Using up trust

We tend to think about sales as a competition. About winning the pitch, making the sale, and getting the deal. And when we do get it, the deal is the end to the story, isn’t it? (A happy end for that matter!)

But what if you considered it to be the beginning of the story? The inciting incident of a story about a long-lasting relationship with a client …

Would that change the way that you approach your pitch? Your ad? Your conversation?

For many of my clients it does. Instead of using up trust to make a deal they shift to building trust to enter into a relationship. It immediately rules out hyperbole and favours the truth.

Telling a true story about the things that you care about is what builds trust. Investing the empathy to relate it to what matters to our audience is what creates resonance. And resonance has no end. There is no winning. The whole point is to keep resonating.

Check out my new book
The PATH to Strategic Impact

Get The Art of Communicating in your inbox.
Change minds, drive action, and turn confusion into clarity.

    I value your privacy. No spam. Just “Great stuff, brilliantly articulated” (to use the words of longtime reader David).

    Read More

    The better story wins

    From a communication angle, influence is a pretty simple game: Whoever tells the better story wins. It’s not the most accurate facts, the most complete

    Read »

    The selfish speaker

    The selfish speaker is still the standard approach to speaking. Selfish speakers want us to get them. As opposed to them getting us. They speak

    Read »