Are We Placing Too much Faith in Trust

We all learn that trust is fundamental to successful consulting. While the reputation of your firm might get you a seat at a client’s table, winning the client’s business comes down to your people—their knowledge, experience, energy, and commitment. A personal relationship can also be important if things go wrong. No amount of run¬ning back to check who is responsible for what in the contract will help when a client encounters a problem, but knowing the project manager well and being able to trust that he or she has the client’s best interest at heart may well diffuse an otherwise tense situation.

Create Trust, Gain a Client

Nothing improves business development more than gaining the trust of the potential client. Yet few consultants do what it takes to be trusted. We sell in ways that destroy rather than create trust because we misunder­stand the buying decision.