Trust

Zig Ziglar once said: “If people like you, they will listen to you. If they trust you, they will do business with you.” Taking that thought a little further, if people trust you, they will also refer others to you.

Obviously if people do not trust you they will not do business with you nor will they refer others to you. We must gain the trust of others if we are to be successful in gaining their business and especially if we are to gain their referrals. How do we do that; how do we gain someone’s trust to the degree that they will tell their closest partners about us and urge them to do business with us?

It has been previously been discussed that we must get people to know us and like us before they will trust us. That is still true today. If someone doesn’t know you or doesn’t like you, then they will not trust you. This is simply common sense. We must get acquainted; we must get to know each other and decide if we like each other for there to be a business relationship possible.

How do we get to know someone after we meet them for the first time? We must spend some time speaking with them, finding out the background of their life and business, and developing a relationship with them. Without that time spend in research, we cannot decide how must we like the other person, or if we ever will trust them. We cannot develop a true relationship without taking time to learn about them.

Building relationships are all that building a business is about. Without relationships we will have no continued business with anyone, and we have no basis for gaining their trust or their referrals. You cannot survive if all you do is attempt the quick sale, over and over. You must build relationships with those whom you meet. Relationships are what your business needs to survive over time.

Wouldn’t it be better to have referrals driving your continued business success than having to beat the bushes over and over for the next customer? If you continue to look for the fast sale and never try to build relationships, you are leaving your business growth and success to chance. You are rolling the dice every day and gambling with the future of your success. You are also gambling that people will overlook what you are doing, damaging your reputation, both in business and as a person.

How many people have you heard tell you that they don’t like a pushy sales person? How many have told you that they really don’t like sales people in general? Then, how about you stop being a sales person and start building relationships with others? You may find that you like this process that doesn’t have the pressure of finding the next customer and instead lets you be the wonderful, supportive person that you believe yourself to be.

Why not try finding out what makes others do whatever they do, how they came to be where you met them, and what they need to make their business better? Then maybe you could discover what you can do to help them gain whatever they need and how to build a relationship for the long haul. Do you believe that the other person will learn more about you, perhaps like you, and as a result trust you?

People build relationships with those whom they know, like, and trust. They do business with those relationships, and they refer business to those same relationships. Stop trying to sell whatever you have to everyone. Start trying to build relationships and help those others obtain whatever they need. Then you both will gain the business and referrals that you deserve. That’s Appreciation Marketing.

Who have you build a relationship with lately? Is it something that you try to do each and every day with everyone that you meet? Try it, and you may be pleasantly surprised. Please leave me your comments, or email me at Jim@JimTeasley.com, or call me at 360-314-8691.