Trust Trumps

All Part Two

(even when second thoughts arise)

Last time we spoke of the value of trust in both personal and business relationships. How the love of a mother-in-law can prevail.  How we touched on having trust and faith in your family physician and deciding whether she had the skill to perform brain surgery on your child.  Or not.

We also spoke on how we typically look at trust, what we do trust, and what we don’t.  Human nature types of stuff. 

Today we’ll discuss how trust can be tested, even betrayed and still win the day.  This time we’ll take a deeper look into trust as it pertains to business; the path to purchase.

Trust Comes Fast or Slow

If you happen to be a used car salesperson, trust, for the most part, is going to have to be earned, slowly.  There’s been far too many horror stories about the plaid sports coat wearing dude hustling unsuspecting shoppers into buying “their dream car” for too much money, too quickly. 

It’s the same thing with other items that may cost more than a few days wages.  Meeting someone that resonates immediately will build trust fairly quickly, although it will need to be reviewed at subsequent interactions.  Other times, the first-impression level of trust may cause one to be immediately suspect, and therefore guards are elevated and won’t be let down too quickly until trust is enhanced a bit at a time.

We as humans are naturally gullible and tend to take people at their word, for the most part.  Of course, there are those of us that naturally suspect everyone and everything at all times. Sort of like being from Missouri:   Show me!”

The Path to Purchase

From a business perspective, those shoppers that have come to trust a product, service, and the entity or person offering it at whatever speed they determine is adequate.  Some quickly, some taking their time.  Past history of the individual typically formulates their beliefs, and those on the selling end should be knowledgeable of this attribute.

When sufficient trust is established in all things pertinent to the buying transaction, the shopper becomes a buyer.  That journey may have been swift, or it dragged out for a time.  Regardless, even though sufficient trust has been established, it is still a fragile thing, suspect to a change in mood or degree.  We as professional salespersons need to be aware of this fact, and always do our absolute best to reinforce that trust by displaying knowledge, integrity, faith in the process, and faith in the buyer’s good judgement.

That trust can be damaged easily because it is such a newly acquired trait in the buyer.  Should something come up on the process of purchasing the goods or services in question, that trust must be reinforced with additional knowledge to assuage the objection, integrity in the after-transaction policy of the seller, or some other action or activity that shores up the trust level of the purchaser.  Otherwise, calling it quits is all too easy to occur.

Image Credit: Clientell

That’s where the true character of the sales individual and the integrity of the company comes in.  While it may be easy to overcome an objection from the buyer, it isn’t so easy to uphold what promises may have been made to ensure that the integrity and trust are maintained throughout the buyer-seller relationship.

Risk Reversal

That’s when things like money-back guarantees, lifetime warranty programs offered help to shore up the promises of performance, durability and effectiveness of what is being purchased.  

When a 100%, money-back guarantee is offered, there should be no strings attached of any kind.  Should the buyer not like the box the item came in, the color of the salesperson’s hair, or the fact that it showed up on a Tuesday rather than Monday should bd reason enough to request a complete and satisfactory refund. 

After all, refunds and returns are part of the particulars of commerce.  It’s part of doing business.  Here’s a question for you.  Would you purchase something that did not have a money-back guarantee? 

Now, there may be laws that prevent those things, or supplier requirements that prevent the return of new merchandise that cannot remain new once sold, like a brand-new car driven off the lot.  It only makes sense. 

However, how many more new cars be sold IF there were a 100% money-back guarantee within 7 or 14 days of purchase to return it?  Loads, I would imagine. 

Reversing as much risk from the buyer is a great way to raise the level of trust, reinforce the value of an item or service, and make the path to purchase smoother. 

Making the journey painless, easy, and reassuring is the role of any good business owner or manager.  Maintaining that trust throughout the buying process is critical for establishment of a sound relationship with the customer.  It’s what happens once the transaction is sealed, the new customer, client or patient is now a part of the family that really matters for the long-term success of the business, their clientele, and their sustainability in both trust, integrity, and referral business. 

Cheers!