Trust Building Lesson 1: Borrowed Creditability
Referrals are 5x times more likely to close than going in cold. If this doesn’t say everything you need to know I don’t what does.
For example, say you are trying to get in to see a large client that could move the needle for your business and send it on the way to stratospheric success. A moonshot!
Why focus on battering down the door like everyone else. Why do whatever other poor sucker is doing, hoping and praying that the latest fad email template they paid $200 for works and cuts through the noise to get a reply.
Even if this tactic works is only 1% of the battle.
When you apply borrowed creditability, it helps you stand out and puts you ahead of the competition in ways that transcend just getting you through the door. Borrowed creditability comes from another well respected client making an introduction for you, into your target prospect. You leverage their trusted relationship to accelerate the buy-in and trust building process from them to you.
Remember this is just a helping to hand to accelerate the process, you still have the ‘earn’ the trust, it is not a given. Don’t take it for granted that because so and so introduced you and they’ve trusted them for 30 years that you’re instantly at the top of the pile. You are not. What you got given is an opportunity, a chance to prove your worth.
When you get introduced by Steve on a warm email into a prospect it creates the narrative that a friend of Steves is a friend of mine. It’s an unconscious clan mentality at play. Welcome to the tribe. The barriers to acceptance are lowered and you are tentatively welcomed in.
This strategy provides a welcome boost to accelerate the trust building process.
Trust Building Lesson 2: Compounding Gestures
How you do anything is how you do everything. What do I mean by compounding gestures…when you become a person thats on the look out to surprise and delight others, whether it be the barista at your local coffee shop, your boss, your family and friends or other drivers on the road, you turn on your magnetism for accelerated trust building.
Take your driving habits for example, if you are someone who gives way, prioritises other people and helps them along with their day, it will transcend this context into your work life, how you treat your clients and relationships. it becomes your operating principle and as such you’ll manifest more trust quicker because people see your intention to act with grace, care and make their day just that bit better.
When you drive like a road hog, cutting people off, ignoring their safety by driving aggressively, not indicating, driving above the speed limit because you are late. You are prioritising only what matters to you, you become closed off to all the ways you can help people and as such you don’t see these opportunities in your business life, with your clients, and in your relationships. It’s a mirror and it reflects what you put out.
When you make gestures that inspire hope, love, and connection in the world and compound them overtime, consistently, you become a magnet for accelerated trust building. People intuitively know and can feel your intention and desire to help. This is a prosperous and abundant way to live.
I see people driving like crazy, dangerously, and I feel for them, they are not only endangering others but I know they are suffering, if this is how you feel you have to drive, how is the rest of your life. How act is telling.
Be courteous today and watch how it inspires quicker trust.
Trust Building Lesson 3: Personalised Recommendations
Make use of case studies, always be on the look out for opportunities to create simple one page summeries of successful projects. This is how you stay alert, open and crave out a competitive advantage.
Most businesses send an old stock standard set of case studies that are two years old and expect clients to be frothing at the bit over your stale tale of success. If this speaks to you, and I know for most it will, you aren’t doing yourself or your business justice by using these proof points. You’re using the right tool, but its worn out, battered and ineffective. It’s like wearing grubby trainers to a client meeting, they do the job of cushioning your feet but they repel the client because they signal to the client that — you don’t care!
It’s the same with case studies and it’s time to get a new updated version, a shiny new example of how you kick ass and then keep them coming in, every month, be on the hunt, searching for new challenges that your company solved.
THIS IS A GOLD MINE OF OPPORTUNITY THAT KNOW ONE FOCUSES ON EFFECTIVELY WITH COMMITMENT.
Here’s the kicker that makes your case study delivery even more effective — they must be tailored to the client in question — they must specifically address the problem they are having. When they read your solution, with a quote and recommendation from your previous client a lightbulb will go off in their mind, they will think it is their idea.
“Hey, this is good, this is what we need, this is it, let’s look into it”
You need this moment, it’s a tipping point. Before this moment you were fighting an uphill battle, beating a path to their door, well, now the door is open, you’re in and it’s time to pounce on it.
Trust Building Lesson 4: Brutal Honesty
The best marketing tactic is pure honesty — Dan Koe
It works in marketing and it works in relationships and trust building. People respect you more, if you don’t know the answer and you call it out and say “I don’t know, but I’ll get back to you” it gains respect.
The reason this works is also because, when you are honest, you are also your true self. You have nothing to hide. No skeletons to stuff away. Nothing to avoid. This is a great asset to having your tool belt. It accelerates trust building.
It also makes you more relatable and therefore people feel understood. When you are honest, people connect easier.
Honesty is tough to master in every domain, but it has the greatest benefits.
Trust Building Lesson 5: Oversharing
When you are first to over share, it activates the law of reciprocity. This works in negotiations and it works in speeding up the trust building process and bonding phase that is required human connection.
By oversharing you are signalling, I trust you, therefore I am willing to expand the relationship by taking a risk. I am willing to be vulnerable to further deepen the connection we’re establishing.
In tern this sets up the opportunity for them to reciprocate and deepen your bond together. It’s a cycle. Oversharing accelerates the pathway to trust, because it requires you taking a risk, putting yourself out there, overcoming the fear of being vulnerable for the benefit of increased bonding.
Sometimes it won’t pay off, it will backfire, and you’ll just find out quicker that this business, relationship or opportunity isn’t right for you just now or it will help you accelerate.
Trust Building Lesson 6: Have Deep Knowledge on the Subject at Hand
When building trust quickly, you need to demonstrate your expertise in an area fast. In some situations you may only have 30 seconds to do this, to make an impression before the opportunity vanishes.
The way you do this is through your questions, ask the right question and it demonstrates your deep knowledge on the subject. This is the first step to convincing them that you know your stuff, you must grab their attention.
You want to understand more about them, what they are looking for, use your own observations, look at who they are, make assessments of what would be a good fit for them.
Inject your previous customer experiences and successes into the conversation, showing them that you’ve been here before, you’ve dealt with their specific need. Then hit them with what you’ve got for them.
This series of questions and analysis can be done in a quick fire approach that brings their walls down through your confidence and question, adaptation and then presentation of knowledge.
Trust Building Lesson 7: Consistency
Humans like consistency. If you say you’re going to start a podcast and then only go on to produce 5 episodes in a year, it’s not consistent. If you show up and continue to show up, producing an episode once a week on a Friday for 6 months, people have greater trust due to your consistency. They are more willing to give you a shot.
It’s because you show up and keep showing up that they believe what you say. They trust it more, because you do what you say you are going to do. If you commit to doing something and then deliver on this promise, you are reliable, trustworthy, because you trust yourself. People can see this through your actions.
As they say ‘actions speak louder than words’, I say “consistent actions move mountains, open doors and change lives through accelerated trust building”. If you want people to buy into your message, show up and be consistent. We humans love consistency.
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