Soar to Success May2021

Cultivating The Trust Factor By Jack Klemeyer C lients and prospects are in search of trust in their business relationships but building trust and credibility does not happen overnight. To cultivate trust, you need to be intentional, and be open with clients and prospects. Building Trust With Care So how do you build trust with clients? First, you need to care about them. Obviously, your clients care about your knowledge, expertise, and accomplishments. However, they care even more about the level of concern you have for them. Successful trust building hinges on four actions: engaging, listening, framing, and committing. Engaging clients and prospects occur when you show genuine concern and interest in their business and its problems. Be sincere and maintain good eye contact, which signifies openness and honesty, and a body posture which shows your attitude toward them. By the same token, you want to be aware of your client’s or prospect’s eye contact and body language. Listening with understanding and empathy is possible if you think client focus first, what is in it for them. Let the client tell her story. Put yourself in her shoes when you listen to her business concerns, purpose, vision, and desires. Show approval or understanding by nodding your head and smiling during the conversation. Separate the process of taking in information from the process of judging it. Just suspend your judgment and focus on the client. Framing what the client or prospect has said is the third action in trust building. Make sure you have formed an accurate understanding of his problems and concerns. Confirm what you think you heard by asking open-ended questions such as, “tell me more about that?” or “Help me