Change Your Life: Start Trusting Somebody

Unhappy?  The economic crisis still looms drearily over the horizon.  Home prices continue to sink further into the pit of negative equity.  War continues to take lives in the Middle East.  Organizational stability is at an all-time low. 

What's a salesperson to do? 

Today, June 20, 2011 there is a trend simmering in our profession: 

Take what you can get
Everyone for themselves
Win at all costs. 

These expressions of desperation are contagious.  We bicker over account ownership.  We fight back to corporate management and policy.  We rage against the "other" departments in our company.  We go to great measures to show that we are right and will do almost anything to protect our own ass!  These symptoms only lead to spillage into our personal lives, our physical lives, our emotional well-being.

Tomorrow, June 21, 2011, let's try something different. 

As salespeople in front of customers, we have choices. 
Trust or Protect. 
Expose your position or Hide. 
Reach out for a relationship with a customer or get a transaction completed. 

Give people the benefit of the doubt and believe that, overall, they are motivated to do the right thing.  Do you keep your "cards close to the vest" during sales calls?  If so, what happens if you expose a card?  What if you actually TELL your customer that you're going to expose it?  What would happen?  What if the consequence of doing so creates a spark of trust between two people? 

Trust turns into relationships.  Selling is about relationships.

Take a risk by providing value first - even though your competitor might see it. 
Take a risk by exposing that you're human - even though your sales coach told you not to do so. 
Take a risk by proving that you really are who you want to be - even though it may put a sale in jeopardy.  Motivations are the key behind behavior. 

What's your end-game strategy:  purchase order or happiness? 
Want both - trust somebody tomorrow.