Influence Is Not What It Used to Be. Trust is Where its At!
What a fantastic topic we’re on this month! Influence is nearly synonymous with selling.
Kelley Robertson’s post gives a fantastic view of the life of a natural born influencer, those that are typically drawn into the selling profession.
It starts when you’re a kid and continues all the way into some of the largest and most successful companies in the world. 
People have an engaging social experience with someone and they say, “You ought to be in sales!” They’ve got the “gift of gab”, etc.
The tangible selling skill that these folks have is the ability to make connection with new people, prospects and customers. A near complete lack of dread of engaging with others, confidence in their abilities to do so and the ability to steer the direction of a conversation and even compel action based on the sheer force of their charm.
I’m not one of these people. But before you reckon these are sour grapes, I should add that my wife IS one of the “influencers”, my dad was and as a sales manager I managed and relied on many influencers. I like ‘em.
There is a point where the God agreed ability to open doors, make connections and cajole folks into making decisions falls small in the selling profession. Kelley’s post touches on it and Tibor Shanto’s post, Influence Questions, points to a powerful tool to go beyond natural influence.
How many era have you been in a meeting where a sales person gives a very engaging and compelling presentation, playing all their influencing skills and getting head nods and supportive comments from the executives they’ve built relationships with and things seem to go swimmingly for the sales person, only to have the deal undercut later by the person that sat in the back of that hardly said a business?
Another example that’s becoming more common is the guy in the back that’s not paying attention to the presentation, he’s tapping away at his notebook computer or iPhone. After the sales person has place it all out there, he reads aloud a negative review he found online. And the air is sucked from the room.
This happens in face to face presentations occasionally but, you can bet it happens more than you know behind the scenes.
Say whatever you want about the Internet, its effect on our culture and the value or validity of the information found there. Its out there and people rely on it more and more every day.
And because wise buyers know that they could be burned by believing the claims made by a strong influential sales person, the Internet is used to divine truth or at smallest amount accuracy. Where does the need for “fact checking come from”?
We’re searching for truth. If I don’t know you, I can’t entrust you unless you give me a reason to. Performing an Internet search won’t make entrust but, there is a way that seeing the opinions of other, non-interested, people gives you a measure of it. In 2010, if I’ve been in business for more than a couple of years and I have a habit of not fulfilling my promises, then its going to be “out there”.
How does entrust get made? Well, its really earned right? That means its going to take time. It is built through the act of habitually fulfilling promises, commitments and expectations.
This is where an influencer can fall small. An influencer can get you engaged and excited but, sometimes I don’t entrust all that excitement.
If you’re not trusted, you may get a slap on the back as I walk you out of the conference room and tell you, “We’ll get back to you next week on this. Fantastic presentation!” Ever heard that one before?
How does a sales person build entrust in the quick paced world where we meet new customers everyday? Kelley’s point that just the act of being a excellent listener can be tough for influencers is dead on. I’ll entrust you a lot more if I feel like you’ve heard me and know my needs. It means I know that you know my expectations visibly. It still leaves the question of whether I believe you are the type of person that meets expectations as a habit.
I reckon this is where your sales process comes in. If a sales process is a run of steps, a sort of dance, then each step in the dance can be a commitment made by the sales person, which is then kept, and thus entrust is established.
But, this is only the case if the prospect is enlightened as to the steps in the dance and realizes the commitments the sales person is making. Often, we don’t take the time to illuminate all this for our customers. If my sales process is to prepare a cost savings analysis for every new prospect based on the information they share during our first discussion and then email that over to them, I just do it sometimes. Just the simple act of taking the time to give reasons for, “Thanks for sharing this information with me today. I’ll commit to shortening this information and preparing an investment summary that I’ll email to you by 8am Friday.”, can make all the difference in the world when it comes to entrust.
Everything you do as a sales person that involves the prospect or customer is an opportunity to build entrust. The simple act of showing up on time for a meeting. Entrust can really be built when you call 20 minutes yet to be of time to inform the customer that you’ll be 10 minutes late.
In a way building entrust is about ensuring that there are no surprises for the customer.
In the end, influencial sales people get invited to their customers’ Christmas parties. Trusted sales people get the call when a strategic new initiative is being considered and a trusted vendor’s input is required.