The Idea: Do your best customers trust your sales and marketing leaders? According to The Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 49% of surveyed sales managers shared that their sales organizations had lied on calls, and 34% had sales teams that made unrealistic promises. Untrustworthy behaviors have a bad poker face. More times than not, the intent, integrity, and results of sales teams are often times questioned – and with good reason. What are the blind spots of trust?
According to Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, professor of business psychology at University College London, “being trustworthy is in the eye of the beholder, it is a matter of degree and it is what others think – not you”. When someone is perceived as unpredictable, inconsistent, and guarded, they will have trust problems. If you are inconsistent, people will notice. Recently, Politifact research showed that 65% of Donald Trump’s statements were “mostly false” while Hillary Clinton’s statements were “mostly false” roughly 30% of the time. Is there any reason why 60% of the voting population is not comfortable with the presidential choices?
My research leads me to believe there are seven traps (or communication inconsistencies) creating the level of unpredictability that chips away at trust.
- Not understanding the clients most pressing internal needs, interests, or challenges.
- Giving a presentation vs. moderating a co-creation discussion, designing a custom solution.
- Using annoying or condescending techniques like leading questions, restatements, and pseudo listening.
- Failing to recognize mistakes, current problems, risks, or competitor’s advantages.
- Pushing your own ideas even though they do not align with the client’s larger “stated” needs.
- Sharing that your solution, service, or product is distinct, even though you are not that different.
- Stating you are trying to meet the client’s needs – but focusing on your own internal needs
We all need to see consistency in our family, friends, and, yes, sales people. So how do we eliminate our own inconsistencies and, in turn, create a perception of reliability? The answer starts with extreme self-awareness and humility. It requires a willingness to ask others one simple question: “How do I affect others?” We normally default to protecting ourselves, but this question unlocks our own self-deceptions and relationship blind spots.
Conveying vulnerability and approachability sets the tone for effective trust building. But all the research also states that to maintain trust one must blend credibility, competence, and results. Yes, words matter, but actions matter more. Organizations, politicians, religious leaders, and sales executives are judged on their promises kept. The root of trust problems is inconsistency; the cure is consistency (keeping promises).
Human resource research shows that eighty-five percent of polled people said they were less likely to approve a promotional opportunity due to a person’s perceived lack of trust. No surprise that it negatively affects you with the customer and your own long term success.
Do you know how you affect others?
