Who’s in the mood for a riddle? What takes time to build but only an instant to damage? 

Oh, and it’s super critical to your business to the point where if you haven’t built it with clients, prospects and distributors, well, let’s just say you won’t have a business. Can you guess?

It’s TRUST.

Regardless of what you’re selling, trust is essential if you want happy, repeat customers and motivated distributors. And, it’s crucial if you want to lead a successful business.

It doesn’t matter if you’re committed to relationship marketing or are sticking with those icky traditional methods (um, seriously, why are you still sticking with those awful traditional methods): if you want people to buy or do business with you, you have to earn their trust.

The tricky part about trust is that it takes time.

In this day and age, where we’re all running to the next thing at warp speed, we feel we just don’t have time.

We want to make those six-digit figures within five minutes of starting the business.

Then, we grow impatient and frustrated when our family, friends, neighbors, the parents at our kids’ school aren’t chomping at the bit to buy from us or join our team. WTH? What gives?

The #1 Mistake Business People Make When Building Trust

Rushing the relationship is the number one way to turn off a potential customer or prospect. It’s just like dating–you typically don’t go shopping for wedding dresses and china patterns on a first date.

You get to know the other person better and figure out if they jive with your personality and quirks. 

Although there may situations where spontaneity pays off, for the most part, you may date someone for months or years before you fully commit to marriage.

The same is true for business. Even your loved ones may not commit to buying anything from you until they trust you within that capacity.

The exception is your mom; your mom will buy absolutely anything you’re selling, whether they’ll use it or not, and will rave about how amazing it is, no matter what.

For the rest of your family, friends, and acquaintances, you gotta put in the legwork.

Trust is a two-way street. As your connections begin to trust you as a business person, and the products and services you’re shilling you’ll also get to know them and find new ways to serve them better.

They’ll see you as more than a person pedaling a product; you’re a trusted advisor who’s looking out for their best interest.

In turn, they’ll become more than clients, they become strong advocates for your business and may even believe so much in you and the product that they want to get in on it themselves.

4 Ways to Build Trust With Your Favorite People

Chemistry is that connection you share with people.

You know when you meet someone and you just hit it off?

You obviously have it with your spouse or partner, but you can also have it with another parent in your son’s class who enjoys a dirty joke or a 5 o’clock margarita as much as you, or with the neighbor who you share gardening tips with over the fence or the other participant at book club who is as stoked as you that this month’s selection is true crime noir.

With all these folks you felt a kind of spark that told you that you’re part of the same tribe. You can relate to one another. At a time when technology has opened the whole world to us, but we can still feel alone, the spark we feel is reassuring.

So, what is it about you and your personality that people can relate to? Is it a sunny and friendly disposition or the talent of saying just the right thing at the right time to make someone feel like a 1000 watt light bulb?

Is it a slightly off-kilter sense of humor or the empathy to tune into another’s emotional state and provide comfort?

Identify what it is and try to use it whenever you can on the people you already know as well as the ones you meet each day. This will help you expand your social circle and build your customer and prospect lists.

Character is who you are.

Very wise and important people have a lot to say about character.

Abraham Lincoln said, “Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”

Lord Chesterfield said, “Be your character what it will, it will be known, and nobody will take it upon your word.”

Henry David Thoreau said, “You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.”

However, the most relevant quote about character, especially as it relates to sales, comes from Dear Abby herself.

 “The best index to a person’s character is how he treats people who can’t do him any good, and how he treats people who can’t fight back.”

Abigail Van Buren

You see, most salespeople act all nicey-nicey to their clients when they want to make a sale, but ignore them the rest of the time. They’ll be the nicest person in the world to a customer who’s buying something from them, but if they don’t buy right away, they may write the person off.

Sure, they may contact them at some point in the future, but most likely, they won’t unless they have to. How rotten is that?

The worst part is, their customers can sense what’s up; after all, the salesperson only comes a-knocking when they need to meet their monthly sales quota.

No one wants to feel used and disregarded once the purchase goes through.

Your character is shaped by many things. Although it’s influenced by your values and beliefs, the central core is your actions.

You may be able to recite the inspirational quotes from history’s greatest thinkers–from Cicero to Mr. Rogers–but if your actions don’t back it up, people won’t believe you and it won’t become part of your character.

Take a moment to think about what makes up your character. When people hear your name, what are the first adjectives you want them to think of?

Once you have a list of words, ask your most trusted friend or family member what words they think of when they think of you (Or, ask your mom; moms usually give the straight answer, whether you want to hear it or not).

Does your list of words and their's overlap, or are they vastly different? If they’re similar, you’re on the right track; what you say and do are the same.

If they’re totally different, think about why? Then be more intentional to ensure your words and actions align.

Competence is when you’re good at what you do and people know it.

Now, when you first start out, this may be the area that needs the most work. Sure, you may be familiar with your products and services, but you likely only experienced them from one perspective–your own.

As you gain more experience in your business, you’ll begin to learn about others’ experiences with the product and service and will then be able to offer new customers and prospects more insight.

Until then, lean into the expertise of your team; after all, they’re there to help you!

You must become an expert in your field and know all there is to know about it.

For example, if you’re selling nutritional products, learn all you can about health, nutrition and wellness. Read every article and book you can get your hot little hands on. Go to seminars, watch documentaries and videos, and listen to podcasts.

You want to eat, sleep and breathe it! And, most importantly, use the products yourself as often as you can.

Take photos of yourself using the product in your daily life and post them to social media.

Are you drinking a shake after spin class? Snap a photo. Taking a supplement to beat that 3 pm slump?

Snap a photo.

This will help build credibility and trust while you become more competent.

If your product is beauty-related, learn all you can about the beauty industry and the most common skin complaints people have, including acne, aging, scars, increased pigmentation, etc.

Learn all about these common issues and how your product or service helps address these needs.

This will boost your competence in the minds of your connections; when they think of you, you want them to see you as an expert in your field.

Consistency is doing your activities on a regular basis so your customers not only expect it from you, they begin to rely on it.

For the vast majority of people, consistency is super hard.

You get busy and mean to do your activities regularly, but then your son gets sick and your daughter tells you that you have to bake three dozen gluten-free cupcakes for the school bake sale tomorrow, and your husband or partner calls to say they’re stuck in a last-minute meeting that is taking forever.

Put simply, life happens and it becomes near impossible to be as consistent as you wish to be.

However, if you want to build a lasting business, it’s vital to be intentional about your activities and become consistent.

After all, you want your customers, prospects, and distributors to be able to rely on you; to know that your word is gold and you’ll follow through.

Just like character, people won’t believe you until they see you in action.

You may be thinking, “hey now, I resent your implication. I’m super consistent” but are you really?

Look at your calendar over the last week–how many days did you contact your people to make their days?

How many days did you follow up with prospects?

How many days did you reach out to your distributors to check in and offer encouragement?

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This post originally appeared here: https://teamzy.com/4-ways-to-build-trust-with-your-people/ written by Eric Johnson.