Trust

"Trust me on this."

Have you heard this before? Have you heard this from someone trying to sell you something? What was your reaction?

If you are like most people, your trust in the speaker dropped. Significantly.

Trust is not something you can demand. Nor can you buy it, win it or simply find it. You have to earn it through hard work and determination.

Trust others. Be trustworthy.

Both of these are hard to do on a regular basis.

Without being a puppy dog, do you trust the management above you? Do you trust your customers to be honest with you, without you asking them to be? Do you trust your fellow salespeople to be doing the right thing for you when you are not there? For some people, one or more of these actions is jump-out-at-30,000-feet scary. I have been asked to cover for someone going out on the road, but that person invariably called in to see what was going on. He beat me to his voice mails, he jumped in on emails whenever he could. He just could not let it go. If this person wanted me to trust him, what do you think would be running through my mind? The golden rule prevails. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I could not trust this guy as far as I could throw him.

Being trustworthy is a no-brainer. But how often do you bend that a bit. A little white lie. An inflated forecast. A call note of a call that did not really happen. When is the last time you bent the policies or price list to try to get a lower price on the quote? Each one of these is a little chip off the rock of trust. Chip away at it too much, even with different tools each time, and soon there is nothing left to stand on.

If you find that people don't seem to trust you, take a look at your own actions. In both directions, are you building trust on a regular basis? By trusting others and by being trustworthy. Are you building trust in everything you do?

Comments

  1. Chris BorowskiOctober 20, 2009 at 7:23 PM

    Thank you Bernie. I am gleaning a lot of insight reading your blogs. Mine own are simple but you've got to start somewhere right.

    Chris Borowski
    csboro@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete

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