Real World Trust-Based Selling: Case Study 10

by Charles H. Green on Wednesday, March 19, 2008 (post #269)

A few months ago I converted from Windows to Apple. It hasn’t gotten all that much easier than the last time I did this, about ten years ago. In particular, there are some nasty complications with Outlook, Blackberries and virtual drives.

In the midst of searching bulletin boards for solutions, someone mentioned a product called Crossover, by a company called Codeweavers. It sounded like it could solve my problem.

I looked it up and fired off an email to their support email address. When your computer is misbehaving, the desire for instant gratification is great; but it was SuperBowl Sunday afternoon—not propitious timing.

So imagine my surprise when I heard back from their VP of Sales in just a few hours. Not only that, but his email was literate, specific, directly responsive to my questions, and offered valuable perspectives.

He confirmed my fears in one area, offered a direction for a solution, and took care to specifically point out his own bias and company’s interest in the matter.

Bias? I didn’t care. Here’s someone for the first time in a week who clearly understands where I’m coming from, echoes my frustration, adds detail to the symptoms and the diagnostic of what my problem is, and outlines possible solutions for me. And all this on Superbowl Sunday? Gimme more!

And he did. We exchanged a couple more emails that same day, and more the following week. He was consistently helpful, including being very open about the limitations of the solution his company could provide. He offered perspective; he also offered up some customized service that he could offer in my case.

He was unfailingly polite and focused on my needs, even at the point when I reluctantly concluded that for my very specific case, I was going to choose a different solution—for now. It wasn’t his product’s fault, he was hamstrung by a compatibility issue with RIM, Apple and Microsoft.

What did this gentleman get out of our interchange? After all, he didn’t get the sale. I asked him that question, after thanking him for his (very big) help. And here’s what he had to say:

I truly believe that a salesperson's best attribute is his or her's ability to connect and build meaningful relationships with each and every person he/she meets. I'd much rather be viewed by clients and prospects alike as someone committed to them and their needs then someone committed to my company and my needs.

Here’s a real-life case of living the trust-based selling principles.

How’s his business doing? I don’t know. The product looks sharp and the company industrious. But that's not why I know I’ll seek him out again, why I’ll stay in touch to see how his product evolves. It's because he was so helpful to me in the first place.

And in the meantime, I’ll give him some well-deserved free publicity through this blog. Interested in running popular Windows programs like Outlook on your Mac? Call Codeweavers.

That’s not a plug—that’s helping out someone because they helped me out.

And that’s how it works.

Charles H. Green, author of Trust-Based Selling and co-author of The Trusted Advisor, is a consultant and speaker on trust issues for some of the world's best companies. He has written about trust in business relationships at Trust Matters since 2006. Read more...