4 Techniques from an FBI Agent to Build Trust in Sales
People are reluctant to trust sales people right off the bat, so if you’re looking to build trust in sales, you’ll need to take a leaf out of Detective Bill Goetz’ book. On November 22, 2010, Jennifer Pan, a Canadian college student, was brought in for questioning by Detective Goetz about her parents’ death. After an interrogation that spanned three days, Pan finally broke down into a confession: she had hired three former classmates to stage a home invasion and murder her parents. The motive? She was sick of their “tiger parenting,” a strict parenting style that demands academic success and a high-status career.
Goetz got the confession by gaining Jennifer’s trust early on. Well, it seems law enforcement and sales reps have one thing in common: they need trust from their prospect (or suspect) in order to close the deal (or case). In Linkedin’s State of Sales report, 40% of US sales professionals rank trust as the #1 factor in closing deals, and 51% of decision-makers rank trust as a top factor when working with salespeople.
With the right moves, you can extract valuable information from a tight-lipped prospect, building trust in sales and getting your pitches answered. We’ll be using more techniques from a law enforcement expert to do just that.
Why It’s Important to Build Trust in Sales
Trust is crucial because it gets you chosen over other solicitors. When receiving calls, emails, or social media messages, prospects take less than a second to decide who’s worthy of their time. So, they’ll pay attention to surface-level things (the company you work for, your name and face, the way you speak) before they even get to the meat of your pitch. These kinds of snap judgments might seem unfair, and they are, but that’s sales for you.
When you craft a well-thought-out brand — comprised of your skillset, public image, reputation, core beliefs and values; your personality; your vision; and the way you communicate — when all of this is cohesive, clear, and consistent, it will signal to your prospect that it might be of value to keep listening.
An FBI Agent Spills His Top Secrets to Gaining Trust Instantly
Robin Dreeke is a former FBI Special Agent, Chief of the Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program and the author of It’s Not All About Me: The Top Ten Techniques for Building Quick Rapport with Anyone. Besides training law enforcement officers, Dreeke teaches sales professionals on gaining trust and understanding a prospect’s mindset. Let’s take a look at a few of his techniques:
1) Show love — but don’t love bomb
Trust in sales means making the entire conversation about them. Dreeke says, “Our brain rewards us chemically when we are able to talk and share our own views, priorities, and goals.” Every question or comment should push prospects to share more of themselves, increasing that positive feeling. However, you should never love bomb, or give so much attention and compliments that it comes off disingenuous.
Trust-based selling tip: Don’t start with a hard pitch. Ease your way into the pitch with an icebreaker; this could be referencing something you’ve seen them mention on social media, or addressing a current event that affects their business.
2) Get rid of manipulative words
Dreeke states, “When people feel they are objects, the trust will not be built. I tend to not think of anyone trying to manipulate me but at times a very self-serving agenda becomes evident.” Self-serving means there’s no reciprocity in the relationship, the salesperson simply wants to close quickly and dip. Prospects can instantly sense manipulation through buzzwords like innovative, disruptive, revolutionary, or cutting-edge. They’re overused, vague, and usually exaggerated.
Trust-based selling: Reading two sentences side-by-side, audiences tend to think the simple sentence is more believable than the one filled with jargon. Don’t be afraid to show personality and use regional or cultural slang, but keep your language simple and accessible.
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Originally published at https://www.lusha.com on September 8, 2020.
