Want to Sell More? Here’s How

In this article, you’ll learn: 3 ways to gain trust with your customers.

Introduction

The meaning of trust is the reliance on the integrity, strength, ability or surety of a person or a thing.

You need to get customers trusting you. You can’t do this disagreeing with them or insisting they do certain things.

Skepticism

This planet has many unethical salespeople who have misrepresented the benefits of their products, so customers won’t always trust you. Some consumers are skeptical of all salespeople, so it’s not just you. This skepticism keeps people on guard.

It’s critical you’re aware of the skepticism and that you tackle it.

Distrust is not the buyer’s problem—it’s your problem. If your customer doesn’t trust you, the information you offer them will be minimized, challenged, shopped, and maybe thrown in the trash.

Why Do Customers Have Distrust?

When your buyer leaves and doesn’t buy something, that is a decision. When a buyer decides to put it off and “thinks about it”, that’s a decision. The decision to “shop” is caused by some level of distrust.

If the buyer had full and complete confidence in you, the product, the terms, and the company, they would buy now. As a salesperson, you always get a decision from a customer. When the buyer doesn’t trust you or something about the presentation, they are going to add time to the cycle by not making a decision to purchase.

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Every decision is a decision and this is why trust is critical. If they don’t make the decision to buy, chances are there is some level of distrust.

Creating Trust is Your Responsibility

Customers don’t make sales, salespeople do. You will either make or break the sale. It’s your job to create trust with your customer. This is why you need to know how buyers think.

When you are a salesperson you are in the arena of handling people, not just selling products. When sales are down most salespeople blame their customers. When you turn responsibility over to another person, it’s an indication of a very low level of responsibility, and low responsibility equals low levels of production.

I want to give you 3 practical ways you can increase trust today with your customers:

#1 Credibility

The higher your credibility the higher you will increase your sales. Distrust causes you to lose credibility, and a loss of credibility adds to the time cycle and reduces your chances at a sale.

You can be trusted but still lose your credibility. “I’m not sure”, “I don’t know”, “I can’t tell you that yet”, or having to check with a manager causes credibility issues.

Credibility is one of those valuable assets you have as a salesperson. Credibility doesn’t have to do with trust, although it has something to do with gaining or losing trust. Credibility is vital to you appearing as a professional.

When something happens that puts your credibility into question, like if you misquote something or give wrong information, they will not trust you with their decision. If a customer doesn’t trust you it won’t matter what you say or how much you beg, you will have your hands full.

Ignoring the credibility issue will not make the credibility issue disappear. You need to work on your credibility by knowing everything there is to know about your field. Being credible is just part of becoming a master in the art of selling.

#2 Use Third-Party Data

Your presentation can be validated by using 3rd party data. When you are documenting facts for your customer, it’s preferable to use 3rd parties rather than you.

If Bob said something about a product, it’s more believable than if I said it as the salesperson. You don’t go into a military operation without equipment and supplies, nor should you as a salesperson go to your customer without 3rd party data.

Show your customers the benefits of the product on paper. Show them proof about how your product can improve whatever your product improves by using statistics and success stories in writing.

Take the time to prepare materials that will show them what your competition does or doesn’t do in writing. Remember that an informed buyer is always better than an uninformed buyer. This is because uninformed buyers can’t make a decision.

Informed buyers armed with data are quicker to make a decision. Do you pull the trigger when you don’t know what you’re doing? Of course not. So why would your buyer? Information builds credibility, credibility builds trust, and trust leads to decisions. 3rd party data helps with these things.

#3 Show, Don’t Just Tell

I’m sure you’ve had a customer not listen to you, we all have. This happens when the buyer doesn’t trust you, as I’ve already spoken about. The interesting thing is, people will take the written word out of a newspaper—and even if it’s false—they will buy it. This is why you always need your prices and information written out for people to see.

Having it in writing lets them see it with their own eyes and makes you more believable. Buyers don’t believe the words they hear but put a lot of significance on the words they see in print.

When people see something in writing it becomes more real to them. When you ask for the price of something and the salesperson tells you it’s $100 bucks, you will still probably look for the tag on it to see if what he says is really true. That’s because you believe what you see, not what you hear.

As a salesperson, you need to tell people and show them. Assume that your buyer won’t believe what you say, so always have written data on hand to back up what you say.

Summary

To gain the trust you need which is critical to the sale, remember to show and not just tell, to use 3rd party data to back up your claims, and to know everything you can so you don’t ever lose credibility.

Think about getting the job done—whatever it takes. A buyer who tells you “I’m not buying today” indicates a lack of trust either in you or in their ability to make a good decision. You need to be understanding of the customer that shows distrust. Only then can you gain trust.

Get on one of my Certification Programs today and I will coach you to become a master in sales and jack up your income to never-before-seen heights.

Be great,

GC