Common Mistakes that Destroy Trust

Selling is often characterized as adversarial; there’s a winner and a loser.  No wonder selling has a bad reputation.

It’s amazing the number of ways salespeople have found to shoot themselves in the foot and mess up trust and rapport.

If the salesperson wants to become a valued resource to the buyer, open communication is critical.  However, prospects typically do not trust salespeople.  They feel uncomfortable, pressured, and possibly even threatened.  As a result, they resist open communication, preferring to withhold important information so that it cannot be used against them.

Salespeople often exacerbate the situation in many unintentional ways, including the following:

  • Being so upbeat and positive that it’s obnoxious.
  • Manipulating the prospect by asking leading questions or using other tricky sales tactics.
  • Not being willing to accept “no” from the prospect and pushing too hard to make the sale.
  • Taking too much time.
  • Talking too much.
  • Acting like his product or service is something everybody needs.
  • Using a canned presentation.
  • Using buzz words or jargon that the prospect doesn’t understand.
  • Being late for the appointment.
  • Making an obviously insincere comment about something in the prospect’s office in an attempt to break the ice.
  • Having a cell phone go off during the meeting.
  • Presenting a solution before doing a complete diagnosis. (This is a big problem, as you’ll see.)
  • Popping surprises, like bringing the boss along without telling the prospect.
  • Being unprepared.
  • In general, acting like a salesperson will destroy trust and rapport.

Sales resistance is not a natural part of the sales process; it’s a direct result of the salesperson’s behavior.  To eliminate sales resistance, the salesperson must change his behavior.

Self-Study Assignment:  How many of the things on this list are you guilty of?  Make a short list of the changes you need to make immediately in order to improve rapport and trust with your customers and prospects.