During my recent conversations with senior leadership, I came across. this age old. formula. for sales. And this turned out to be such an eye opener. Often times in. life we. think that strategy is more of manipulation than building predictable systems. Whether its Leadership -Parenting or even social behaviours and relationships, trust is the building block for a lasting impact. The best example that I could ever think of was of how switching lanes while driving we use car indicators to share our plans with our fellow drivers and pedestrians. Just like a wrong indicator can cause damage to people around similarly breaching trust in leadership -sales -personal relationships can cause turmoils. Thus agreeing on ground rules from time to time to avoid exigencies is always a good idea.
Following are the pillars of trust based selling:
- Integrity: You’re received as reliable, dependable and trustworthy.
- Competency: You can deliver on what you say you can.
- Recognition: You treat them as a person, rather than a number.
- Proactivity: You genuinely care about their best interests.
Trust is a hugely important factor that affects our experiences in the world of work. There are several different models that can help us think about trust including the Trust Equation (The trust equation says an individual’s trustworthiness is equal to their credibility, reliability and intimacy, all divided by their level of self-orientation. Individuals can develop their trustworthiness by addressing these underlying trust factors.) and the Ken Blanchard’s ABCDs of Trust.
Below is the Ken Blanchard’s ABCD model that you could practice to build long term trust in sales cycles.
There are many different ways to get people to buy things. Some of the other trust building models are Cialdini’s work.-(Cialdini’s 6 Principles of Persuasion are reciprocity, scarcity, authority, commitment and consistency, liking and consensus. By understanding these rules, you can use them to persuade and influence others. In addition, work on creating addictive products like the Hook model (the hook model of behavioural design is a framework for designing addictive products. It is closely related to the habit loop. It has 4 stages: trigger, action, variable reward and investment. When built into produces these stages drive user engagement and lead to habit formation.).
However one of the best trust building books is ‘Speed of Trust’ by Stephen M R Covey. This book talks about various examples and the fundamentals of building long term trust. See the video below to understand this better.
Trust is a hard-nosed business asset which can deliver quantifiable economic value. When trust is high, speed of execution goes up and costs go down. For that and other sound reasons, it makes good financial sense to consistently find ways to enhance trust levels both within and external to your business organisation. The foundational principles for building trust are credibility. -consistent behaviour, alignment, reputation and contribution.
Do you trust your co-workers? Your lack of trust could be breaking your agility and outcomes? How would you like to use the speed of trust?
For more on this, do explore the following reads:
drsonaliduttabaanerjee 