One of the things that kept me thinking over the past days was a discussion we had last week in a Sales Pitch Battle workshop I led.
It all began after seeing the 3rd pitch. One of the participants gave the following feedback to her colleague: “You came across as trustworthy.”
She was right. The trust was heartfelt.
We never say this to people – but feel it when it’s there (or not)
Trust is a critical component for success.
Without it, you better qualify out since the chances of winning are slim.
But what creates trust?Β What we arrived at was this:
π Being Human
π Making it about them
π Being “one of them.”
π Knowing your stuff – coming across as confident
π Being concrete
π Show empathy – care – acknowledge the “other” person
We realized it has nothing to do with how good your product is or how famous your company is. These are all table-stakes. You’ll always need to meet specific essential criteria – it’s what happens beyond that, that matters.
Creating trust is about walking the fine line. You can quickly lose it.
We lose trust and credibility if we:
β. Go high-over – and are being too vague
β. Come across as insecure or (the other side) overconfident
β. Make things overly complicated – hard to follow
β. Brag about ourselves
A lot about this is about paying attention. It’s about showing up as a human. But what I’ve seen as similarly essential is to help our teams feel empowered.
That’s where your value foundation comes in, a framework that spells out the core of the problem(s) you solve and the essence of how you help your customers make a difference, backed up with evidence.
So back to the core question: What thought are your prospects left with after one of your sales execs has visited them?
Is it a feeling of genuine trust? What if not?