Recently I posted about how leaving well-crafted voice mail messages for a prospective customer can be a way to build trust with someone who does not know you yet. This post elicited comments by a number of people including one of the world’s top thought leaders on trust-based selling, (and trust in business relationships), Charles Green.

After talking back and forth with Charlie, who is a colleague of mine, he agreed to answer a few questions about how he got so immersed in the focus on trust and offered his thoughts on why trust is so critical in selling.

Charles H. Green is the author of Trust-based Selling, as well as co-author of the classic The Trusted Advisor and the upcoming Trusted Advisor Fieldbook. He is founder and CEO of Trusted Advisor Associates.

He has an MBA from Harvard and a BA in philosophy from Columbia, and spent 20 years in management consulting. In addition to the three books, he has published articles in Harvard Business Review, Commercial Lending Review, Directorship Magazine, Management Consulting Review, American Lawyer, and a number of other publications.

Here are follow up questions I had around trust in our interview:

Lori Richardson (LR): What are a few ways to build trust as a sales professional?

Charles Green (CG): The main answer is to appear trustworthy. And the best way to appear trustworthy is to actually be trustworthy (what a concept, right?). That’s why we developed the Trust Equation: (Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy ) all divided by Self-Orientation.  Most of what we mean by trustworthiness falls into those four. Credible means they believe what you say; reliable means they depend on what you do; intimacy means they’re willing to share sensitive issues with you; and orientation means are you in it for you or for them.

Here are some nontraditional but easy ways to do each:

Credibility – be willing to say what you don’t know, rather than just always talk about what you do know.

Reliability – declare a series of small things you’ll do, then do them; track records aren’t just about the big things.

Intimacy – comment on what the other person appears to be feeling (e.g., wow, sounds like you really enjoyed that weekend!)

Self-orientation – be flexible about your agenda, your milestones – focus on theirs.  And, of course, listen.

LR: So if you had to boil it down to one thing?

CG: If you had to boil it all down to one single thing, I’d say it’s listening.

LR: What mistakes do sales professionals make that hurt their trust-building with buyers?

CG:  I asked that question of Neil Rackham once, and he had a great answer: the biggest single mistake, he said, and I completely agree, is that sales people are in too much of a hurry to get to the answer. It’s like we’re all still in second grade (“Me, me, teacher, I’ve got the answer!”). Somehow we think that customers just want us to give them the right answer fast.

The problem is, if you’re in too much of a hurry to name the solution, the real effect is you just piss off the buyer. Because the message you send, unintentionally, is, “Hey I don’t need any more of your yakking, I’ve seen your situation a hundred times, I know what the answer is before you’re even done talking; I’ve got this thing nailed down, now hurry up and take my answer so I can move along to my next call.”

The really successful salespeople know that the first thing a buyer wants is to know that they are completely heard and understood. Until they know that, they’re not going to trust you. After they know that, then you can start using shorthand and jumping to answers – but not until then.  That old corny line about “people don’t care what you know until they know that you care?”  It’s completely, profoundly, true.

Again, the single best thing a salesperson can do is to get really, really good at listening. Not listening to figure out the answer, or listening to mirror or paraphrase, but listening as a sign of respect to the other person. We all like to think we’re tough-as-nails decisive people, but the simple truth is, we all want respect and understanding; and those few people who are willing to invest a little time to give both end up with far greater sales.

LR: How did you end up focusing on the issue of trust in your work, and why should sales professionals be thinking about trust building? Is it something we do just in the beginning of a relationship, or does it have to be an ongoing effort?

CG: I sort of stumbled into it, actually. I spent 10 years consulting, and then 10 years working within a consulting firm, and it taught me one thing, over and over – you can’t make people do what they don’t want to. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. And so on.

Then after leaving consulting, I lucked into a huge exec ed job with Deloitte, through Columbia and Kellogg business schools. I got to be a non-faculty teacher, and the night before the first session the client asked me if I could do something on the idea of a trusted advisor. Long story short, with two other authors, we wrote The Trusted Advisor two years later in 2001.

And to me, the most interesting example of trust in business was in sales.  Because that’s where personal psychology meets bottom line results. There’s no escaping it, selling is personal. And I was really intrigued by what it meant to have personal influence. You can’t get people to buy from you.  What you can do is influence them, and the best watt to influence them is to understand them, and help them get what they want.  What gets in the way of that is all the goal-driven behavior we’ve come to see all too often. Metrics, quarterly goals, CRM systems breaking things down into chunks – if you force your customer to fit into your boxes, you’ll never be fully trusted. But if you’re willing to back off, ease up on the reins, and just trust the human instinct to reciprocate, then you can go help your customers – and lo and behold, the majority of them will then help you. That’s just how it works.

What are YOUR thoughts about trust building and being a sales professional?

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

Lori Richardson is recognized as one of the “Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2012″ and one of “20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management for 2012 and 2013″. Lori speaks, writes, trains, and consults with inside and outbound sellers in technology and services companies. Subscribe to the award-winning blog and the “Sales Ideas In A Minute” newsletter for sales strategies, tactics, and tips. Increase Opportunities. Expand Your Pipeline. Close More Deals.

The post The Power of Trust in B2B Selling appeared first on Score More Sales.

After being in sales for many years, I had an “Aha” moment. I don’t remember ever hearing about this idea in sales training (I’ve been through so many programs over my sales career) but I immediately knew it to be true when it registered in my head. I don’t even know where it came from. This idea has impacted me and hundreds of individual contributors making calls from that day forward whom I’ve had the pleasure to train and coach. It is about the idea of building trust.

Some sellers call and call and don’t leave voice mail. They want to catch their potential customer live on the phone. While I believe in not leaving too many voice mail messages, there are two reasons to leave one – positive branding, and to build trust.

Let’s focus on the trust building today. Here is how simple this idea is:

You leave a voice mail message with a well-crafted, very brief message that shows some connection to the buyer or his/her company (we work with your industry counterparts X and Y), leave them your number, and let them know you’ll be calling back later this week. If you are more specific, that is better. If you don’t have some type of connection to the buyer, you have some value to add in the way of sharing insight. This makes the call warm, and more likely to catch your buyer’s attention. You end the call with something like:

“I’ll call back on Thursday at 9AM. I have a very brief story about why you might be interested in hearing more, and why it seems that our companies can benefit from talking.”

I set a next action in my CRM system (you use one, right?)

I call on Thursday at 9AM. Even if my prospective buyer does not answer, I am building trust because I did what I said I’d do.

You can’t do that when you call with no voice message.

If I use this strategy with a buyer who is just very busy (as most people are) then over time I may have had two or three chances to be a person of my word by saying I’d call back at a certain time and then doing it.

In How to Build Trust in a Virtual Workplace, Keith Ferrazzi notes that some biologists believe we are hard-wired to distrust everyone except our own family members.

The idea is that if you can find ways to build trust by saying what you will do next and then doing it, you are far ahead of your competitors.

This works in integrating social selling into the mix. If I find you on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share an article, story, or relevant insight that can be of help to you, I grow some level of trust that way too.

You also build trust with customer success stories, and with expertise in the niche your buyer is in.

If you are new in sales, then have people around you with expertise because that will help you be confident and convey the same characteristics to build trust with your buyer.

How to you build trust in your company?

What have you noticed about others who are working to build trust with you?

Lori Richardson is recognized as one of the “Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2012″ and one of “20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management for 2012 and 2013″. Lori speaks, writes, trains, and consults with inside and outbound sellers in technology and services companies. Subscribe to the award-winning blog and the “Sales Ideas In A Minute” newsletter for sales strategies, tactics, and tips in selling. Increase Opportunities. Expand Your Pipeline. Close More Deals.

The post Inside Sales Power Tip 114 – Build Trust appeared first on Score More Sales.

Remote professional selling requires a certain level of energy and enthusiasm that conveys confidence in yourself, your company, and your services or products.

It is a fine line between enough and not too much.

Too much is when someone sounds hyped up on more caffeine than a human should be allowed. More than anywhere, I see this when I go into a coffee-house and the barista is talking too much, too loud, and obviously drinking way too much coffee. Sellers who push their product too hard, excusing this behavior as “passion” for their job or company are missing the point.

Passion for what you love and what you believe in shows through. Remote professional sellers are not meeting buyers in person so there is less about body language and more about vocal and written cues.

Your belief in what you are selling comes from the confidence in your voice and how well you connect to the buyer when asking questions and learning about their needs and wants.

It comes through when you follow-up, and when you summarize the conversation – sending them notes in an email after talking. Confidence shows up in the process and methodology you use consistently with each potential buyer – how you connect, what you say, how you communicate, and what happens next.

Don’t think that energy and passion are about talking loud or getting into people’s faces.

“You’ve GOTTA SEE THIS!!”

Really? I have to? What if I don’t?

“YOU ARE MISSING OUT”

Really? So I’m an idiot because I don’t use your company’s services? Gee, thanks.

Instead of pushing onto people, consider taking the approach Lucy did.

Lucy works for a software-as-a-service company. She routinely searches on LinkedIn and other sources for potential buyers who are more probable to buy from her based on 5 criteria she has set (based on her best recent new customers)  to determine her best fit buyers. She has a process and a methodology, which she puts into play every day,and each week gets 5-8 good potential buyers to demo to. From there, she ends up with 2-3 potential new clients, and closes one or two new deals every week.

She is confident because she is professional, organized, and knows the value of the service she provides.

Lucy does not shout – she actually is very soft-spoken – but speaks with such confidence that buyers respect that and respond very favorably. She is building a big, solid sales pipeline and gaining referrals from existing clients.

Energy is consistency.

Energy is follow-up.

Energy is finding what works and with a smile on your face, doing it repeatedly to grow business.

What are your tips and strategies to convey your passion and enthusiasm for what you sell?

How do you show it?

Based on Lucy’s success, what can you learn from it and put into place?

When will you start?

Lori Richardson is recognized as one of the “Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2012″ and one of “20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management for 2012 and 2013″. Lori speaks, writes, trains, and consults with inside and outbound sellers in technology and services companies. Subscribe to the award-winning blog and the “Sales Ideas In A Minute” newsletter for sales strategies, tactics, and tips in selling. Increase Opportunities. Expand Your Pipeline. Close More Deals.

The post Inside Sales Power Tip 113 – Energy appeared first on Score More Sales.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As member 29,426 in a peer group of 225 million +, you could say I saw great potential in LinkedIn way back when. I opened my LinkedIn account on October 3, 2003. What I liked about LinkedIn then is what I continue to like about it as a tool for those in business -

• It is professional
• It is fairly simple to use (ok, I know a few things are not intuitive, but generally LinkedIn is easy)
• It is the “Gold Standard” in professional online  presence - a place to ‘build your personal brand”

As the video shows, LinkedIn could not have done it without all of the user adoption and ongoing use. Ongoing use is a big issue in the SaaS marketplace – studies show that people who do not engage with their software-as-a-service don’t renew it. LinkedIn clearly has made some great moves, and continues to do so.

That’s not to say it hasn’t been a rocky ride.

I invited LinkedIn co-Founder Konstantin Guericke to speak at a technology dinner put on by the MIT Enterprise Forum in Seattle in 2005. It was some time ago, but I still remember vividly a couple of things – how gracious Konstantin was, and how many questions he got asked about how LinkedIn would ever make money. What was the business model?

Konstantin did not have a lot of answers at that time. I’m glad that it was figured out along the way, because LinkedIn is my go-to-tool. I use it everyday, and have talked with thousands of sales professionals, encouraging them to do three things with LinkedIn:

1. Clarify and build their own brand as a professional
   
2. Build their network of trusted peers to grow their reach
3. Listen and engage with their market and industry to offer insight to their buyers

I’m an early adopter because I had moved 3000 miles and didn’t want to lose connections with the great friends I made at CCBN (my last corporate employer) so I reached out to hundreds of my former co-workers in 2003  to connect via LinkedIn.  For sometime, it was THE lifeline I had to these folks as they changed positions and companies over the years.

It could not be more exciting now, though. LinkedIn has hired some social dynamos who are great marketers like Koka Sexton, Ralf VonSosen and Brandon Lopez among others helping to grow the business.

LinkedIn has evolved and improved month in and month out. It can be a challenge to keep up with the new improvements, but I am liking them.

Take a look today at the new channels on LinkedIn Today  - it is easier now to learn what your customers and prospective customers are thinking and reading about. I know this will continue to be my first stop on the web each day.  Learn more about it on the LinkedIn Blog, also a good source to understand LinkedIn’s new features.

I also recommend people visit LinkedIn Training and Support Resources for videos and webinars specific to sellers.

Have you looked into LinkedIn Sales Navigator? Are you aware of these classes to gain better understanding?

As a salesperson or sales leader, what do you like most about LinkedIn?

How are you using it to gain insight?

Is it something you refer to daily or at least multiple times a week?

Let us know. In honor of LinkedIn’s 10 year anniversary, I am awarding 10 Starbucks coffee cards to the top 10 answers received about how you use LinkedIn to sell more and better. The decision will be made by 3 of us here and the top vote-getters will receive coffee cards to use at their local coffeehouse. I don’t know if they work outside of North America. The coffee cards will be awarded and distributed online.

Post your comments by May 16 to be in the running. Good luck, and Happy Anni, LinkedIn.

Lori Richardson is recognized as one of the “Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2012″ and one of “20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management for 2012 and 2013″. Lori speaks, writes, trains, and consults with inside and outbound sellers in technology and services companies. Subscribe to the award-winning blog and the “Sales Ideas In A Minute” newsletter for sales strategies, tactics, and tips in selling. Increase Opportunities. Expand Your Pipeline. Close More Deals.

The post LinkedIn Celebrates 10 Years with Big Enhancements appeared first on Score More Sales.

Going through the motions in a sales position is bad for you as a sales rep and it is not good for your company, either. One of the best things a company can do to get this message across is to have the company president or CEO stand in front of new sales reps (on-boarding training, perhaps?) and make this clear.

When I ran CCBN University (the corporate learning arm of a rapidly growing tech company, which was sold to Thomson Retuers), I always looked forward to our president, Rob Adler kicking off new employee training.

Rob, who is now President of FRT, used to come in and say this with every ounce of energy he had:

“If you have a bad day, it’s understandable sometimes. Everyone does.  But if you have bad day after bad day after bad day, then we need to help you find something else to do here or we’d welcome you to move on. There is no way you can represent us well if you don’t like what you are doing, and it is not good for you either.”

I took a little creative license as it has been a few years. I think I have captured the spirit of what Rob said to each new group of wide-eyed new employees. I’ve referred to this numerous times over the years and recommended other leaders give this talk. Look everyone in the eyes as you deliver it. When it comes from the top, it seems to clarify to everyone that:

1. Unhappiness and mediocrity are not tolerated at our company.

2. You are not doing us any favors by just existing and not applying yourself. Move on.

If you are the sales rep dragging yourself in each day so far this week, challenge yourself today. Don’t just sit and go through the motions of your job. Think about your career. What are you goals? How can you reach to attain them?

If you feel your manager is limiting you or holding you back, what can you do about it?

Despite how you feel about those all around you, how can you compete with yourself?

Can you offer an idea to leadership which could alter how business is being done?

Think about the show, Undercover Boss. The leadership often runs into disgruntled or at least under-appreciated workers who sometimes have great ideas. Voila – they meet, and the employee suddenly gets recognized and helps launch something new.

Without Undercover Boss, how can YOU make a difference? Don’t wait for an intervention.

It does take effort, and your idea may not be appreciated at first. Do research and learn how you can show the ROI of the concept you are thinking about.

The other thing you can do is just focus on your job – and do it better than anyone ever has. Be so much of a standout that leadership will ask you how you do it. Take interest in an underdeveloped market and grow it with new sales. Listen to customers and potential customers. Make a matrix of what people are saying in the market and pass that along.

You can make a difference. It happens all the time – why not with you?

Lori Richardson is recognized as one of the “Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2012″ and one of “20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management for 2012 and 2013″. Lori speaks, writes, trains, and consults with inside and outbound sellers in technology and services companies. Subscribe to the award-winning blog and the “Sales Ideas In A Minute” newsletter for sales strategies, tactics, and tips in selling. Increase Opportunities. Expand Your Pipeline. Close More Deals.

The post Inside Sales Power Tip 112 – Challenge Yourself appeared first on Score More Sales.

Do you know there is an online program where you can gain sales skills from some of the top sales experts in the world? What if I told you the program was underwritten by sponsors so that there is no cost to you to participate? This is an organization I have been a part of for several years and can attest to its professionalism and educational content.

Go now to Top Sales Academy and if you are a sales leader or aspire to be one, and join in on the first group of ten sessions about Sales Management and Leadership.  May 7th is the date of the first session.

Then join me for the Internal (Inside) Sales Series. As a Faculty member, I will be offering one of the sessions there. Our first class starts on July 10th.

After that, Outside (External) Sales courses begin on August 27th.

A series on Consultative Sales begins on November 5th.

The Academy faculty is impressive – and again, session costs are covered – all you have to do is register, show up, and apply what you learn. We could not make it any easier for you.

This means that you can receive online classes to improve your sales skills, make you a better leader, and assist you in closing business through the end of the year.

Don’t wait! My good friend Dr. Jonathan Farrington, CEO of Top Sales World, the worldwide sales industry resource site  has been working hard to pull this together with 50 faculty members for months and months. We are finally ready to launch!

Investing in your professional development is one of the very best things you can do for your self-confidence and evolution in selling skills.

Lori Richardson is recognized as one of the “Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2012″ and one of “20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management for 2012 and 2013″. Lori speaks, writes, trains, and consults with inside and outbound sellers in technology and services companies. Subscribe to the award-winning blog and the “Sales Ideas In A Minute” newsletter for sales strategies, tactics, and tips in selling. Increase Opportunities. Expand Your Pipeline. Close More Deals.

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It was an “aha” moment for me this week at the Boston Chapter meeting of the AA-ISP (American Association of Inside Sales Professionals). The award-winning chapter had a May 1 educational program with nine experts presenting on four topics. In addition to some other very interesting topics, I sat in a session about finding great salespeople and hiring them.

Having been in sales for a number of years, I’m surprised that I haven’t put a matrix together already that helps a sales professional find the best fit next job as possible, and which would help companies decipher who their perfect candidate would be.

Session presenters Mark Rodman, Principal of Xtra Effort Solutions and Jeanne Lambert, Director of Inside Sales at Ping Identity did just that. They called it a Candidate Alignment Chart. It was a big success, and I’m compelled to share a few of the items from it.

What typically happens is that a sales team is in need of a new sales rep.

“If you know of anyone, we are looking for a real superstar”

I’ve been told this dozens and dozens of times over the years and I didn’t ask too many questions other than:

• What type of sales
• Inside or Outside
• Quota responsibility
• location

Additionally, I run into “great” sales candidates all the time, and never screen them in a way other than to tell a company, “Hey, I heard about a great sales rep you might want to interview”

Here are some of Mark and Jeanne’s list to give you some food for thought if you are a candidate or sales leader:

Deal size & frequency - What sized deals is the sales rep comfortable and experienced at closing?  Someone closing many $50K deals needs to understand how different it is to close $500K deals much less frequently. Would they be successful at that?

Start-up vs. Mature Co. – If you are a sales professional working at a start-up, you are going to probably have more autonomy than in a more mature company where the processes and routines are fixed. If you are more independent, you might have a hard time with the structure of a well-oiled sales process that is not looking for much input to improve.  Which would be the right fit?

Team selling – Has the candidate been a part of a team or are they a lone wolf? What does the position require? One type of seller here  is not going to morph into the other.

Solution Maturity – If they have sold a brand name product for some time, and  move to a company with little brand recognition, how might they do? Do they have the skills to really focus on the value we offer and not the big brand name that they are used to?

I have not even mentioned quotas yet  - how big of a quota is an individual used to having, and how successful were they at reaching it?

Ultimately, as I have mentioned previously, many workers in companies are un-engaged and looking for a better situation. This includes sellers. You need to find a company culture that fits for you. If you are wanting to get out there and work as many hours as it takes to prove yourself, you are looking for a different position than someone thinking about work-life balance. Location is critical because some sales people I know are commuting 3-4 hours every day. Really.

Next time someone mentions they know of the “perfect” candidate for your open sales position, or you as a seller decide to look at other career opportunities, know that there are at least 17 areas of considerations to be thinking about.

Lori Richardson is recognized as one of the “Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2012″ and one of “20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management for 2012 and 2013″. Lori speaks, writes, trains, and consults with inside and outbound sellers in technology and services companies. Subscribe to the award-winning blog and the “Sales Ideas In A Minute” newsletter for sales strategies, tactics, and tips in selling. Increase Opportunities. Expand Your Pipeline. Close More Deals.

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