All sales and marketing conversations are negotiations of trust!

That sounds pretty basic doesn’t it?

Probably trite and a truism right?

But it does underscore something very real and true about that way that everyone INCLUDING YOU comes to a buying decision.

You don’t act on any marketing material if you don’t trust the messenger.

You don’t act on anything a sales professional tells you unless you trust the person.

Off course there are other factors that are important in coming to a decision.

Because of this we cannot say that the most trustworthy person or the most trustworthy product is going to win the day all the time.

We can talk about all those other ingredients another time.

For now, take it as gospel truth that everything in the conversation should be geared towards gaining and shoring up trust with a potential customer or client.

This is especially important early in the relationship.

How do you enhance trust?

Build your credibility!

And how do you do that? Pretty much anything that will make you out to be competent will be a good starting place. Also anything that will help you establish some commonality with the potential client can help enhance trust.

That’s the reason why the medical specialist has their certificates hung on the wall behind them.

It’s not because they have forgotten which schools they went to, but rather so that YOU can see it clearly that they graduated from John Hopkins Medical School or OAU Med.

That way you can feel confident that your hypertension or other cardiac issues are being diagnosed by a well trained physician and specialist in the field.

It’s also the reason why your wedding photographer has cameras and high end computers placed strategically all round the office or studio.

They do this so that potential brides and grooms can see all the production value that will go into making their special day a magical one.

Competency is also what you are trying to achieve when you as the young architect mention that you worked on Ogbuefi Okoro’s village mansion... that’s one reason why you should be taken seriously.

Commonality on the other hand are those instances where it comes up that you and the potential customer have a few shared interests, hobbies or a common history.

That’s when you explore how you and Ogbuefi Okoro are both from Mbise.

It’s when the cardiologist mentions that his mother also had hypertension and managed it well into ripe old age and so you shouldn’t be scared.

It’s also when the wedding photographer starts chatting about her time in Coventry University because it is the same school that the couple went to.

There’s more to the picture than this, but it’s not a bad way to start the conversation.

Use credibility and commonality to “up” the trust factor in your business equation today.