One of the many lessons learned from my work with Trusted Advisor Associates is to have an “other focus” (or client focus) to build trust.
One way to lower your self-orientation is to detach from the outcome.
Here’s what can happen if we attach to the outcome:
- We do more talking than listening so we can get to the close
- We interrogate the prospect/client before giving any real value
- We bad mouth the competition to make ourselves look better
- We offer the proposal that yields the best outcome for us without considering what’s best for the client
- We put undue pressure on our internal team so we can accomplish our objectives
- We get angry or short with the client when they ask for more information (i.e., objections)
- We create false deadlines in order to make a sale
By detaching from the outcome, we treat the client with a long-term perspective. They don’t sense that we’re more interested in the order than we are in them. They believe we’re a business partner looking out for their interests more so than our own. Consequently, they trust us more. Higher trust always translates to more business and more profits.
One last thought, detaching from the outcome isn’t easy to do. After all, we are getting paid to sell, aren’t we? I admit, it’s counterintuitive and this advice sits contrary to traditional sales training.
Detaching doesn’t mean apathy. It does mean a shift in focus from your needs to the client’s needs.
Client loyalty and referrals emerge from high trust relationships. Likewise, price negotiations, decision by committee, fighting bureaucracies, to name a few, go hand-in-hand with low trust.
Detach from the outcome. Your attachment to it can only hurt your chances of making a sale.
Mark Slatin is a VP of Sales at entreQuest who is outsourced to a wide variety of companies to coach their teams, improve their client experiences, and raise their revenues.
