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| Building Client Trust |
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| Client trust is a key commodity in sales — and often the most difficult to come by. The first key in working to secure client trust lies in understanding what that means. Trust does not just mean that a client believes you are honest and will strike a fair deal. Client trust goes much deeper. |
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| When a client trusts you, the client is placing faith in your professional experience and expertise and in your ability to help them solve their problem or meet their needs. They need an advisor and advocate to help them make weighty, far-reaching real estate and financing decisions. What you do and how your conduct yourself, even in the smallest ways, can either support or undermine your efforts to build a bond of trust between you and the client. |
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| Help the client be a decision maker. After you’ve thoroughly listened to your client describe their needs and you have thoroughly assessed the client’s situation, provide them with options and advice. You might be able to steer them toward solutions that you think are the best options, but you have to make them feel they are in the driver’s seat. |
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| This includes being up-front about not only pros, but also cons regarding a client’s various options. Likewise, be thoroughly up-front about any client obligations related to any options and make sure, for your own sake, that the client understands all the variables. Sure, you might feel that you adequately explained a decision-making factor or action item, but if the client didn’t truly understand, then that item has officially become a surprise — and clients do not like surprises; they’re trust killers. |
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| Naturally, this means you must manage client expectations as well. You might be the most convincing conversationalist in the office, but at the end of the day, you will win by providing sober advice, not hype; and at the same time, you do not want to help clients delude themselves into making a misinformed decision. |
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| Never fall through on an obligation to the client, no matter how small. It sounds counterintuitive, but being late to a meeting, forgetting to return a call and other minor errors can have disastrous results. In the client’s mind, if you can’t return a phone call in a timely fashion, it leaves them to only guess at what else you might not be able to do. |
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3 Comments on Building Client Trust
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These are simple things that should be done, but for whatever reason professionals always do not follow through on. The client has expecations of their experience, and if you don't meet those it could be the difference between having them refer you or not.