Closing a sale is no longer just a matter of being on good terms with the customer or overcoming objections. It’s now a matter of trust.

Trust is an extremely rare commodity, built up slowly and painstakingly. It’s fragile, capable of being shaken or even destroyed by a single action or mistake. Building and maintaining trust is essential for establishing a long-term relationship.

Trust must be earned – and re-earned

Some people may be able to manipulate a customer into buying once, but they won’t establish a partnership until there is trust. If customers trust you, they’ll tell you their needs and expectations — and give you their business for years.

One slip up — a broken promise, a false claim, a breach of trust — and you risk losing a customer forever.

Here are four keys to earning customers’ trust:

1. Clarity. Prospects count on salespeople to explain benefits in terms they can understand.
2. Mutual commitment. Prospects enter into contracts with the salespeople they feel most secure with. The more both parties trust each other, the stronger the business relationship will be.
3. Shared development. Salespeople earn trust by always looking for new ways to improve the prospect’s business.
4. Focus. Prospects look for salespeople who can choose two or three customer-centric benefits and focus everything else around them.

Source: Wesley Forcier, President of Alpha Marketing, Brookline, MA.

Tags: benefits, establishing trust, relationship, Trust