Credibility and Trust

That is an excellent article about what prospective clients look for in a salesperson, particularly in the area of service related selling. Thanks for sharing. I printed it and saved it.

But I saw nothing in it about predisposition towards salespeople. Instead the author listed three important components that would influence the trust factor during the actual experience with the salesperson.

Do you see the difference? Or not?

That was for Iceman's original question.

It's already there.

• Do you T/R people that don't seem to have your best interests at heart?

Do you believe then that we can't be "out to make a sale", which hopefully we are, and have the prospects best interest at heart at the same time? Do you really?

You sell distressed property. If I was in the process of buying from you and I observed that you did not seem to have my best interest at heart, I would readily dismiss you. But do you think that the knowledge that you were out to make a sale is something I would hold against you?

Put in simpler terms. You are out to make a sale, right? I mean..you're here...and it's a forum for salespeople. But are you saying you don't have your prospect's best interest at heart? I don't believe that's true about you for one moment.

I know you looked back at SalesGuy's list and found that. But do you see the difference? Or not?

I think it's pretty easy to see that SalesGuy and Ron are about a salesperson putting his/her own interest above the customers.

Where would you get that idea?

Other than the unfortunate reality that the customer brings this perception to the table, no.

Exactly. And--- the link you provided was terrific to that end. Early on in this thread, a premise crept in that inferred that conditions of distrust of salespeople was overwhemingly prevelant. If you except that, then it goes with out saying that in order to create conditions of trust and respect, you have to overcome conditions that are the exact opposites.

It is akin to the difference between work and struggle. For years I have observed that in the absence of struggle, many salespeople will create a reason for it. Creating an image in our own mind that the world at large thinks that the profession we have chosen, or fallen into, is filled with charlatans, is an example of that.

I think the quote by Ron says it all.

Who said anything about charlatans?

That may or may not be your reality---I'm honestly not sure---but it's not mine.

If I illadvisedly chose to put it in my mind, it would not coincide with what I experience in real life every day.

In comparing SaleGuy's and Willingham's remarks you meant perception of "a salesperson putting his/her own interest above the customers", didn't you? You didn't say so. I mean there certainly is a difference.

I did. Willingham never mentioned that word in his book. I think it fits as a word picture for what some would have us believe is in the general public's minds. I can use my own material, can't I? I mean I'm not restricted to others' words.