Being competent is an important factor in building trust. People seldom believe you’re competent based on what you say about your credentials, experience, investment philosophy, or background. They believe you’re competent based on your behavior. As essayist, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "What you do shouts so loudly in my ears I can’t hear a word you’re saying."

This article addresses how you convey your competence in the first meeting, assuming you actually are competent, trustworthy, and knowledgeable about your products and services.

1. Competent professionals ask good questions.
John Sculley, former CEO of Apple says, "The solutions are often obvious once you get the questions right." Successful people measure your competence by the quality of your questions.

My favorite questions to ask in the client interview (with prospects and clients) begins with, "What’s important about success to you?" Of course, there is a stage setting before you blurt out this question.

Your prospects can tell you are competent because they do all the talking about what’s important to them (their values), goals, where they are now, and where they want to be.

Any B.S. artist can tell a good story, but only competent people know the right questions.

2. Competent professionals discover all the necessary information in the first interview. 
Prescription before diagnosis is malpractice. Incompetent professionals give advice on what the prospect/client should buy without knowing all the details first.

Your prospects and clients can tell you are competent by the questions you ask and because you expect them to tell you the truth.

3. Competent professionals have a system for helping their clients. 
We recommend and teach the Success Road Map system. This system creates a visually compelling picture to help clients make intelligent choices. You don’t have to use our Success Road Map system, but I encourage you to have a system and use it.

The client interview is a repetitive motion exercise like a golf swing or a tennis stroke. Lee Trevino once remarked, "The best swing is one that repeats. I used to hit a one iron 260 yards through a doorway. Now I can hit it through a keyhole."

Competent professionals have a system that repeats itself with every prospect and client.

4. Competent professionals make it simple. 
The most competent professionals simplify their client’s lives. Successful, busy people probably do not want to deal with a lot of different firms. More likely, they simply have yet to find a competent professional they trust who has simplified their life.

The more successful or "sophisticated" your client, the more they appreciate simplicity.

5. Competent professionals are thorough.
In addition to having a chapter in the "Values-Based Selling" book, I wrote an article about the power of audio taping your interviews. Audio taping conveys competence. An incompetent professional would never create a permanent record of their incompetence on audio tape. Conversely, a thorough, competent professional would naturally record the conversation so they could refer to it to do the best job possible for the client.

Competent professionals are obsessively thorough.

6. Competent professionals are familiar and comfortable with all the necessary documents. 
Your clients will be impressed by how well you handle the necessary documents.

Rather than fumble and look foolish in front of the client, be prepared to handle the documents effectively. It increases their confidence and yours.

Competent professionals know how to handle the documents.

7. Competent professionals are totally present.
A speaker coach, Max Dixon, asks, "Can you show up ready to be no place else?" This means asking a question during the initial interview and being completely present for the answer, not thinking about the next question or the next comment.

Dan Sullivan talks about being totally present and in the moment with your client and prospect.

Can you show up ready to be no place else? The competent professional does.

In summary, you have to be competent. Then your clients must be able to see, hear, and experience your competence from the very first moment they interact with you. Before they discover your true competence by working with you they must believe you are competent in order to give you their business in the first place.

Don’t be a traditional ‘old-school’ salesperson; be a Trusted Sales Professional.

©1999 Anne M. Bachrach, San Diego, CA