It’s All About Building Trust x 3
By Richard F. Libin, President, APB
Trust is one of the most important and fragile of human emotions. And, it is essential to almost every aspect of our lives that require relationships. In business, it is critical that customers trust that the person, the product, and the business they are dealing with will be honest, reliable and authentic. Lack of trust or trust that has been broken, always leads to one place: lost relationships and sales.
Before customers purchase, they must trust three things:
The product
The dealership
The salesperson
At APB, we refer to this as a Trust Triad, where the customer is firmly in the center of the relationship. The question is, how do you earn this level of trust? It requires thoughtful, planned, and sincere interaction with customers by every employee, regardless of their job, and a management team that is committed to training and educating its team on the process, communication, and other success factors.
First impressions matter. You must look and present yourself professionally, even on casual days. Your image reflects on the business and product you’re selling. Greeting a customer with a positive attitude sets the tone for the entire interaction. If you bring optimism and professionalism to every customer exchange, why wouldn’t every customer feel comfortable working with you? Why wouldn’t they trust you?
First impressions must be supported with exceptional service. Remember, a salesperson’s job is to help customers find the product or service that meets their unique needs, wants, and desires. By listening and focusing on customers’ needs not on selling, you will deliver a superior experience and product or service.
Deliver exceptional treatment consistently through clear communication, active listening, and an honest understanding of customers’ unique reasons for buying. Give every customer the exact class of service you’d expect if you were the customer, whether they buy now, today, next week, or next year. Customers shouldn’t have to transact business to receive exceptional service.
Delivering consistently high service requires a clearly defined process, a positive attitude, and continuous improvement and training. A companywide process ensures that salespeople ask specific questions, collect information that can guide the sales process, and find the right product or service, exactly the same way every time. This consistency can exceed customer expectations and strengthen customer trust in the salesperson.
Monitoring performance and providing additional, ongoing training is essential in determining how well the process is followed, its effectiveness, and how it can be improved. This must happen daily. Even so, it is up to each individual to decide how much training they want. The question is, “Do you want to be adequate or exceptional?” To be exceptional you must take the initiative to learn every day through informal and formal means. 
Building trust - while a never-ending process, is achievable. It demands your commitment to a professional image, consistent, exceptional service, and ongoing education. The rewards from building this level of trust with customers can be profitable now, and in the future.
 
About the Author:
Richard F. Libin has written two acclaimed books that help people of all walks of life improve their sales skills, because as he says, “Everyone is a selling something.” His most recent book, Who Knew?, and his first book, “Who Stopped the Sale?” (www.whostoppedthesale.com), is now in its second edition. As president of APB-Automotive Profit Builders, Inc., a firm with more than 49 years experience working with both sales and service professionals, he helps his clientele, through personnel development and technology, to build customer satisfaction and maximize gross profits in their businesses. Mr. Libin can be reached at rlibin@apb.cc or 508-626-9200 or www.apb.cc.