A Matter of Trust

August 4, 2022

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5 min read

This article is part of the Sales Secrets Uncovered series where we share key learnings from our analysis of 211k+ sales calls spread over 3.8 million minutes and 12 months. Why? To uncover the stats that will help you sell better in 2022 and beyond.

PS: Use this data responsibly. Correlation is ≠ causation.

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“Trust me”

Are there two more dangerous words in the English language?

Since the first time I read the saga of Lucy, Charlie Brown and that football, I have had major trust issues. If one could be so cruel to that sweet, bald lad, what chance did I have? It’s just hard to trust.

This is especially true in sales, where your prospect has to make a decision, sometimes a very expensive decision, on whether they can or cannot trust you.

In fact, according to our data, trust-building questions came up only in 1.6% of all deals.

So it seems that prospect rarely ask questions that build trust. It's more common for them to do their own research and make up their minds.

Even when they do ask directly, however, these questions can appear quite harmless. You could easily mistake them for small talk.

But they are often an attempt (conscious or subconscious) by your prospect to understand whether they can trust you or not. It’s small talk with big implications.

According to the data, these kind of questions in a call indicate a whopping 40% increase in win rate, and 23% decrease in loss rate

How does that work, though? How does a prospect simply asking you such questions lead to more deals won?

So here’s what we think. These questions are not challenges - they are opportunities. If the prospect asks you these questions, they have already decided they like what you are offering. Or at least the door is open. Now they are giving you the opportunity to lock it in.

So what happens when prospects ask your reps this question? How do they handle it?

We can help you find out.