Building Trust To Lower The Buying Shield

The most effective sales strategy involves just 4 steps. The first step is creating a connection with your prospect to build trust and lower the buying shield.

I'm sure you are thinking to yourself, "What is a buying shield?" Let me explain. We as a society are sick and tired of being sold to all the time. We see hundreds of advertisements every day. We feel like someone is trying to sell us something all the time. So, to protect ourselves, we always have a shield up.

When we approach a business and the sales person walks up to us, most of us say something like, "Oh, I'm just looking," or we try not to make eye contact with them hoping they won't talk to us. You may be surprised to hear that your prospects, and even some of your clients, do the very same thing. A lot of the time they feel, when they call you or you arrive at their office for an appointment, that they are going to be pressured into buying something that they don't want to buy. They feel like you do, like they must keep their shield up.

So the very first step to sales is to create a connection and build trust so the buying shield is lowered. If you cannot gain the trust of your prospects they won't believe a word you have to say and your chances of getting the sale are very, very low. Bottom line is that you need that person on the other side of the desk or the other side of the phone to feel comfortable with you as a person and to have some type of connection with you so they begin to trust you.

Have you ever had the experience of meeting with a prospect and you notice the kind of car they drive or some type of sports memorabilia on their desk? You make a comment on it and then your conversation leads into talking about cars or sports for 15 minutes? You are both enjoying the conversation and then all of the sudden they go, "Oh ya, you came here to take a look at our computer network." And then after a short time of talking with you about that they sign up for managed services after you spent the rest of the conversation talking about something completely unrelated. This conversation with you helped create a connection, build trust and rapport, and it lowered their buying shield.

Establishing a connection and building trust is a crucial part to the sales process. Even if you are not talking about cars or sports, it is critical to the process that your prospects get comfortable with you. You can talk about the weather or a local news story, anything to get a more personal conversation started. The important thing is that the person on the other end of the transaction, your client or prospect, trusts and likes you. If not, they are going to be questioning everything and they most likely will not fork over even one dollar to you.

To help build trust with both clients and prospects of your IT Services Firm, follow these 5 Be's:

1. Be yourself.

It is very important that you just be yourself. By being your authentic self you are allowing yourself to make a connection with another person. If you are not being yourself, 9 times out of 10 the other person can sense it. In a society where people are trying to scam us all the time, more than ever we just want to connect with other human beings. By being yourself, you create a genuine connection.

2. Be quiet.

Listen to what your prospects have to say. Make an effort to hear every word and don't interrupt. Let them finish their thoughts and concerns. By listening to them you gain insights into your prospects' needs. Ultimately this allows you to design an approach that fits them perfectly.

3. Be consistent.

Saying one thing and doing another ruins your efforts to build trust. Continually setting, and meeting, expectations is one of the easiest ways to build the strong trust relationship you need to lower the buying shield.

4. Be reliable.

Make sure to keep each meeting you set up and be sure to arrive on time. It screams "unreliable" when you miss meetings or arrive late. Also, promise only what you can deliver, and always deliver what you have promised.

5. Be the expert.

Being your authentic self, listening, meeting expectations, and delivering as promised will help your prospects develop trust in you, your company, and your service. As you answer questions and provide recommendations, the trust and confidence your prospect has developed in you positions you as the trusted expert. They will listen to what you propose and do what you recommend.

Always remember that trust does not come overnight and it takes only one instance of not following through on a promise to start to break it down. Be mindful of this in all of your sales conversations and interactions. If you focus on these 5 Be's with every action, you will foster trusted relationships with your prospects and clients that will lower their buying shield and drive results to the bottom line. Trust me, the results you see will be worth the effort.

Comments? Questions? Email Here

© HowtoAdvice.com

How to Advice .com