Growing trust

Trust is the first of the two pillars of the DECIDE method. The second is value. When a Buyer trusts you, they are far more willing to collaborate, explore value with you and believe you can deliver it.

Trust is grown, not built

Sellers traditionally talk of 'building trust,' however, it's not like a building project. It is more like a plant that grows or wilts depending on how you nurture it, in every interaction. That is why the DECIDE method talks about growing trust.

What Buyers want

Most people love to buy and hate being sold to. Buyers are looking for someone who:

• Is not driven by self-interest or focused only on making a sale
• Genuinely considers their needs, not just the Seller's goals
• Helps them to buy and to get value from what they buy

A self-interested Seller makes a Buyer feel unsafe. The Buyer holds back their fears and doubts because they suspect any concern will simply be used as an opening for a pitch. A Trusted Guide is different: focused on the Buyer, guiding rather than telling, and empowering the Buyer to help themselves.

The Trust Equation

One helpful way to think about trust is the Trust Equation, created by David Maister, Charles Green and Robert Galford.

Credibility, Reliability and Intimacy grow trust. Self-interest destroys it.

Ways to grow trust

• Listen first. Let the Buyer do most of the talking, and show you have heard them.
• Put the Buyer's outcome ahead of the sale. If you cannot help, say so.
• Ask, don't tell. See SHAPE questions.
• Keep your promises. Small commitments kept matter more than big claims.
• Empower the Buyer. Help them make their own decision, in their own time.

Why it matters

Trust is an input to the whole process, not an outcome you collect at the end. A Trusted Guide is far more likely to get the callback, the reply and the meeting. To see how trust shows up in the kind of relationship you have with a Buyer, read Buyer relationships. Then continue to Value Drivers and POV to see what Buyers value once trust is in place.