Trust-Based Relationship Selling Process

Besides knowledge and skills, trust building is one of the important selling foundations.

Table 2.1. Selling Foundations

Knowledge	Product, market Customer, competitor
Skills	Questioning, listening Presentations, dialogue
Trust building	Customer orientation, dependability Competence, compatibility, candor

Ingram et al. (2015) list five key attributes indicated in research to explain how salespeople can earn the trust of their customers:

• Customer orientation: A customer orientation can be demonstrated through certain behaviors such as determining the buyer’s unique needs before recommending a purchase, preventing and correcting problems, and sincere listening during sales calls.
• Competence or expertise: Salesperson competence, or expertise, is another important dimension required to build customer trust. Customers expect salespeople to know what they are doing and to get answers if they don’t already know the answer.
• Dependability: Dependability involves salespeople simply doing what they say they will do.
• Candor or honesty: In any interpersonal relationship, whether it is in the business world or not, candor, or honesty, is essential. Failure to be honest will likely ruin a customer relationship.
• Compatibility: Finally, customer compatibility can help build trust. Compatibility concerns the salesperson being viewed as a good person with whom to do business. While some personal characteristics (e.g., pleasant personality and a positive attitude) can enhance compatibility, professionalism and making it easy for the customer to do business with the selling firm also determine compatibility. (Chapter 2, p. 6–7 [reformatted])

ADAPT and SPIN Questioning Methods

The ADAPT and SPIN questioning methods are related to the trust-based relationship selling process because they are essential techniques to drive engagement and interaction, which are key to building a trusting relationship. How can you have trust without two-way interaction? These proven techniques are a perfect process to facilitate engaging sales conversations.

Ingram et al. (2015) describe how the ADAPT and SPIN questioning methods can be used in the sales process:

Both questioning techniques are helpful to salespeople in determining relevant customer questions that can ultimately lead to productive interactions with buyers. The ADAPT method suggests that questions should be used to:

• Assess the buyer’s situation,
• Discover the buyer’s needs,
• Activate the buying process,
• Project the impact of solving a problem or realizing an opportunity, and
• make a Transition to the sales presentation or the next step in the buying process.

One purpose of the ADAPT method is to develop an efficient, relevant line of questioning that will help both the salesperson and the buyer find common ground for sales dialogue and sales presentations.

With SPIN selling, the salesperson

• investigates the customer’s Situation,
• determines a Problem,
• discusses the Implications of the problem if it is left unattended, and
• shows how the salesperson’s offering can solve the problem (Need payoff).

An important reality for salespeople using problem-solving selling in a business world with competing priorities and limited resources is that not all customer problems are worth solving—at least in the short term. To be effective, the SPIN method and other problem-solving approaches typically require that salespeople clearly illustrate the significance of the existing problem and how the customer can receive significant customer value from the problem solution. (Chapter 2, p. 7 [reformatted])

Ingram et al. (2015) further explain how the two methods are similar and different:

Both approaches use questioning to assess buyer needs, uncover buyer problems, project implications resulting from the problem, and the results from solving the problem or satisfying a need. While the ADAPT technique focuses on finding common ground for sales dialogue, the SPIN technique is useful for drawing out a customer’s problem(s). (Chapter 2, p. 7)

 

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Reference

Ingram, T. N., LaForge, R. W., Avila, R. A., Schwepker, C. H., Jr., & Williams, M. R. (2015). Instructor Manual for Sales management: Analysis and decision making (9th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.