8 years ago
February 21, 2017

Top 5 Sales Indicators You Have The Client’s Trust

You can use some of the following top 5 sales indicators that you have the client’s trust.

Claire McConnachie Recruiter
Claire McConnachie

Trust is a sometimes overlooked yet essential factor in sales relationships. Client trust is something you must work on over time and build up – a client is unlikely to fully trust you from the beginning. It is also something that is quite hard to measure – it depends on the client’s personality as well as your interactions and history with them. You can use some of the following indicators to calculate the trust levels in your working relationship.

They recommend you to others

If a business is willing to recommend you to friends, family and other businesses they work with then this is a strong signal of trust. Since by recommending you they are in some part staking their own reputation on you doing a good job it is unlikely they’d do this if they didn’t trust you. If they are willing to give you a testimonial about your services for you to use this also signals trust – although less than a direct recommendation since a testimonial will normally be used for companies they are not in relationship with, and so there is less of a risk on their part.

They are willing to discuss their business openly with you

A business that trusts their supplier will open up about their business and the problems they are facing. This is a key indicator of trust and is helpful within the sales process because you can then offer them products that will help solve their problems. If you are asking questions about their business and they do not want to give you answers this is a sign you need to continue working on building up trust.

Does not use competitors

If trust is low a business will often deal with your company and another at the same time for similar products. This spreads the risk if one of their suppliers is to suddenly disappear or fail to deliver for them since they have a backup. If your client no longer has another company they go to for your services this is a good sign of client trust.

Asks your advice

If you possess experience and knowledge within the industry, companies will come to you for advice on business matters where you may be able to offer them the benefit of your experience. If you have a good sales relationship this will probably happen sometimes (although if it doesn’t this isn’t necessarily a sign of a poor sales relationship).

Repeat and growing business

The best sign of trust is that your client continues to use your services and looks to purchase more from you in the future. As trust deepens clients will often start to purchase other services and products from you outside of the core services and products they originally started with.

While trust is intangible and impossible to measure the benefits it brings are very much tangible – a trusting relationship with your client will lead to more and better orders and a reduced chance of them jumping ship to your competitors to save a few percentage points. Working on building trust with your clients is an essential part of the sales process and any action that could potentially damage that trust should be avoided as much as possible.

Claire McConnachie Recruiter

Claire McConnachie

Claire has 4+ years of experience in sales and recruitment. As a Director of Client Services, her main objective is to connect great people to great companies by building strong relationships with both top clients and candidates in the sales industry. She specializes in sales roles of all seniority levels for both enterprise and start-up clients North American wide. When Claire isn't networking with top talent, she enjoys being outdoors, traveling and spending time with friends & family.

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