Trust Selling - Customers Trust People, Not Computers
By Manfred Ritschard How much do your customers trust you (in terms of Trust Selling)? And how much do you trust your customers? Trust is mutual – otherwise it leads to disappointment. And disappointment is probably the most common reason for separations – be it in love as well as in business relationships. "Do you trust me?" Wrong! "How much do you trust me?" Trust is not digital – do you trust me? Yes or no? This is like in love – at least for men: When asked "Do you love me?" then a man would probably prefer to answer on a scale: "On a scale of 1 to 10, I love you right now at least with 8, when you look at me so lovingly. When I think about our discussion this morning, it was only 4 points." Easier to answer would be the question "How much do you love me right now?" So, the question is how much your potential customers trust you. Those who trust you more than others will choose you. Trust is a feeling, not a rational weighing. That's why in sales we need the ability to influence customers' feelings. This is also called emotional competence. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Exclusive Webinar with Top100 Trainer Manfred Ritschard.
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A Matter of Emotional Intelligence How do we gain the trust of our customers? How can we use it? And how can we maintain the trust of the customer? It's all a matter of emotional intelligence. I mean emotional intelligence in the sense of Peter Salovey and John Mayer, who introduced the term in 1987. It involves basic skills:
- Recognizing feelings
- Empathizing with others
- Influencing own and others' feelings
Emotionally intelligent people are not necessarily good people Trust is (in Trust Selling) also a matter of ethics. Can I be trusted at all? Do my values align with those of the customer? This is especially important because we take responsibility for the purchase recommendation, the advice given to the customer. What's more, salespeople are turning into coaches and will be paid in the future to take responsibility for their customer's buying decision. Building relationships and empathy – ultimately trust ("Trust") becomes increasingly important – especially considering the growing digitalization and "robotization" of our world. Consultation should cost the customer something, even if no purchase is made. In the Swiss travel industry, we have steadily introduced this pricing policy over the last ten years. In a few years, this will also become common in other industries. Truthfully, what do you recommend to me? The customer gathers the most important information on the internet and in the not too distant future, their needs will even be predetermined by artificial intelligence. Customer 4.0 will then expect from Salesperson 4.0 primarily a reliable and empathetic recommendation that meets their innermost needs and desires, not the sales goals of the seller. This is the great opportunity and at the same time the crucial challenge in enabling sales: in-depth sales psychology is needed here!
