Building Trust Through Meaningful Relationship Building in Sales

Ask most salespeople, and they'll tell you that sales is all about the relationship.

But if you ask them how they go about building that relationship quickly and intentionally, the answers tend to fall a little flat. I often hear things like finding similarities and common ground, like alma maters or favorite sports teams or asking the prospect personal questions about their family or career path. My personal least favorite is talking about the weather or traffic patterns.

Maybe that last one's just a Midwest trend.

A salesperson's value is in direct proportion to the questions they ask. The deep, challenging questions can shift paradigms and create clarity that enables prospects to make decisions that support their goals. If a prospect is unable to trust a salesperson, they withhold information in fear that if they reveal it to the salesperson it will be used to take advantage of the prospect and their situation.

I don't think salespeople intentionally skip this step. In fact, I think most salespeople would say this is their strongest step. However, I believe many salespeople are focused on whether they bond with the prospect versus the prospect bond with them. This can result in the salesperson being blindsided when they don't close the sale because they feel the relationship was stronger than it really was.

All of this requires the salesperson to be present and remove all focus from themselves and place it all on the prospect. As human beings, some of our basic needs are to be seen, heard, and understood.

This step is all about bonding rapport. If the salesperson effectively executes the bonding rapport step, the prospect will easily share information with them. If the salesperson is a good steward of that information, the prospect will help create a path that will enable both parties to work together toward the best solution.