Building credibility has always been crucial in sales. When you establish credibility, you establish trust, which opens the door to building relationships with prospects. The best sales leaders often incorporate credibility into their training programs. They strive to teach their sales reps how to build credibility faster so they can keep prospects moving through the pipeline.

Kathy Crosett, vice president of research for SalesFuel, says laying the groundwork to quickly establish credibility should happen long before your sales reps make first contact with a prospect. In this issue of Promotional Consultant Today, we share Crosett’s tips on training your reps how to establish credibility quicker.

1. Train your sales reps to stay current on what’s happening in the world. It’s a good idea to encourage your sales reps to keep up with local and global news, according to Crosett. This helps establish credibility because it shows that your reps know how they can add value and fit in as a potential solution. Plus, monitoring the news is a common habit of high performers. Crosett points out a Salesforce study that shows that 63 percent of high-performing reps track local news while only 54 percent of underperformers do.

2. Encourage your reps to share important information. Each member of your sales team has information that is potentially relevant and helpful to another rep. Crosett says an informed rep doesn’t just know about industry developments—they also have information that some prospects may consider to be insider intelligence. If your reps often sell to the same vertical, they likely pick up on key trends as they meet with their accounts. Be sure to discuss this information in sales meetings. Gaining useful pieces of information can help your reps build credibility faster.

3. Emphasize honesty. Sometimes, sales reps stretch the truth in order to get the sale. They may make promises they can’t keep or offer a discount only to load the final contract with add-on fees to get to the figure they need. These tactics are a sure way to lose credibility. Instead, always teach your sales reps to follow up on their promises and avoid exaggerating what they can do for the prospect, notes Crosett.

4. Steer clear of trash talk. You know the saying: If you can’t anything nice, don’t say anything at all. Crosett encourages sales leaders to remind their reps of this adage. While you may have plenty of negative things to say about competing sales professionals, take the high road. Your reps will build credibility faster by talking about the best features of their solution—and then delivering on what they say.

5. Avoid bragging. Your sales reps may feel comfortable touting surprising statistics on sales calls. They may feel confident that what they say will inspire prospects to sign on the spot. However, it’s better to slowly reveal your solution rather than going into any conversation overly confident, notes Crosett. That’s because prospects’ top priority is finding the best solution for them at the best price. They likely already know your market position, and bragging could turn them off.

When prospects can get all the information they need with a quick internet search, it becomes even more important for your sales team to establish credibility early on. By following the pointers above, you can help your sales reps position themselves as knowledgeable, indispensable assets.

Compiled by Audrey Sellers

Source: Kathy Crosett is the vice president of research for SalesFuel. She oversees a staff of researchers, writers and content providers for SalesFuel.