A simple little team practice to increase client trust

by | May 3, 2021 | Monthly-ish tips

This post is part of our Monthly-ish Tips series.

This week I’m sharing a simple little technique that a sales team developed after attending a workshop with me. I wish I could say it was my idea. It’s a no-cost way they came up with to help them stay true to trusted advisor principles, and I see no reason it couldn’t be used by any team.

It goes like this: When the team is discussing the next best action to take with a prospective client, they simply ask, “What would the trusted advisor do?”

“It’s as though the ‘trusted advisor’ is an imaginary and objective member of our team,” says Justin McCord, SVP of Sales & Marketing at RKD Group. “The question helps us look at the situation through a trust-building lens. The discussion nearly always brings perspective and insight.”

Best of all, this new practice appears to have staying power; it has stuck for several months and counting.

I love inexpensive and elegant solutions to what can sometimes seem like big challenges, such as working out how a group of successful and driven professionals can cement new mindsets and consistently take bigger risks. Even better when you get the whole team in on the effort.

Make It Real

This week, try using this question with your team or on your own: “What would the trusted advisor do?” What do you discover?

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Andrea Howe

As the founder of The Get Real Project, I am the steward of our vision and our service offerings, as well as a workshop leader and keynote speaker. Above all else, I am an entrepreneur on a mission: to kick conventional business wisdom to the curb and transform how people work together as a result. I am also the co-author, with Charles H. Green, of The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook (Wiley, 2012).

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