Do Prospects Trust Your Salespeople?

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HubSpot research shows that only 3% of buyers trust sales reps. That should sound BIG alarm bells in sales organizations. Trust is the foundation of relationships and without it, salespeople will run into problems opening sales conversations, conducting thoughtful meetings and gaining new business.

There are several reasons for lack of trust. One that most salespeople don’t understand is the power of attunement. This is defined as a person’s ability to respond and react to another person’s emotional needs and moods. When a person feels heard and understood, they respond with the gift of trust.

This isn’t accomplished by the delivery of slick sales techniques. It’s accomplished only by tuning into a prospect’s emotional state.

Sales managers, one of the best ways for your sales team to tune into prospects’ and customers’ emotional state is by teaching them to lose the attachment to the outcome of the sales call. When a salesperson loses the attachment to closing the deal, they move from self-focus (what they need and want) to other focus (what the prospect needs and wants).

This sounds great in theory. But how do you help salespeople achieve this higher level of selling? Go back to the basics. Remind your sales team about the power of a full sales pipeline. A salesperson that consistently executes the right prospecting behaviors enjoys a full sales pipeline. Salespeople with full sales pipelines aren’t desperate and attached to closing a sale (self-focused). A salesperson with a full sales pipeline doesn’t show up to sell, overcome objections or deliver 17 trial closes. They aren’t there to sell; they are there to see if their products and services can actually help the prospect achieve her goals (other focused).

No desperation breath because their livelihood doesn’t depend on this one sale. They are unattached to the outcome.

Other-focused salespeople show up with a different intent, a different mindset, one that prospects and customers feel AND TRUST. The unattached salesperson asks more and better questions because they aren’t looking for closing answers; they are looking for the right answers. They are curious to see if this opportunity is a good mutual fit. They’re qualifying the prospect’s level of commitment to improvement and change. 

They are tuned into helping customers rather than saying and doing whatever they need to close the business. Teach and encourage your sales team to be other-focused rather than self-focused.  

Teach your sales team the power of attunement.

Good Selling!

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Republished with author's permission from original post.

Colleen Stanley
Colleen Stanley is president of SalesLeadership, Inc. a business development consulting firm specializing in sales and sales management training. The company provides programs in prospecting, referral strategies, consultative sales training, sales management training, emotional intelligence and hiring/selection. She is the author of two books, Emotional Intelligence For Sales Success, now published in six languages, and author of Growing Great Sales Teams.

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