Where Does Client Trust Fit in the Business Development Puzzle?

Client trust is perhaps the greatest element in business development. Or to put it another way, why should they buy from you? Although you may be selling the most sophisticated service, your audience may harbor a deep dread of being manipulated.

The solution, then, is to confront that tacit distrust by building client trust as a major focus of your business development efforts. When we work with clients and developing their business generation strategies and tactics, we teach them to build relationships with their prospects. And by understanding their business, and the market place dynamics, (competitors, recruitment, growth strategies, etc.) one will demonstrate the knowledge that converts into client trust.

“Partnering” has become a byword in sales strategies so we should define and pursue that kind of relationship “partnering = trust.” In establishing your client relationships, you have taken pains to assure them that you are fully attuned to how their business operates, including the need for confidentiality, for ethical compliance, for client-specific sensitivities whatever they may be. At the same time you have sent the message that, if anything, they have an obligation to at least consider the latest advances in client services that you offer.

You have thus reversed the burden from worrying about dealing with you to worrying about what might happen if they don”t!