Selling Your Services is Selling Yourself! 5 Tips for Building Trust!

Most professionals loathe to admit to themselves that selling their services is selling themselves.  We are our own products, and no matter how good our technical skills and experience are, clients still fall back on trust as one of their key reasons for buying from us. Their buying isn’t rational, its run by their emotions.   And, if our trust-earning skills are not up-to-scratch, we could find ourselves losing bids for new work repeatedly, and missing the reasons why we aren’t winning.

No one rings up and tells you “We went with Excellent Architects because their lead architect was friendly, engaging and personal in his interactions with us, while you were cold, unemotional and technical”.  They simply say “Your bid came in in the top three and was technically the best bid, but we have decided on Excellent Architects this time.  Maybe next time…”.

Heard it all before?  I am sure you have.  And no one likes to probe too hard for further reasoning, because we, as sellers of ourselves, are all afraid of having our faults pointed out, or our weaknesses and insecurities uncovered.

In a services business, trust is built from an array intangible experiences, often resulting from the judgment of our interpersonal skills, personality and ability to handle fear and concern.   The best way we can build trust with a target client is by interacting with them, readily and regularly, giving them a taste of our uniqueness.  But how do we really do this?  How do we connect in a way that is honest, genuine and worth the effort?  We can do this by:

1.  Delivering great project outcomes.  There is no better way to build trust than with “super-servicing” and delivering a great outcome on a live project.

2.  Giving your clients a “taste” of your capability as a part of the sales process.  This could be in the form of a free workshop, initial assessment or a discounted upfront stage of delivery.  If you can show them how good you are on the job (and you truly are as good as you say you are) you will surely earn their trust early on.  But be sure you don’t cannibalise your future rates by setting expectations firmly before you start that this is a one-off discount.

3.    Stay ahead of trends and industry activity ensuring you have plenty of interesting conversation when building contacts and relationships.  Read widely, and with an eye for topical information and conversation-starters.

4.  Focus on building friendships in your industry in a genuine, honest way.  After all, these are your industry peers, and in a town like Brisbane all carry their own weight, at all levels.  There is nothing more cheesy than a business-card-networker who is only out to know people with personal brands and big-name ties.  Please resist the urge to become one.

5.  Do things that you are comfortable doing. Just because your Director is comfortable on the golf course, entertaining clients and leads, doesn’t mean it is the right fit for you.  Do things you enjoy and you will relax and be yourself with your contacts, building real relationships.  It might be barefoot bowls, it might be a pub-lunch, or perhaps it is a Sunday-morning bike ride.  Whatever it is, if it is fun, its worth the effort.

What is it that you like doing with your clients and contacts to get to know them better and build their trust in a comfortable environment?  Share your ideas…