Book

Trust-Based Selling

Using Customer Focus and Collaboration to Build Long-Term Relationships

Charles H. Green

McGraw-Hill, 2005

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Many sales experts advocate developing relationships with your clients rather than focusing on single transactions. Charles H. Green encourages you to earn and cherish the trust of your customers; that means putting their needs ahead of yours. He promises that trust-based relationships will generate more income for you in the long run, but only if you are genuinely sincere. You cannot feign trustworthy behavior as a sales tactic; it must come from your heart. Green tells you how to earn real trust, using his four-step sales process and five-step trust-building procedure. He offers a plethora of examples, practical suggestions and useful lists, repeating some strategies for emphasis. getAbstract encourages career salespeople to use this book.

Summary

The Two Steps of Purchasing

Even when you are selling "complex products and intangible services," remember that buyers look for four things: a product, a solution, a worthy business partner and someone they can trust. Yet, salespeople generally overlook "trust-based selling," and turn to the traditional promotion of product features and benefits instead. That means they aren't taking advantage of an important fact: Customers do business with people they trust.

Buyers use a two-step process when purchasing products and services: 1) Consumers screen providers based on experience, technology and reputation; and 2) They look for sellers who understand and appreciate their problems, and provide valuable expertise. Individuals prefer to do business with someone who genuinely cares. Caring sincerely about your customers means putting their interests ahead of your own. If you are selling from trust, you even will recommend a competitor, if that gets your client what he or she needs.