The Process of Building Client Trust

A client’s trust is one of the most valuable assets for sales people. It can generate new leads for us in the form of referrals – those that are asked for, and those that come our way without being asked. One of the best lines that a sales person can hear on the other end of the phone is, “You don’t know me, but your client, Joe Smith at ABC Company, said that I needed to talk with you.” It just doesn’t get any better than that in selling!

Trust that is cemented in our customers whenever they think of us takes a long time to build, but we can start that process right from our very first contact. Let’s suppose that we receive a referral of a person at another company and we intend to call them on the phone to secure a person-to-person appointment. Assuming that we are really lucky and manage to speak to them on our very first attempt (we’ll talk later about dealing with voice mail), there are some things that we can do to immediately start the trust building process.

When we introduce ourselves on the phone we should be aware of several things. First, we need to say our name and our company's name very slowly. Most people say their names so many times during the day that to them it seems like everybody should easily understand them. The problem is that the person on the other end of the line, who doesn’t know that Joe Smith from ABC Company is going to be calling at 3:05 PM today, often has difficulty understanding what we are saying. To them, we are apeaking way too fast.

By slowing down our pace when talking, we're showing that we care a lot about the other person. We don’t want them to have to ask our name a second time after our introduction. Some people may even feel a bit embarrassed at not catching our name the first time. Because of that, they may not ask us to repeat our name. A valuable personal connection can be lost here.

We need to speak very clearly and at a rate of speed that allows not only that we are heard, but that we are also understood. One way to do that is to pause for at least a one second between saying our first name and our last name. I can hear some of you now questioning that one second is not very long, and you are right. However, to the person on the other end of the line, it’s enough time for them to hear both words plainly, as long as we don’t mumble when speaking.

A suggestion here. If you have a difficult name to pronounce (for example, one that has many consonants and not many vowels) you might consider just using your first name and company name when introducing yourself. You may even be able to use the spelling of your last name as an additional reason that you two need to meet in person so you can give them a business card and help them with pronunciation!

After giving your name and company, be sure to ask the prospect if they have a minute to speak with you. This shows that you are courteous and concerned for the other person’s time. It’s also critical in the very beginning of your sales process to build the prospect’s trust of you, before they have even met you. This will help separate you from the vast number of sales people who don't use this approach when calling. If I am talking with someone for the very first time, I always ask a question like, “Do you have a minute, or is someone with you?” If you’re calling clients or people that you have known for a long time, the approach is similar, but using slightly different words. I will often ask, “Do you have a minute or are you in the middle of something?”

On one occasion, I was calling the CEO of my largest client and I asked him, “Do you have a minute or are you in the middle of something?” He responded right back to me, “You know you always ask me that!” To which I responded that I was just trying to be polite. He told me he knows why I ask the question, he was wishing more people would take the time to ask it as well. I’m very proud of the trust that this client has in me. This approach helped me generate that trust from the very first day I called this man and it continues to help me to this day.

Next time, we’ll talk about continuing the trust-building process during our warm up time when meeting our buyers during our initial face-to-face meetings. Good selling!

John J. McCann III
McCann Motivations
864-968-0262
www.mccannmotivations.com
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