Trust isn’t easy to define. You know it when you feel it.
It comes in degrees. We trust some people a little, and we trust some people a great deal.
Trust builds as you gather information and absorb events.
Trust matters, among other business and non-business reasons, because the higher the degree of trust, the lower the resistance to price.
Trust affects us in all sorts of other ways too. For instance:
- Higher trust increases the likelihood of your getting hired.
- Higher trust gets faster retainers and shortens the sales cycle.
- Higher trust reduces your cost of selling.
- Higher trust results in more compliant clients.
- Higher trust makes it easier to reach settlement when you recommend it.
- Most significantly, higher trust equals higher price.
Yes, higher trust equals higher price. Do you hear me? That’s important.
So how do you build trust? In a million different ways:
- By looking people in the eye,
- By making promises and keeping them,
- By putting a picture of yourself on your website so we can look into your eyes,
- By being transparent about fees,
- By telling me what you’re good at as well as what you’re not good at,
- By helping me,
- By acknowledging your flaws,
- By showing me what you’re doing to improve,
- By telling me your story,
- By listening to me,
- By understanding me,
- By talking to me through a website video so I better understand who you are,
- By telling me what you’re proud of,
- By showing me your life on social media,
- By revealing what makes you happy, sad, frustrated, and angry,
- By showing me that you have other people who trust you,
- By letting me know that you love people and people love you.
Of course, there are many, many other ways to build trust.
In every interaction, every single day, you’re either building trust or breaking it down. It’s happening, regardless of whether you’re paying attention.
Higher trust equals higher price. What are you doing to build trust today?
