Ideas at the EDGe: Establishing Credibility

Establishing Credibility & Trust: The heart of the business relationship

A Publication of Education Design Group, Inc.
Sales & Sales Management #10

The most important ingredients in building customer partnerships are CREDIBILITY and TRUST. No matter how good your service or how polished your sales skills, if you don't establish credibility and trust with your customers, you won't be successful. People rarely buy from a person they don't believe or trust. If they do, the partnership is short-lived, and you can't build a business on those kinds of sales.

Remember, as good as your company's products or services are, they still must be presented by you. You are the primary filter through which information about your product must pass. It's in the prospect's best interest, as well as your own, to make sure you don't contribute to the obstacles that must be overcome for the prospect to move ahead with a favorable buying decision.

Although credibility and trust are similar, there is an important difference between them. Credibility reflects a person's credentials and believability and it's more of an intellectual distinction. Trust is granted on a more emotional and personal level and means making a statement of faith in another person. It is entirely possible for a prospect to consider a salesperson credible but not trustworthy.

In seminars and workshops, we use an exercise to help demonstrate the difference between credibility and trust. We ask participants to form a group of three and appoint one person to be the "customer," and the other two, "salespeople." Customers are asked to stand in front of the salespeople with their eyes closed. We then explain that, on our command, the customers are to fall backwards (without hesitation) into the waiting arms of the two salespeople. We assure the customers that the salespeople will, in fact, catch them before they hit the ground.

Although the customers in this exercise say they believe us, few allow themselves to fall more than a foot or two before breaking their own fall. The customers' hesitation demonstrates a lack of trust because they are unable to fully commit themselves to the agreed-upon course of action. This is similar to customers who say, "I agree that your product is best, but I'm not ready to act right now. " These customers understand you and intellectually believe what you say, but they withhold emotional commitment because they're not sure you'll catch them when they fall.

Developing credibility and trust is a fragile and ongoing process that is absolutely essential for successful long-term sales partnerships. The process starts on your first contact with a prospect and continues for the duration of the relationship.

It's important to note that credibility and trust are dynamic in nature. Unless you constantly pay attention to gaining and regaining them, you can easily find yourself assuming a relationship of trust and credibility when the attributes have long since disappeared in the customer's mind.

A simple belief in selling is, "People buy from people they trust."

There are four factors that determine whether customers judge you to be credible and trustworthy. Understanding these factors will allow you to use them to your advantage.

The first factor is what you've accomplished with a customer in the past. Your experience with a customer is the most powerful vehicle for establishing credibility and trust. What you do or have done carries more weight than what you say. If customers have a positive experience using your product or service, they are apt to be repeat buyers. If their experience is negative, your credibility and trust will plummet and your chances of creating a customer partnership will be greatly diminished.

Moreover, it is important to realize that every contact with the customer is an opportunity to create a positive or negative experience. if you don't have a long-standing experience base with your customers, you must build it one call at a time.

The second factor is what you know. Customers respect, and therefore believe and trust, people who have knowledge that can help them run their businesses or contribute to their personal lives. Although knowledge isn't as initially powerful as experience, it can provide a strong foundation for building credibility and trust. Customers judge knowledge notjust by the information you provide but by the guestions you ask as well.

The third factor is who you know. The reputation and image of your company, of your customers, and of the people with whom you associate all contribute to your credibility and trustworthiness. If your company is well respected in the community, you will benefit from being a part of it. However, your credibility and trust can suffer if the company's image is
tarnished. The same principle also applies to your other associations. This is why references, referrals, and testimonials can be so powerful. Having the "right" client list can get you in the door at places where it would otherwise be shut.

The fourth factor is how you present yourself. The way you look and act influences how you are viewed by your customers. Although appearance, demeanor, and actions have an impact on both credibility and trust,
their greatest influence is on trust.

A simple rule of selling is that people buy from people they trust. And, in general, people are more trusting of those who are like themselves than of those who are different. The more similarities that exist between two people, the easier it can be to build trust. Conversely, the more differences that exist, the more difficult it can be to build trust.

It is helpful to view similarities and differences as opposing forces that either build or reduce trust. Trust is usually withheld if differences dominate the relationship. Furthermore, until those differences are removed or neutralized with similarities, people will continue to withhold their trust.

Let's examine this point for a moment. When people meet you for the first time, they develop an impression. This impression is based on what they know or think they know about you. Therefore, their impression may or may not be accurate, and it may or may not be positive. Remember that people use themselves as a standard when evaluating others.

At the outset of most relationships, trust is relatively low because differences are high and the unknowns many. As the relationship develops, the unknowns become knowns and are transformed into either similarities or differences. This results in the initial differences either diminishing or intensifying.

For example, let's say your prospects think that because you are a salesperson, you will try to "sell" them. if you begin the sales call by giving a "pitch," the impression will be reinforced. Their expectations will be realized, and trust will be kept at a minimum. On the other hand, if you begin the sales call by involving prospects and not trying to "sell" them, their impression will change, the perceived differences will be neutralized, and trust will begin to grow.

Your job as a salesperson is to remove or minimize those differences that prevent you from building trust with prospects. The key is to adapt your approach to minimize the differences. Everything done during the sales presentation should signal to prospects that you understand them, you accept them, and you care about their needs. When this happens, prospects identify with you and find it easy and natural to agree with your proposal or recommendations.

The graph highlights the correlation between trust levels and similarities and differences. At the beginning of a relationship, trust is low and differences are high. Then, as the differences diminish and the similarities increase, the level of trust grows:

Take a moment and think about your best customers and compare them to your newest prospects. Chances are, your best customers are more open with you about their goals, problems, feelings, and concerns. There is probably less "gamesmanship" in the relationship and very little need to "read between the lines." When this occurs, you get a clear picture of the real customer and his/her real needs. Customers say what they mean and mean what they say. This type of openness occurs only when your credibility and trust are firmly established. Your goal for every customer is to build this type of relationship.

Education Design Group, Inc. is committed to the acquisition, development, and publication of the most practical sales and sales management materials and programs available for improving individual and organizational performance.
Article courtesy of Phil Faris Associates, Š2006

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