Credibility and Trust

I think if you polled the general public with the question "Do you trust salesmen?" the answer would probably be more towards NO. However, I think the real life actions of people are to the contrary. I can't think of a time I have walked into a sales situation where I started out not trusting the salesman. I think I start at a point of indifference, then through our interaction I will start to lean toward trust or distrust.

I think a similar profession to compare this to would be lawyers. I think if you did a poll of whether people think that "Lawyers are sharks" or something similar, most people would have a negative feeling of lawyers. However, if you have ever went to get a Will, Trust, or any other work done with a lawyer, I heavily doubt you walked into the situation with the feeling that you were dealing with a "shark".

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Originally Posted by Gary Boye

In this particular instance, if you are implying that the general public's perception of salespeople in general agrees with yours, I would say that is incorrect.

What do you believe my perception of salespeople is?

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Originally Posted by Derek

I think if you polled the general public with the question "Do you trust salesmen?" the answer would probably be more towards NO. However, I think the real life actions of people are to the contrary. I can't think of a time I have walked into a sales situation where I started out not trusting the salesman. I think I start at a point of indifference, then through our interaction I will start to lean toward trust or distrust.

IMO, trust for many does not come by default.

Given the "salesperson vs. customer" attitude that has been propagate over the years via "traditional sales training" I can see why the public is sceptical and untrusting of salespeople. IMO, this is an obstacle that salespeople need to acknowledge and prepare for.

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Originally Posted by Liberty

Given the "salesperson vs. customer" attitude that has been propagate over the years via "traditional sales training" I can see why the public is sceptical and untrusting of salespeople. IMO, this is an obstacle that salespeople need to acknowledge and prepare for.

Liberty, given that only a relatively small portion of the public is privy to the elements of "traditional sales training", do you think that the behavour founded from that training that the public is then exposed to is what makes them as skeptical and untrusting as you suggest?

That would be an interesting paradox. Traditional sales training teaches methods to establish trust which then, when used, impair trust. Paradox or not---I'm inclined to agree with your remark about traditional sales training.

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Originally Posted by Gary Boye

...do you think that the behavour founded from that training that the public is then exposed to is what makes them as skeptical and untrusting as you suggest?

I think that a large portion of sales training materials instruct salespeople to be agressive, thick skinned, don't take no for an answer, and so on. This type of behavior is counter productive to establishing or maintaining trust.

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Originally Posted by SalesGuy

What do you believe my perception of salespeople is?

Possibly negative which surprises me. When you said on this thread, "To answer Iceman's question, I think the general public is very distrusting of salespeople and for good reason.", the good reason part made me think that could be the case.

"General public" is sort of a catch-all term. I guess it could decribe the people in my own life, inner and outer circles, which includes...like your own...family friends, associates, former employees, former employers, partners, members of professional and common interest groups, prospects, and, of course, past and present clients, etc.

I thought about it, because of course I value everbody's opinions who post here. I was able to come up with only three people---there certainly could be more who actuall voiced a negative attitude towards salespeople in my presence.

One actually happened this past week--a physician who is a client said something partially in jest suggesting that a salesperson would "tell you anything." Most of her conversation outside of our business, however',centered on how disillusioned she was being a physician her remorse and that she's not making the money she thought she would make. Another comment in the last two years came from a friend who is a tool and die maker and talks a lot about how he hates his job and is just putting in the time. The last example was from a customer and family aquaintence who owns a struggling distributorship for industrial parts. He, too,is very stressed out with his lot in life.

Those are the only cases I can think of. Your comments of course--I left that out. So that make four. I'm sure there are more like I mentioned.

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Originally Posted by Liberty

I think that a large portion of sales training materials instruct salespeople to be agressive, thick skinned, don't take no for an answer, and so on. This type of behavior is counter productive to establishing or maintaining trust.

I very much agree with you.

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Originally Posted by Gary Boye

Possibly negative which surprises me.

My perception of salespeople is by no means "negative".

I'm not sure I'm reading this right. Gary are you saying that the general public's initial reaction towards salespeople is one of trust?

So, for example, when the general public first drives up to a car dealership they would initially trust the salesperson because they believe the salesperson will be looking after their best interests?

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Originally Posted by Houston

I'm not sure I'm reading this right. Gary are you saying that the general public's initial reaction towards salespeople is one of trust?

Perhaps you aren't: Here is what was said:

SG:
To answer Iceman's question, I think the general public is very distrusting of salespeople and for good reason.

Me:
In this particular instance, if you are implying that the general public's perception of salespeople in general agrees with yours, I would say that is incorrect.

I also described in a subsequent post that my observations of the various facets of the general public have rarely revealed a common attitude of distrust.

Understand that if I take my own life experiences, I must weigh them heavier than opinions I read on a forum, or for that matter, many other sources. I think that everybody should in a lot of cases.

To address your auto dealership question, I think that some people driving up to such a place might feel an attitude of distrust towards some unknown salesperson they envision meeting. I don't know the percentage. But they would probably not be among the large percentages of repeat customers, return prospects, referred prospects, and experienced car buyers who are not gun shy. Members of those groups would not often be driven by distrust.

Credibility and Trust

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