Reg Gupton offers information on trust and respect in selling

Hi Folks

For some time I have been interested in a concept called High Probability Selling. You can find more information here.

In the newsletter that arrived today, there appeared the article below. It contains valuable research on what buyers are looking for.

Read and learn.

To your continued success,

Reg Gupton

Trust and Respect: The
Ultimate Competitive Advantage

By Jacques Werth, President
Time to Read: 4 Minutes
Word Count: 644

Dear Reg,

Does your selling style address the most fundamental needs
of your prospects? What are the most important factors to
someone making an important buying decision?

Universities and market research firms have conducted
numerous studies to determine the most important buying
decision factors for people who make significant
purchases. We gathered as many of those studies as we
could find, and did simple correlation analyses to
average out the results. Here are the results, in order
of importance.

Weighted Values* of Buying Decision Factors(c)

1. Level of Trust in the Salesperson: 87
2. Level of Respect for the Salesperson: 82
3. Reputation of the Company or Product: 76
4. Features of the Product or Service: 71
5. Quality and Service: 58
6. Price (non-commodity): 16
12. Like the Salesperson (rapport): 3

* (Weight = percentage of people listing each factor
in their top 5)

The average salesperson knows how to effectively present
four of the seven factors cited above: Reputation (#3),
Features (#4), Quality and Service (#5), and Rapport (#12).
Most salespeople try to handle the two most important
buying decision factors, Trust (#1) and Respect (#2),
by establishing Rapport (#12).

Building "Rapport" is an inherently manipulative tactic.
Ironically, typical salespeople attempt to establish Trust
and Respect, non-manipulative factors, by manipulating
people. Building rapport doesn't establish trust and
respect, it diminishes trust and respect. That's why only
3% of all buyers surveyed rate 'Like the Salesperson' as
an important buying decision factor.

If Trust and Respect are so important, why don't most
salespeople learn how to establish relationships of trust
and respect with their prospects and customers? We've come
to the conclusion that there are three reasons:

1. Most salespeople don't know that it can be done.

2. If they learn a process that develops that kind of
relationship, they feel uncomfortable using it
because it's very unconventional.

3. Trust and Respect are very personal emotions,
and sharing emotions is commonly regarded as
only suitable for intimate relationships. Most
salespeople have a fear of intimacy. Yet, we've
found that less than 1/2 of 1 percent of prospects
and customers have a fear of intimacy.

Let's suppose you're faced with a very important buying
decision. Let's say you have decided to relocate thirty
miles away from where you live now, so that you and your
spouse will both have shorter commutes to work. So, you
need to sell your current home and buy a new one. To whom
would you entrust the sale of your most valued possession?
Are you going to entrust the sale of your house to a charming
and friendly Realtor who tells you that they have the best
marketing system, the best skills, the best negotiating
ability, and affiliation with the biggest real estate firm?
Or, will you hire the Realtor whom you trust and respect
the most to sell your most valued possession?

Regardless of whether you sell to consumers or B-2-B, all
sales are made to people. When the sales are significant,
most people want to buy from someone they trust and
respect. Why? Fear of loss is the most important buying
motivation. You could lose tens of thousands in the hands
of an untrustworthy Realtor. At work, choosing an unreliable
vendor could cost you a raise, a promotion, or your job.

If you learn a process that establishes relationships of
mutual trust and respect with prospects during your first
conversation with them, you will have the ultimate
competitive advantage. If not, hope to be the most
persuasive salesperson your prospects meet- and hope that
someone who practices High Probability Selling isn't your
competitor!