Selling Tip:
Who Do You Trust, and Why?

Q. I have a question about the Trust and Respect Inquiry. In the book, you posit that the purpose of the TRI is to determine whether or not the salesperson can trust the prospect, but you don't explain the "Why's" behind this part of the HPS process.

Would you please outline the reasoning and psychology that went into developing the Trust and Respect Inquiry? Why is it so important?

A. Before answering your question, I have one for you to consider: Do you want to do business with people whom you know to be vengeful, deceitful, grudge-bearing, unforgiving, corrupt, or unable to resolve conflicts?

The answer is obvious, of course! Our Trust and Respect Inquiry weeds out such people, mostly very effectively.

The Trust and Respect Inquiry was developed over many years with the aid of some leading psychologists and a psychiatrist.

Here's the psychology behind the TRI, in a nutshell: We all experience traumas in life, including our childhoods. The way we respond to trauma between the ages of 6 and 9 usually influences how we feel a nd behave towards others who behave similarly, throughout the rest of our lives.

During the TRI, if your prospect reveals that they still bear a grudge, or fantasize revenge against someone who injured them decades ago, it is highly probable that they are untrustworthy, and probable that they will never trust you. Is this someone you want to do business with? Of course not- you want to DISqualify that prospect as quickly as possible..

Statistically, the TRI will weed out between 4% and 9% of your prospects. Only a handful of people out of one hundred will prove themselves untrustworthy.

It is imperative to understand that the TRI is NOT a bonding and rapport technique. Attempting to use it that way will have the opposite effect.

A positive by-product of the Trust and Respect Inquiry is that it almost always creates genuine mutual trust, paving the way for getting honest answers during the entire sales process.

More psychology in a nutshell: The extent to which you trust someone is usually reciprocal. Trust and Respect are the core values of High Probability Selling.