New professionals entering the work force hear the words but may not understand how to do it. Experienced professionals who think they may have been doing it for many years may have forgotten how to do it or don’t care to do it anymore. The “it” I am referring to is earning customer trust.
Earning customer trust is a strong and powerful business metric based on mutual understanding and respect between an organization, its sales people, its support people, and its customers. Many times, that trust is infused into the brand itself and many times it is earned every day by every interaction between your company and your customers. One misstep and break in customer trust can destroy years of building value through relationships. Customer trust can be measured in terms of satisfaction, through surveys, and other tools but the ultimate measure of customer trust is sustained, predictable Sales Revenue which is generated from customers beginning and then continuing to buy from your company.
The Diminishing of Customer Trust in Today’s VUCA World
In today’s volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous business world it’s easy to get lost in change and the volume of distractions that we think are leading to business survival. Unfortunately, one of the things that is easy to forget and neglect is earning customer trust.
This week, I was working with a group of Sales Professionals and Customer Support Specialists in the high-tech space on a Business Acumen for Sales Professionals program and noticed some profound and regrettable changes in the approach to developing and supporting customer trust. With increased pressure for performance, decreasing prices, and decreased demand, the participants I was working with have started to fall into the traps of other industries that have become commoditized and have lost their ability to maintain premium pricing and relationships. But in working with the team, I noticed a few disturbing trends:
The level of “smugness” was off the scale
Too many of the learners I was working with were spewing out big, technical terms and when we did our role play exercises talked over the customers with ridiculous, non-sensical words and phrases that had nothing to do with customer needs. The level of smugness and “I-know-it-all-and-you-don’t” was terrible and this approach does nothing toward earning customer trust.
Baffling them with BS is not a strategy
In addition to the smugness, I noticed an increased reliance to pure, unadulterated BS as a core part of messaging. “Digital this” and “Digital that” wrapped around some technical specs is not a strategy to present value and earn customer trust.
No acknowledgement of the customer experience
Too many of my interactions with these Sales Professionals was all about themselves and had nothing to do with the customer. In one role play interaction one participants said the following. “We developed this new technology that I think is the best in the world. How about if you take a look at the specs and challenge me to defend it.” Really? Asking the customer to challenge you? I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
Earning customer trust is more than three words. It’s a deliberate and thoughtful process that must be taken seriously and must be supported by training and development. I shared with my group three things they can do immediately to get back on the right track:
- Know Your Customers Business
Do the research and spend the time to understand and know your customer’s business. Prepare, review, ask questions, and confirm.
- Be Humble in the Process
Kendrick Lamar had a smash hit last year called HUMBLE. Sales people, be HUMBLE! Your smugness will not build relationships and will not earn you sales and long-term revenue streams.
- Be Likable
No matter how much technology, AI, video conferencing, and social selling is involved, business is still based on relationships. Take the time to be likable. Think about how you come across to customers and develop ways of being more likable because if your customers actually like you they will do business with you.