I teach about how to gain Trust in the sales and marketing process all the time. After all, it’s the elusive elephant in the room that’s missing in every sales conversation that doesn’t convert. Well, I saw it used to mastery this week and I couldn’t help but share it with my community in the hopes of reminding everyone how quickly trust can actually be gained.

Airline’s Toss is My Loss

On a recent flight where my Heys luggage was tossed fiercely onto the conveyor belt, it was damaged and the darling airline told me to take it to a repair centre for relief. At the repair centre, the Genius Sales Lady told me that they would replace the luggage at no cost. Score trust point 1.

While I’m Here

Since I was going to a luggage repair shop, I brought my other beloved Heys whose wheels had stopped rolling. I kept pitching forward on my walks down busy airports (funny sight!). Genius Sales Lady told me that they could replace the wheels for $60 but why not first call Heys, the manufacturer to see if they’d replace either wheels or luggage for free. She even gave me the number. Score trust point 2.

She Keeps Scoring

While I was arguing with the Heys customer service rep on the phone in front of her, Genius Sales Lady kept giving me advice and pointers. “Ask them about the warrantee”, “They don’t need a receipt, none of our other manufacturers need this” and on and on. She kept giving me insider advice while I argued and argued. Score, score and score more trust points.

Trust Lands a Huge Sale

After almost an hour spent on the phone with Heys, I was told to leave a voicemail and that no replacement would be possible unless I could produce a receipt. Never mind that I sent them a picture of the luggage brand that was sewn and embedded into the product!! Sadly, because I’m a not the kind of person(!) who keeps a 5 year old receipt for a luggage, I got nothing. As I hung up deeply disappointed in my formerly beloved Heys (I was a real brand advocate for them before this incident!), Genius Sales Lady said “no other brand asks for the receipt, this is ridiculous.” Then we got to talking about her favourite luggage in the entire store. A $600 Briggs &Riley luggage demonstration later, I was sold! It took literally 3 minutes for me to buy into this new and expensive luggage when I wasn’t even looking for one because the trust had already been built.

So, that’s my lesson of the day. Trust can be built within minutes and doesn’t take a lifetime or 7 meetings. Give, give, give value and you will get the big sale.

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