The first thing that any sales person needs to do when they meet a customer for the first time is to establish some trust. Fundamentally, no one buys from someone that they do not trust. At least, no one buys at the full price from someone that they do not trust. Most people will have met someone in a bar who has tried to sell them something cheap but the cheap price gives away that the seller is possibly not to be trusted. They are just trying to tempt you with a cheap price. At a car boot or garage sale, prices are cheap because the buyer has no come back against the seller, there is no trust.
In business, we have to trust the people that we do business with. Without that, we are unlikely to proceed. So, the first job for any sales person is to build that trust. With some roles, that trust is implicit. We trust a doctor when we go to see them. “Trust me, I’m a doctor” is said in a jokey way but comes from the fact that we do trust doctors. We know that they have spent at least 5 years training to be able to treat us and that means that we trust them to look after us.
Over the years, we have always trusted people in certain professions. We trust that the fire brigade will come to help us if we call them, even if it is only to rescue a cat in a tree. Trust comes with the role in these instances. However, a sales person who arrives on your door step has none of those advantages so the first thing that they have to do is to build trust.
The reason that so many people do not trust sales people is that they, quite reasonably in some cases, have a poor reputation. People who sold second hand cars many years ago were not always entirely honest. Double glazing sales people would employ all sorts of ruses and tricks to persuade people to buy new windows on their first visit. Their behaviour was driven entirely by their desire to earn commission in the easiest possible way. Care for their customer was fairly low on the list of their priorities.
No sales person who wants to be taken seriously, to help their customer over a long time, can afford to be untrustworthy. However, that trust must to be earned; it does not come automatically.
The best opportunity that you have for building trust is the first few minutes that you meet someone. You may have spoken to them on the phone to set up the appointment so you will have formed some impression on your customer. However, the biggest impact you will have is in the first few minutes that you meet them in the flesh.
In general, we trust people that we like. So, if you want to get someone to trust you, get them to like you. Research suggests that people have conversations in order to exchange information (learning) and form an impression of the other person (liking). Recent research shows that asking questions achieves both.
People who ask questions find out more information from their conversation partner and are more liked by them. The more questions that you ask, the more that you will be liked. Start with simple questions that are easy to answer and then ask follow-up questions.
Follow-up questions seem to have a special power. They signal to the other person that you are listening, care and want to know more. People interacting with a person who asks lots of follow-up questions tend to feel respected and heard. By doing this, you build empathy with your customer and start to build trust.
All of this can happen before you have even started a meeting. You can have the conversation on the way to the meeting room before you ever talk business. Take the time to get to know your customer, it will be well worth it in the end.