Trust, Suspicion, and Making the Sale

When considering the five reasons consumers don’t buy, the reason that carries the most weight is “no trust.”

Nowhere is this truer than in selling services and ideas. Without a tangible product to hold or look at, there are no proverbial tires to kick when selling a service or idea. It always comes down to trust. As our economy becomes more and more based on services and ideas, what will happen to sales if we don’t build trust?

Here is the most perplexing reality in selling services and ideas: the person who provides the service or idea – the expert or the professional – actually has less influence in making the sale than a non-expert or non-professional who happens to know the customer as a friend or acquaintance (or even the acquaintance of a friend!).

That’s because the non-expert has nothing to gain from the sale, so there is no suspicion on the part of the customer. There is no doubt that what the non-expert says is true, because, what motivation could he have other than to be helpful to his friend?

How frustrating to have spent years building your credentials, knowing your business, being an expert in your area, and yet having your recommendations ignored or shelved until at a cocktail party some third person says to your customer, “Hey, have you ever thought about…?”

The thing is, when the third person says it, that’s validation.

So how can you make validation happen, to overcome those trust and suspicion issues, so you can sell your service or ideas? How do you avoid the Monday morning quarterbacking done by those far less qualified to be making the recommendations than you are? Here are a few suggestions:

Put yourself on the line. Tell your customer to run your idea or the need for your service past a couple of his/her friends to see what they think. This shows you aren’t afraid of what others may say which helps to eliminate suspicion. It also gives you the opportunity for rebuttal if the friends throw out other objections.

Start keeping statistics. What is your service rating from your existing customers? How many of your ideas have proven to be great? What is your “success” factor? It’s really hard to argue with statistics that can be backed up.

Use true stories. Keep a small collection of stories filed in your head. Stories are friendly, non-sales ways to let a customer know about a similar situation or need from another customer that you fulfilled, how you worked together to make it happen, and what result you achieved. This is creating your own “third person” approach to reassuring the customer and eliminating suspicion. Of course, be sure all your stories are true ones. This is no place for fiction!

Listen. Are you so intent on selling services or ideas that you are not taking the time to listen to what your customer is telling you? Expert studies show that most of us only hear about 50% of what someone says to us in a conversation. It is my guess that the percentage is even lower in a sales situation. By listening you may hear exactly how to word or phrase the information about your service or idea in such a way that the customer is in full agreement with you and says yes.

Be a friend. A friend is someone who will be there for you without expecting anything in return. When was the last time you did something for a customer without expecting anything in return? A few favors? Some services provided pro bono? An idea you gave them? Every now and then do something “on the house” and you’ll build a trusting relationship.

The next time you’re ready to reach for the gin or vodka because a customer just called to tell you about a great idea or service he/she heard about from a friend while playing golf, and it is exactly what you tried to convince him/her to do or buy seven months ago, take a deep breath instead and accept the validation.

Ronald Reagan said, “It’s amazing how much you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.” If you really care more about doing what’s right for your customer than how much money you can make from the sale, the trust will come.

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