again, I'd really appreciate your thoughts and feedback as I continue to shape and hone this new selling perspective.

Best Regards,

Rob Reed

Why Focus on Small Things to get Big Selling Results

I often mention how it is the small things you consistently do or don't do during the selling process to build or diminish trust that makes the difference in your selling results. It is not "traditional" factors like skills-based sales training, personality, overall account strategy, closing techniques, overcoming objections, etc.

Since my advice on successful selling often goes against the "mainstream" established twenty or thirty years ago, I thought I'd post something to hopefully convince some of you that the seemingly "small things" can truly lead to big results.

Although these examples do not deal specifically with trust, they provide a great example of how seemingly small things can impact the way others perceive and behave toward us. And the perceptions of our prospects are really what we're dealing with when selling - right?

Example 1:

A large group of students was recruited for what they were told was a market research study by a company making high-tech headphones. They were each given a headset and told how well they worked with the listener was in motion – dancing up and down, say, or moving his or her head.

All of the students listened to the same songs and then heard a radio editorial arguing that tuition at their university should be raised from its present level of $587 to $750.

A third were told that while they listened to the taped radio editorial they should nod their head vigorously up and down (as you would to say “yes”).

The next third were told to shake their heads from side to side (as you would to say “no”).

The final third were the control group. They were told to keep their heads still.

When they were finished, all the students were given a short questionnaire, asking them questions about the quality of songs and the effect of the shaking. Slipped in at the end was the question the experimenters really wanted an answer to: “What do you feel would be an appropriate dollar amount for undergraduate tuition per year?”

The students who kept their heads still were unmoved by the editorial. The tuition amount that they guessed was appropriate was $582 – or just about where tuition was already.

Those who shook their heads from side to side (as you would to say “no”) as they listened to the editorial – even though they thought they were simply testing headset quality – disagreed strongly with the proposed increase. They wanted tuition to fall on average to $467 a year.

Those who were told to not their heads up and down (as you would to say “yes”), meanwhile, found the editorial very persuasive. They wanted tuition to rise, on average, to $646. The simple act of moving their heads up and down, ostensibly for another reason entirely – was sufficient to cause them to recommend a policy that would take money out of their own pockets.

Example 2:

A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason. People simply like to have reasons for what they do. Ellen Langer, a social psychologist, demonstrated this unsurprising fact by asking a small favor of people waiting in line to use a library copying machine.

“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I’m in a rush?”  - 94% let her skip in line.

“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?” – only 60% let her skip in line.

“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies?” – 93% let her skip in line.

At first glance, it appears the crucial difference between the two requests was the additional information provided by the words because I’m in a rush. However, a third type of request showed that this was not the case. It seems that it was not the whole series of words, but the first one, because, that made the difference. Instead of including a real reason for compliance, Langer’s third type of request used the word because and then, adding nothing new, merely restated the obvious.

Example 3:

In a 1940 study by Gregory Razran, subjects were asked to rate political slogans. Later, they were presented with the same set of political slogans and asked to rate them.

The psychologists found that only some slogan’s approval ratings improved – those that were shown while food was being eaten.

Razran also conducted a variation where foul smelling odors were piped into the room when the slogans were shown – and the approval ratings dropped.

By the way, these changes in liking seemed to happen without conscious knowledge of the participants because they could not even remember which slogans they saw while eating (or presumably when the foul odor was piped in).

These studies show how small things can make a big difference. So when your selling, remember it's the seemingly small details and behaviors used before, during and after prospect sales interactions that either build or destroy trust levels. And the level of trust prospects have in you, when you're selling, is often the determining factor for winning the business.

You can get a "flavor" for some of these small things that build or diminish trust with prospects when selling by clicking here.

HAVE Trust when Selling,

Rob Reed
www.Terrakon.com

Are You Wasting Money on Sales Training?

Is it possible that a significant amount of the $8 billion spent on sales training in the U.S. every year is wasted? Here are results from several studies you may find interesting:

• A study at Columbia University found that up to 95% of what is taught in training programs is wasted through a failure to transfer learning to the workplace.
• A Xerox study several years ago showed that 87% of the knowledge learned in sales training is lost within 12 weeks.
• In a recent Sales Performance International study, most sales professionals forget at least 50% of what they learned in training programs in less than five weeks. For over 44% of 6,000 sales professionals surveyed, they forget in less than one month. Further, salespeople only remember 16% of content from sales training workshops after only 90 days.

What's your personal experience? Do you find training improves your sales skills and behaviors or not? There's great discussion about this topic in an article entitled, Why (Most) Training is Useless, on David Maister's website and blog. If you're a professional, I highly recommend Mr. Maister's blog.

My own sales experience leads me to agree with these studies. When I began selling capital medical equipment for what was then the top-ranked healthcare sales force in the U.S., I had absolutely 0 hours of formal skills-based sales training. The only sales training I received upon joining the company was three intense weeks of industry, company and product knowledge. Yet, without any skills-based sales training, I was ranked in the top ten my first full year and number one in the country by my third full year of sales.

In my opinion, the fact that I had not received any sales training was actually a good thing. Why? I've learned that a significant portion of the sales training, methods and advice still offered today is not very congruent with the current buy/sell environment and can actually diminish your ability to sell successfully. The fact I never "learned" this poor sales advice enabled me to sell more effectively.

I think you should be very careful about spending money on skills-based or motivational training for three reasons.

First, these studies show that most sales training does not achieve the desired impact for most sales organizations - improved selling behaviors.

Second, many salespeople and sales organizations don't know the correct sales behaviors to teach or reinforce simply because there's a lot of bad sales advice out there from years past that doesn't align well with today's selling environment.

A great example of bad selling advice is discussed in my earlier post on using closing techniques. Many sales experts and managers suggest that salespeople can increase sales by increasing their use of closing techniques. This post discusses how one study found training that did indeed increase the use of closing behaviors. Unfortunately, the increase in closing behaviors actually resulted in a decrease in sales.

Third, the belief that skills-based sales training works can lead to poor hiring decisions. Many companies look to hire salespeople or professionals with previous industry or product knowledge as a top consideration. I think this is a mistake because industry and product knowledge can be easily and quickly learned. Talents and behaviors, on the other hand, are very difficult, if not impossible, to acquire.

Before investing in skills-based or motivational sales training, I believe your money is much better spent investing in one or more of the following to improve sales results:

1. Identify the individual talents and behaviors that lead to successful selling results in your specific selling environment.
2. Hire people who already possess the talents and behaviors your customers will buy from.
3. Improve your selling process by implementing positive trust elements that will lead to greater levels of trust with prospects.
4. Offer training focused on increasing industry, company, competitor and product knowledge. In today's environment, where buyers are much more educated than in the past, this type of training is critical in establishing your ability in the minds of prospects. Perceived seller ability is one of the four key factors in building trust with prospects.
5. Provide individualized training focused on enhancing strengths - not shoring up weaknesses.

 

Sales Questions to Ask Prospects

Sales Questions to Ask Prospects as a Trusted Seller

One of the most critical things you can do during a sales call to build greater levels of prospect trust is to ask good questions.

Prior to every discussion with a potential customer, you should always have a list of 12 to 15 questions you plan to ask during a sales meeting.

To give you a few ideas, I've listed some potential sales questions to ask prospects on my website.

These questions are not listed or categorized in any particular order. Read through them and pick the ones you can adapt to your specific selling environment and situation.

If you'd like more sales questions, I've created the Sales Questions for Trusted Sellers handbook which includes over 135 sales questions you should ask prospects, as well as a sample of more than 25 sales questions you should not ask prospects - if you want to be perceived as a trusted seller.

How to Use Product or Service Shortcomings to Build Trust with Prospects

Have you ever experienced the perfect product or service? If so, I'd sure like to hear about it. I think most people would agree, including marketers, that no product or service is perfect. Since it is the perception of your prospects that no product or service is perfect, don't be afraid to admit to one or two product or service shortcomings in your sales efforts. Don't be afraid to be honest.

I talked a little bit about this in a previous post about presenting a one or two-sided argument when marketing a product or service. While recently reading, Selling the Invisible, I ran across this study which reinforces why you should not avoid discussing a shortcoming.

In the mid-1980s, some researchers at Cleveland State University made a startling discovery.

The researchers created for two fictitious job candidates - Dave and John - two identical resumes, and two almost (my emphasis) identical letters of reference. The only difference was that John's letter included the sentence "Sometimes, John can be difficult to get along with."

The researchers showed the resumes to personnel directors. Which candidate did the directors most want to interview?

Sometimes-Difficult-to-Get-Along-With John.

The researchers concluded that the criticism of John made the reference's praise of John seem more believable, and that made John look like a stronger candidate. Showing John's warts actually helped sell John.

There are many powerful ways to use the results of this study in your sales efforts. A few quick examples:

1) Write better testimonials - Which one of these testimonials do you find more believable?

    a. Their service is the best I've ever tried! Buy it!
    b. I was a little bit hesitant to use their service because it seemed a little more complicated to use than the other services. While it probably took me a little longer to learn all the bells and whistles, I couldn't be happier with my choice and the extra bells and whistles have saved me tons of time.

Most people probably skip through the first testimonial unfazed - it's what people expect and are used to reading. Testimonial b, however, mentions a small shortcoming - "a little more complicated than the other services." But notice we mentioned the shortcoming and in the last sentence turned it into a positive "extra bells and whistles have saved me tons of time." Much more believable and I added a twist by turning the admitted shortcoming into a positive.

2) Use in your sales copy. Let's say you have an informational product targeted to beginners only. Include a notation in your sales copy:

Please note: This guide is targeted specifically for individuals without prior experience with this technology. If you already have experience, I'm afraid you'll find many parts of this guide redundant and not the best use of your money.

In this scenario, it would obviously be nice to have an alternate guide for advanced users where you could refer them. Even without an alternate guide, though, this note solidifies your credibility with your target market (beginners) which will generate more sales in the end.

3) When I sold capital medical equipment to hospitals, I was very fortunate to have a broad range of products - some inexpensive (less than $1,000 each) and some very expensive (over $40,000 each). I unknowingly used this strategy with much success.

If a customer was evaluating several products from my line, I would sometimes suggest they stick with a competitor for one of the less expensive products. "You know what, our product is just as good as their product, but I'm not sure there's enough difference for you to go through the trouble of training your nurses on how to use a different product. I suggest you stick with your current vendor on this product. On the other hand, I really think we have something better to offer here (usually the more expensive product) and I think it is definitely worth your consideration."

Is this manipulative? I'm sure everyone has their own judgment there. If I'm honest about this comment (and I was), I'd call it effective persuasion rather than manipulation. Would I consider doing this in the opposite direction? That is, suggest the customer stick with the competitor for the more expensive product? Most likely, I would use a different shortcoming or weakness strategy - as long as it was truthful. For example, I might offer that we had issues in the past with delivery times or quality because of switching to a new supplier, but that the problems seemed to have been fixed in the recent months.

Since no product or service is perfect, it shouldn't be difficult to identify the "right" shortcoming(s) to share with the right customers.

I do not advocate or condone lying to your customers. Don't make up weaknesses just so you can appear to be trustworthy. After all, perceived honesty is one of the four critical components of building trust.

To sell your products or services more successfully, don't be afraid to identify potential shortcomings and proactively share that information with your customers in your sales efforts.

How to Increase the Likelihood Prospects Remember Your Sales Message

I recently finished reading Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith. Really good book and I highly recommend to anyone who sells services.

Below is one of many excerpts I thought really hit home for those of us who attempt to sell services.

Consider this:

[Your wife] sends you to the store for milk. You bring home milk.

Next time, she says, "Get raisins, Drano, Gummy Bears, milk and some hundred-watt light bulbs."

You forget the milk; but it's the milk you family needed most. All you have for breakfast tomorrow is  [dry] cereal.

You run this risk when you hand prospects a grocery list of different messages about you. They remember the raisins, which aren't important, and forget the milk. Your prospects forget your real point of distinction and remember a supporting message that hardly matters.

Now, consider some even grimmer evidence against communicating too much. Horace Schwerin and Henry Newell, in their helpful book Persuasion described their test of two commercials for the same car. Commercial one was single-minded. It talked only about performance. Commercial two went further. It pointed out that in addition to exceptional performance, the car offered outstanding styling, a choice of several models, and excellent economy. (This type of commercial is known in the agency business as The Commercial the Client Will Love.)

After showing subjects the two commercials, the testers asked viewers if either commercial might make them switch to that brand new car. Six percent answered yes, the performance spot would make them consider switching.

But what about the second commercial, with all that valuable added information - how many were affected by it?

Not one. Zero percent.

Saying many things usually communicates nothing.

Do you have a focused sales message adapted for each prospect? Or, do you use the "shotgun" method and spray multiple messages hoping one or more will hit?

Consider focusing your sales message for better sales results.

Why Presenting Your Product or Service Using a Two-Sided Message Builds Trust

When presenting to an individual or group, is it better to present only "your side" of why a customer should purchase your product or service or is it better to also present some of the drawbacks or concerns some people may have about your offering - items your competition might present?

According to research, it depends on the specific sales opportunity. In most sales situations, though, it is more credible to present a two-sided message. These messages, in general, are more credible because they acknowledge your product or service does have shortcomings. If it was "perfect," then competition would most likely not exist.

In fact, research suggests that it is worthwhile to disclaim at least one minor feature because it will increase the buyer's confidence that the seller is "telling the truth." The belief that the seller is telling the truth, then, creates credibility in the mind of the buyer and strengthens the positive aspects of the product or service even more. Two-sided messages are perceived as opposing the sales goal, therefore resulting in the belief that the sponsor is honest.

It may also be a good idea to refute the weakness or counterargument once it has been presented. For example, "I can tell you that there is a high likelihood that our product will cost more than others you may consider. The reason is we use the highest quality parts available to reduce the number of breakdowns and ensure a longer useful life for the product."

In general, two-sided messages are more effective when the audience is critical, skeptical or unfriendly (e.g. already use a competitor's products or services); is well educated; or is likely to hear opposing arguments from your competition. In addition, by offering some of your shortcomings, you also lower the customers' expectations for the product or service and lessen the likelihood of dissatisfaction.

One-sided messages are more effective when your audience is friendly (e.g. already use and like your product or service); already favor and/or agree with your message; or they are unlikely to hear counterarguments from others or your competition. If you face competition, then one-sided messages will usually lose credibility with your audience in the long-term.

The bottom line is that you should be honest about the shortcomings of your product or service. Don't be afraid to tell buyers the truth. Buyers will perceive you as more trustworthy, which is often significantly more important than the positive or negative aspects of your solution.

How Small Differentiators Can Get the Sale

When the phone or door bell rings around dinner time, often the individual on the other side of the phone or door is usually trying to sell something. I don't know about you, but unless I immediately recognize the voice or the individual (e.g. neighborhood kids on the latest fundraiser) the first words out of my mouth are focused on ending the conversation before the salesperson has a chance to begin.

Recently, I had a unique experience with a door-to-door salesman selling extermination services. There was one, very small thing he did to interrupt my "defense mechanism" when I opened the door. Rather than the usual introduction such as, "Are you the man of the house?" "Are you Mr. Reed?" "Hi, my name is John with xyz company", this individual opened with, "Hi, I'm the bug guy."

Now, I'm sure a lot of exterminators refer to themselves as "buy guys," but starting the conversation in this manner interrupted my automated "get rid of this guy fast" routine and allowed him a few critical seconds where I was actually listening to his words. Aside from his introduction, there were two small, but critical things he did to turn me into a customer.

First, he showed a pictured brochure with fourteen specific steps in their extermination process. I didn't know it took fourteen steps to kill a bug, but the presentation was effective in creating credibility and competence in my mind for this salesperson - two of the three critical factors in building trust. At the same time, while I had dealt with many bug companies in the past, no other company had thought to describe their process.

The other critical "thing" in his sales process was one of the fourteen steps. In addition to spraying for various bugs, they also went around the entire inside and outside of your home with a broom to remove cobwebs. Again, a very small thing that only takes a few extra minutes, but something no other exterminator has offered in the past.

Regardless of the product or service you offer, a few keys to remember:

• Each customer interaction consists of dozens of small actions or opportunities for action that differentiate one product/service provider from another.
• It is the small things you do or don't do during a customer interaction, and how these actions are perceived, that will significantly impact whether you win or lose the sale.
• Always focus on the small actions or steps you can take during the interaction that will increase customers' perception of your credibility, candor and competence to build greater levels of trust.

How Building More Trust Differentiates You From the Rest

The mistake most salespeople, professionals and business owners make is the following:

"Of course trust is important, that's a given. Trust is not an issue, though, for me or my company."

A Golin/Harris survey asked Americans, "What are the most critical actions that companies you don't trust should do to earn your trust this year"?

1. Be open and honest in business practices (94%)
2. Communicate more clearly, effectively and straightforwardly (93%)
3. Provide the best value in products and services (88%)

In a Spectrem survey, 41 percent of ultra-high net worth investors said trustworthiness - not investment performance (19 percent) was the most important factor in deciding whether to stay with an advisor or not.

A recent Golin/Harris Trust survey discovered that at least 14 business sectors have severe trust problems. Some of these sectors include:

1. Telecommunications (-42)
2. Insurance (-59)
3. Advertising/Marketing (-41)
4. Brokerage/Wall Street (-58)
5. Accounting (-48)
6. Pharmaceuticals (-30)
7. Management Consulting (-25)

A poll conducted by Gallup shows trust is also a significant issue for various business professions. The opinion poll asked the public to rate the honesty and ethics of 21 professions.

Fewer than one in four rated the following professions as “high or very high" in terms of honesty and ethics:

Professions (High or Very High Honesty and Ethics) Rating:

Computer salesmen     20%
Real estate agents       19%
Lawyers                      18%
Business executives     17%
Insurance salesmen     13%
Stockbrokers               12%
Used car salesmen       6%

These surveys show there is a fundamental problem with trust today. Of course, every professional who reads this chart will say he or she is the “one” out of the “one in four.”

If you asked one hundred professionals, all one hundred would say they are trustworthy. Unfortunately for all of us, trust is a reality based solely on the perceptions of potential buyers. And the reality is that prospects don’t trust us as much as we think they do.

In fact, when we are selling, we significantly overestimate the level of trust we have earned with prospects. According to one study between buyers and sellers, sellers overestimate the trust potential buyers have in them by 30%!

The good news, though, is most business professionals are in the same boat in that their trust levels are relatively low in the minds of prospects. The better news is for those professionals who use this information to take proactive steps that will result in them truly being recognized as the “one” in the “one in four” trusted professionals.

I've listed a few dozen trust building selling tips on my website that I'll post and comment on here in the future.

Trust is the Number One Buyer Decision Factor

Proof Trust is Critical to Your Selling Success

According to research by Jacques Werth, trust in the selling professional is the number one decision factor in many purchases.

 

Be sure to note the bottom factor - rapport. There are countless sales gurus out there who purport that "building rapport" is key to selling success. Buyers say it is not.

Also note that the rating for the "reputation of the company or product" - the brand -  is signficantly lower than trust in the seller. This goes back to my critical point that the brand of your company, product or service will help you get on the list of buyer options. The level of trust in the seller's personal brand, though, very often determines who wins from the prospect's list.

More Proof Closing Techniques Do More Harm Than Good When Selling

I came across an older article on Jill Konrath's blog, Selling to Big Companies. In her post, Why I hate Closing Techniques, Ms. Konrath talks about her experience with a vice president of sales who felt his reps needed to get better at closing. Her article inspired me to post an article about a study conducted on sales closing techniques and their impact on trust I had written more than a year ago for my website. As usual, this thought process triggered a new post on closing:

A quote from Neil Rackham, who studied over 35,000 sales calls and authored several top-selling sales books:

I look back on my enthusiasm for closing with real embarrassment. From what I now know about success in the larger sale, I see closing techniques as both ineffective and dangerous. I've evidence that they lose much more business than they gain. What made me turn against methods that seemed so important to my own success? The rest of this chapter describes the series of studies that finally convinced me that traditional closing techniques have no place in larger sales.

Source: Neil Rackham, SPIN Selling, page 23

Non-Manipulative Selling Book Review Summary

Introduction

Non-Manipulative Selling is a great overall book that includes some theory and a lot of tactical selling advice. It offers an overall emphasis on understanding behavioral styles.

The goal of the book is help the reader learn to sell with flexibility by adjusting to each prospect’s style. The six-step selling process described by the authors is particularly useful.

With its details on behavior styles, Non-Manipulative Selling will be beneficial for those involved in complex and transactional sales.

Building Trust Elements for Better Sales

Building trust plays a critical role in the buy/sell environment, it can be helpful to know what comes before trust in the relationship between buyer and seller.

A recent research study identified four possible pre-trust elements:

• Ethics - Conducting business with honesty and using good business practices, such as high quality products or services, high-value prices, and a high standard of customer service. Ethics may consist of organizational policies or individual moral values.
• Bonding - Conducting an individualized and value-added relationship over a long period of time. May include feelings of friendship.
• Empathy - The ability to see a situation from another person's perspective.
• Reciprocity - Providing favors or making allowances in return for similar favors or allowances.

In the model constructed by the authors of the study, each of these things plays a role in developing trust. If you wonder why your interaction with one of your buyers hasn't developed into a trusting relationship, perhaps one of these elements has been missing.

Don't Assume You Are Trusted When Selling

The mistake most salespeople, professionals and business owners make is the following:

"Of course trust is important, that's a given. Trust is not an issue, though, for me or my company."

A Golin/Harris survey asked Americans, "What are the most critical actions that companies you don't trust should do to earn your trust this year"?

1. Be open and honest in business practices (94%)
2. Communicate more clearly, effectively and straightforwardly (93%)
3. Provide the best value in products and services (88%)

In a Spectrem survey, 41 percent of ultra-high net worth investors said trustworthiness - not investment performance (19 percent) was the most important factor in deciding whether to stay with an advisor or not.

A recent Golin/Harris Trust survey discovered that at least 14 business sectors have severe trust problems. Some of these sectors include:

1. Telecommunications (-42)
2. Insurance (-59)
3. Advertising/Marketing (-41)
4. Brokerage/Wall Street (-58)
5. Accounting (-48)
6. Pharmaceuticals (-30)
7. Management Consulting (-25)

A poll conducted by Gallup shows trust is also a significant issue for various business professions. The opinion poll asked the public to rate the honesty and ethics of 21 professions.

Fewer than one in four rated the following professions as “high or very high" in terms of honesty and ethics:

Professions (High or Very High Honesty and Ethics) Rating:

Computer salesmen     20%
Real estate agents       19%
Lawyers                      18%
Business executives     17%
Insurance salesmen     13%
Stockbrokers               12%
Used car salesmen       6%

These surveys show there is a fundamental problem with trust today. Of course, every professional who reads this chart will say he or she is the “one” out of the “one in four.”

If you asked one hundred professionals, all one hundred would say they are trustworthy. Unfortunately for all of us, trust is a reality based solely on the perceptions of potential buyers. And the reality is that prospects don’t trust us as much as we think they do.

In fact, when we are selling, we significantly overestimate the level of trust we have earned with prospects. According to one study between buyers and sellers, sellers overestimate the trust potential buyers have in them by 30%!

The good news, though, is most business professionals are in the same boat in that their trust levels are relatively low in the minds of prospects. The better news is for those professionals who use this information to take proactive steps that will result in them truly being recognized as the “one” in the “one in four” trusted professionals.

Proof Building Trust is Critical to Your Selling Success

Proof Trust is Critical to Your Selling Success

According to research by Jacques Werth, trust in the selling professional is the number one decision factor in many purchases.

 

Be sure to note the bottom factor - rapport. There are countless sales gurus out there who purport that "building rapport" is key to selling success. Buyers say it is not.

Also note that the rating for the "reputation of the company or product" or the "brand" is signficantly lower than trust in the seller. This goes back to my critical point that the brand of your company, product or service will help you get on the list of buyer options. The level of trust in the seller's personal brand, though, very often determines who wins from the prospect's list.

 

Why Closing Techniques are a Bad Idea

Is trust development with prospects important to you when selling? Do you use closing techniques when selling?

If your answer to the first question is "yes," then the answer to the second question should be "no," because attempting to "close" prospects affects how much they trust you.

Sellers often use closing techniques to persuade a prospect to act. To determine whether five closing techniques affected trust between a prospect and a seller, a study surveyed 238 industrial purchasing executives. The study also included a no-close option in which no closing technique was used.

Persuading the Prospect

During sales encounters, sellers attempt to persuade prospects to act. Sellers can persuade prospects in two ways. Each has drawbacks.

Type of Persuasion	Description	Drawbacks
Direct	Seller explains the features and benefits of the product so that the prospect understands them. The prospect makes an informed decision on how the product will work in the prospect’s environment.	There is often too much information for the prospect to absorb. Analyzing complex information is hard.
Indirect	Seller uses cues and methods other than objective features and benefits. Closing techniques are a form of indirect persuasion.	Experienced buyers often perceive these techniques as manipulative.

Closing Techniques and Persuasion

Closing techniques are a form of indirect persuasion. All closes are based on persuasion techniques that give the closes their power. Here’s a look at the five closes covered in the study and how they persuade prospects to act.

The assumed close and the either-or close use the consistency principle of persuasion. The consistency principle states that people have a strong need to be consistent in their attitudes. A seller uses this technique when he or she seeks to have the prospect agree to a position that will support the sale.

Closing Technique	Salesperson’s Typical Closing Action	Persuasion Principle
Assumed close	Act in a way that assumes the sale has been made, such as writing the order	Consistency
Either-or close	Ask a minor question regarding a detail of the  transaction — “Would you prefer X or Y?”	Consistency

 

The social validation close uses social validation principle of persuasion. The social validation principle states that people model their own behavior after the behavior of others they respect. Doing this establishes a basis for action. As a result, the social validation close can be effective when a prospect lacks the knowledge necessary to fully evaluate the product.

Closing Technique	Salesperson’s Typical Closing Action	Persuasion Principle
Social validation	Mentioning a firm similar to the prospect’s that has purchased the product or service, then suggesting that the prospect place the order and receive the same benefits	Social validation

 

The If-then close uses the reciprocity principle of persuasion. The reciprocity principle states that people feel pressure to repay favors. It is interesting that there appears to be no relationship between the size of the original favor and the value of the repayment.

Closing Technique	Salesperson’s Typical Closing Action	Persuasion Principle
If-then	Offering a concession, favor, or service on the condition that the prospect places the order — “If I can get you X, will you give me the order?”	Reciprocity

 

The impending event close uses the scarcity principle of persuasion. The scarcity principle uses the fact that products seem more valuable when there is real or implied scarcity. The principle works whether the scarcity is of supply or time, so “Just a few left!” and “Limited time only!” both apply the scarcity principle..

Closing Technique	Salesperson’s Typical Closing Action	Persuasion Principle
Impending event	Asks the prospect to buy now, before X occurs that will eliminate the opportunity	Scarcity

 

Closing Techniques and Trust

Closing techniques are effective because they introduce “a cue, signal, psychological tendency, or social norm” that may increase the desire to buy. But the study’s authors conclude that closing techniques reduce the prospect’s trust in the seller because prospects see closes as manipulative.

The authors found that not using a close (the no-close technique) resulted in the highest level of prospect trust.

The either-or close and the assumed close, both based on the consistency principle of persuasion, damaged trust between seller and prospect the most. The authors found that the other three closes also reduced trust levels.

The authors concluded that sellers should consider carefully before using closing techniques. Because trust is a prerequisite for effective long-term relationships, they say that sellers must balance potential gain from the current sale against potential loss of trust and a future relationship with the client.

For sellers who wish to sell with honesty and integrity to earn trust, the results of this study suggest that sellers should avoid traditional closing methods. Instead, the seller should seek to establish a trustworthy relationship with the prospect, so that appropriate sales will flow from the relationship and traditional closes will not be required.

My verdict from this study: If you're a professional, don’t close — use the no-close.

“Do Closing Techniques Diminish Prospect Trust?” Jon M. Hawes, James T. Strong, Bernard S. Winick, Industrial Marketing Management, 349-360, 1996.