September 28, 2024 | Read online
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This week I was reminded of how important trust is in any relationship with my conversation with Melanie Fellay, the CEO of Spekit and a good friend of mine.
Here’s a link to the post I did about it on Linkedin with a short clip and here’s the full podcast episode if you want to check it out.
We’ve both been through a lot in the past 2 years and have come out of the darkness with a new perspective on what’s really important and trust was on the top of the list for both of us.
With this week’s newsletter I wanted to focus on this and see if there are some tools we could all use to evaluate trust.
TACTICAL TIPS: The Trust Equation
SALES RESOURCES: Sales Leadership Development Opportunity
SALES FROM THE STREETS: Energy
PARTNER SPOTLIGHT: 100% Focus on Buyers During my Calls thanks to this tool
TACTICAL TIPS:
The Trust Equation
People say they buy from people they like. That’s not true. They buy from people they trust.
I’ve purchased plenty of things from people I would not go out of my way to have a beer with but I trusted them, their approach and what they were representing.
The challenge I’ve had throughout my life and career is that I usually go with my “gut” when it comes to trusting people.
I’m not really a details guy and I tend to make decisions quickly without overanalyzing.
This approach has worked out more often than not but every once in a while it comes back to bite me in the ass.
So, I decided to see if there was a more “scientific” approach to analyzing trust and I came across this “Trust Equation” from The Trusted Advisor by David Maister. It breaks trust down into four main components:
Trust = (Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy) / Self-Orientation
- Credibility: Do they know their stuff? Are they knowledgeable and competent in the area you're evaluating? Pay attention to how often they're right and the confidence they have in their statements.
- Reliability: Do they do what they say they will do? Consistency in actions and follow-through is key here. If someone commits to something, check if they deliver on it regularly.
- Intimacy: Can you share personal or sensitive information with them, and do they respect it? This is about feeling safe and comfortable being open and vulnerable with the person.
- Self-Orientation: Is the person focused more on themselves or on others? This is the denominator in the equation, meaning the lower their self-interest, the more trustworthy they are. If they prioritize your needs over their gain, that's a good sign.
It talks about consciously evaluating these four areas to get a clearer sense of whether you should trust someone or not.
I’ve applied it to a few relationships and partnerships I’ve had and it definitely got me to think differently about how I evaluate trust, which is why I thought it would be worth sharing.
Try applying this equation to some of your relationships and let me know what you think.
SALES RESOURCES:
Sales Leadership Development Opportunity
I get a lot of reps asking me about their career progression and how to get into sales management or leadership.
My first question to them is always the same - why the hell would you want to get into sales management?
You usually get paid far less than the top sales reps do with far more responsibilities and headaches to deal with.
Oh, and if you think you get limited training and resources as a sales rep? Wait until you try to get the company to invest in management training for you. Good luck with that.
However, if you have the right character makeup and get more enjoyment out of seeing other people succeed than you do, your own personal success, management, and leadership can be extremely rewarding.
When people ask me about what I was most proud of related to my first startup, it’s not that we were one of the fastest growing companies in Massachussetts for 3 years running or that we kicked the shit out of all our competition or even the fact that Staples acquired us.
My proudest accomplishment was managing 3 young professionals at the beginning of their careers, who have all turned out to be insanely successful and great leaders.
With that, I wanted to share a few resources with those of you who either wanted to be managers or are managers and are looking for support.
The first is from a good friend of mine, Kevin Gaither who focuses on helping leaders avoid all the mistakes that most make.
He’s offering (10) 30 minute sessions to individual contributors who want to get into sales management. You have to submit your application here before October 4th to be in the running to get one.
Regardless, his Linkedin profile is filled with great free content around sales leadership that I highly recommend you check out.
The other resource I wanted to share is from my other good friend, Kevin Dorsey (KD). This is for you decision makers out there who want to invest in your existing sales leadership team to help them level up.
His Sales Leadership Acceleration Program is one of the best I’ve seen. I tend to recommend his program to any company that I’ve worked with that has gone through my program and is looking for from-line sales management training.
Although, both of the programs above aren’t the typical “free” resources I like to share, they both have excellent free content around sales management that you can review if you don’t have the money to invest.
SALES FROM THE STREETS:
Energy
I had the honor of being invited to speak at Elyse Archer’s She Sells “Quantum Leap” event this week in Portland ME.
It was a group of women looking to take their lives and careers to the next level, and the room's energy was infectious.
It was a fireside chat with Elyse, who asked me questions about my career, how I built my brand, and more.
One of the topics she wanted to dive into was my “energy audit” with a focus on what GIVES you energy and helps you achieve your goals versus what drains your energy and detracts from your goals.
The entire conversation and people in attendance GAVE me energy yesterday.
I’m now on a flight to LA to speak on the topic in more detail at Ian Koniak’s retreat which I know, just by being around his members, is going to give me energy.
I’m now more focused than ever on doing things and being around people that give me energy and help me achieve my goals.
As for those activities and people who suck my energy?
You might notice that I’m not as available as I once was.
Life’s too short to suck.
PARTNER SPOTLIGHT:
The Most Underrated Tool in my Stack
Otter has taken their tech to a whole new level. I'm now able to customize the notes so it calls out specific things that I look for in calls.
Do you know how amazing it is to actually focus on the customer, and ask my questions without writing quick little notes down?
My focus is a 100% on the customer/prospect.
Regardless of what your sales methodology is or what information you need to collect during a discovery call, Otter.ai can now listen for it and extract it from the conversation using Custom Insights.
Check out how I've configured Otter to listen for what I need to know during a discovery call below.
They're hooking up this audience with the sales features for free here.
ADDITIONAL WAYS YOU CAN LEVEL UP YOUR SALES GAME
- The JB Sales Membership is where you’ll get access to my live training, workshops, AMAs and OnDemand catalog so you can level up your sales skills every day! 3000+ Sales pros have already joined. Are you next?
- The industry-leading Make it Happen Monday Podcast where you’ll get insights and inspiration from some of the most interesting and influential people in the world of Sales and business. (this is where you’ll hear the Guy Kawasaki episode on May XYZ)
- The JB Sales YouTube channel with practical tips that you can apply immediately to drive results along with interviews and content that is guaranteed to get you to think differently.
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