Credible, but…

I attended an SMM webinar recently, “The Secrets of Sales Credibility: The Trust Accelerator” by C. Lee Smith.  He is the CEO of Sales Fuel and author of SalesCred: How Buyers Qualify Sellers ©.  (If you’ve never attended, SMM is an excellent leading practices resource.) 

Much is said in sales circles these days about “qualifying the buyer”.  I liked Lee’s perspective on how buyers qualify the seller with an emphasis on credibility.  The first part of C. Lee Smith’s webinar title addressed this: 

In sales, credibility is being thought of as someone who knows what they’re talking about and knows how to help.

I love that phrase, “…knows what they’re talking about”.  I also appreciated the market research Lee offered from his company Sales Fuel.  Market research is always a good compliment to sales coaching; makes it more credible, true?  Here are two examples: 

Only 1 in 4 Americans views salespeople as credible in what they say and do [American State of Credibility]             

44% of millennials prefer no sales rep interaction at all in a B2B setting [Gartner] 

Those darn millennials; always looking for a mobile, on-demand, self-service solution, HaHa!  I describe this B2B buying phenomenon as, “Isn’t there an App for that?”  It’s not just the millennials, though.  Today’s Modern Buyer wants a salesperson who is easy to deal with; “knows how to help”.  That’s where credibility comes in: 

Sales Credibility: 

It’s what gets you through to high-level decision-makers that can transform your business.  Credible people want to do business with credible people. 

I love that phrase; “Credible people want to do business with credible people”.  The “you” in the “transform your business” part is referring to the salesperson’s business.  Credibility increases sales performance – I’m in total alignment with that perspective. 

OK then, so why did I include the “but” in the title of my post?  Because it was the second half of Lee’s webinar title that I’m not in alignment with; “The Trust Accelerator”.  In my opinion, that’s an overreach.  He suggests: 

The goal of most professional salespeople is to become a ‘trusted advisor’ to their customer. 

Ah yes, the old “Trusted Advisor” status.  Spoken of often – by salespeople!  I can’t remember a single time in my entire selling career when a prospect said to me, “Gary, what I’m looking for is a trusted advisor”.  Not once. 

I’ve researched, written about, and continue to coach salespeople on “Credibility” vs. “Trusted Advisor”.  In The Speed of Trust © written by Stephen M.R. Covey he offers research and coaching on how to attain a trust status.  I particularly enjoyed this research example: 

I don’t think you have a full trusting relationship until you are actually at the point that you deliver success repeatedly.  When one of my major suppliers says we want to have a trusting relationship, I think, “What a lot of rubbish that is!”  I turn around and say, “I don’t trust you.  I am not going to trust you until you repeatedly deliver success to me.” 

Peter Lowe 

I love this anecdote.  The reality is prospective customers don’t trust us – yet.   For me; I’m satisfied with being perceived by the Modern Buyer as credible; knowing what I’m talking about; knowing how to get things done for them.

However, if we insist on earning a position of “Trusted Advisor” then we must produce “…until you repeatedly deliver success to me”.  Trust doesn’t beget results for us or our customers – it’s just the opposite. 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.