“The goal of most sales books and training programs is to get more sales. The goal of trust-based selling is to help the customer…The paradox is that if you abandon attachment to the sale as the goal and instead do the sale as a fortunate byproduct, you'll actually do better.” - Charles H. Green

The trust equation

How do we measure trust? In sales and marketing, the fundamentals of interpersonal trust haven’t changed despite the digitization of the past 20 years. The mediums may change, but ultimately, it’s about people connecting with other people. While that sounds simple, in practice it can be complicated. That’s why Founder of Trusted Advisor Associates Charlie Green has distilled the elements of trust into one equation.

Charlie delves into how building trust is a boon to interpersonal and even organizational success. In our conversation, he explains and gives examples of each element of trust, the trends he sees in his work with business leaders, and how showing up for relationships authentically better serves others in the end.

Myths of trust:

[15:56] “ [that] trust takes a long time to build and a moment to destroy. Time is not the issue. Courage is the issue. It's the ability to react appropriately to the other person in the moment.”

Trust helps you serve better:

[18:07] “The problem is never what the client said it was in the first meeting. And that's not the fault of the client, they're trying to do their best job of defining what the problem is and have all their own unconscious biases…but the magic that happens between seller and buyer, if it's done right, results in a higher-level, more complex, more accurate shared problem definition. And that's a very valuable part of the consultative relationship, coming to a shared definition of what really is the problem.

Position yourself to earn trust:

[27:45] “We've all had conversations with people who are checked out, and you can feel, 'they're not paying attention to me', 'they don't care what my answer is to this'…and we don't trust those people. On the other hand, if somebody does us the grace, the dignity, the honor, the respect of actually paying attention, we’re drawn to those people. And we reciprocate and listen to what they have to say. It's a matter of respect, in a way.”

Resources mentioned in this Episode:

https://trustedadvisor.com/ videos, articles, etc.

The Trusted Advisor 20th Anniversary Edition

https://trustedadvisor.com/books

https://www.edelman.com/trust/2020-trust-barometer

www.rise-leaders.com/podcast Episode 17: Building Trust at Work: The Trust Equation

https://rise-leaders.com/trust-equation-guide-2/ Trust Equation Guide

https://www.linkedin.com/in/charleshgreen/

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