The Trust Matters Blog: Posts by Charles H. Green
How (Not) to Ask for Recommendations, Referrals and References
I recently met a first-time author, who gave me a copy of their book. Shortly after, I got an email from the author’s publicist, saying: “…We’d appreciate it if you would post your 5-star review of the book on Amazon…” Now: I don’t mind being asked to post a review of a book (though this [...]
Read MoreTrust Tip Video: The Single Biggest Sin in Sales
A lot of things can go wrong in sales – and often do. But there’s probably one thing that stands over all the other as the Ur-error of selling. This particular error is baked so deep into our behavior that you might call it the “original sin” of selling. In this week’s Trust Tip video, [...]
Read MoreAnnouncing eConsulting and eCoaching
Starting today, I am offering a direct consulting/coaching service – one-on-one with me personally, via email – to a limited number of people. Read more about the program at trustedadvisor.com/econsulting All the detail is contained at trustedavisor.com/econsulting, but here are a few FAQs: FAQs Q. How does it work? A. Up to one email interchange [...]
Read MoreAwarding Sales
A few weeks ago, I was included on a list as a Top 50 Sales & Marketing Influencer for 2012. I appreciate that. I’m going to put it on our website’s front page for a little while, and I want to thank the good people at TopSalesWorld.com who put together the list. I also want [...]
Read MoreTrust is Not Reputation
I trust my dog with my life – but not with my ham sandwich. That is but one of dozens of humorous ways to indicate the multiple meanings we attach to the word “trust.” It’s remarkable how good we are at understanding the word in context, given its definitional complexity. One interesting aspect of trust is [...]
Read MoreCustomer Death by Survey? Or Just Bad Surveys?
I recently wrote an article in RainToday called How To Annoy Your Client Without Really Trying, about the excess of customer satisfaction metrics. Wouldn’t you know it – someone disagreed with me! I know, hard to believe… But in this case, the someone was pretty interesting and had some good points to make. So please [...]
Read MoreTrusted Advisor? Or Just Not a Crook?
The term “trusted advisor” has been around a long time. Recently I wrote about how the phrase has undergone “trusted advisor inflation” and become far more casually used. When Maister, Galford and I wrote the book The Trusted Advisor back in 2001, one of our aims was to debunk the idea that trust was mainly [...]
Read MoreTrust Tip Video: It Takes Two to Do the Trust Tango
Establishing a trust-based relationship has always been a two-way street. Like a good Argentinean Tango, there has to be a routine where risk and reciprocation are involved. What can you do to build a more trusting relationship? How do you know which role you play in the trust tango? When should you lead, and when [...]
Read MoreChemical Trust and the Science of Explanation

The Wall Street Journal this weekend scored a lot of views with an article on Oxytocin titled, “The Trust Molecule,” by Dr. Paul Zak. Dr. Zak makes one critical, powerful point about trust – its reciprocal nature. Unfortunately, the article is seriously flawed in its approach to what it calls “the new science of morality.” [...]
Read MoreTrust in the Search Business: the Bowdoin Group

The Bowdoin Group is a mid-sized executive recruiting firm based in New England. Sean Walker is a partner at Bowdoin, and heads their Information and Media Division. We met over seafood at the Oyster Bar in Grand Central a few months ago. I’ve always felt that executive search is one of those “perfect” trusted advisor [...]
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