Trust changes everything
We live in a world where certain sections of our society, economy or business have never engendered less trust. But there are many, many people who have always acted with integrity whether they are dealing with their colleagues, peers, prospects or existing clients.
Building relationships with prospects is as much about trust as dealing with existing clients or colleagues. To motivate them to take the next step (have another meeting, be introduced to someone else in your organisation, want you to come back with some initial thoughts about how you can help), you need to build understanding and for them to feel understood. To build understanding you need to ask questions and listen, and for the prospect to ‘open up’. For them to do that they need to trust you.
What does this involve? If you can demonstrate credibility, compatability, competence and then consistency in applying these three attributes, then you will engender trust. And once you’ve achieved that, it changes everything – it’s easier to deal with people, things can happen more quickly, you are more likely to find out their needs and wants, more able to match your solution to their requirements, more likely to be given the opportunity to work with them.