The role of trust in selling is potentially enormous. Selling is, itself, a sub-category of influencing, where trust is even more powerful. Simply put, a seller who is trusted by a customer has more influence over that customer—within bounds--than a seller with a cost or product advantage.
It is surprising how infrequently the basic principles of trust and influence are applied in the sales process. Most selling, as it is practiced in corporate America today, has the paradoxical effect of either negating trust, or of actively destroying it. This is particularly true in complex products and services, where trust building is often abandoned for the sake of displays of technical expertise.
The right answers lie in understanding the simple dynamics of trust and influence, and the potential impact is vast. They are simple, but not necessarily easy to execute.
Join us as Charles H. Green, founder and CEO of Trusted Advisor Associates, and the author of Trust-based Selling and co-author of The Trusted Advisor discusses the principles of trust based selling including:
- Why value propositions are overrated
- The power of reciprocity on influence, and where it appears in business
- Why individuals get seduced into trust-destroying behaviors
- Why trust-based selling doesn’t draw down on trust—it creates it in the sales process itself
- Ten insights and practical tools that can improve the trust level in your business relationships and sales
Charles has spoken to, consulted for and conducted seminars about trusted relationships in business for a wide and global range of industries and functions. Centering on the theme of trust in business relationships, Charles works with complex organizations to improve trust in sales, internal trust between organizations, and trusted advisor relationships with external clients and customers.
Charles started his career with the MAC Group and its successor, Gemini Consulting, where his roles included strategy consulting and VP strategic planning. He majored in philosophy (Columbia), and has an MBA (Harvard).
Event Date: Tuesday, April 6th, 2010 at 6:30pm
Location: Merrill Lynch, 200 Park Avenue at 45th Street, 13th Floor
Time: 6:30pm Registration, 7:00pm Program
Cost: $15 Members/ $30 Non-Members & Guests
Organizer: Elena Crespo, '93