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THE POWER OF READING PEOPLE

Key Point: Trust Must Be Earned and Maintained

A salesperson, or any professional for that matter, should strive
to establish a connection, nurture the relationship, and con-

tinually rejuvenate that bond. This is because a customer’s trust
isn’t just given; it’s earned and must be reaffirmed consistently.
You have to demonstrate that you are deserving of trust. The
same principle holds true for managers in their interactions
with team members.

THE SECRETS TO BUILDING TRUST

According to the FBI’s Behavior Change Stairway Model, effective
trust-building hinges on two pivotal practices (Rock, 2016):

• Active listening
• Tactical empathy

Active listening involves fully engaged and unrestricted attention to the
speaker. The goal is to delve into the speaker’s thought processes and
value system with attentive listening and adept questioning, engaging
with their perspective in a compassionate and empathetic manner.

Authentic active listening is about maintaining a receptive state

of mind, allowing for a genuine connection with the feelings and
thoughts of another person. This requires a grasp of traditional lis-
tening and inquiry skills—being comfortable with silence, allowing
the speaker to complete their thoughts, and interspersing the con-
versation with affirmative utterances and matching nonverbal cues.
It’s about echoing the speaker’s words in your own language and
reframing their statements with alternative expressions.

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