www.boft.com 1

Building trust with

stakeholders

quickly

www.boft.com 2

Maister et al describe Trust as follows:

T = C + R + I

S

T = Trustworthiness

C = Credibility

R = Reliability

I = Intimacy

S = Self-orientation

The Trust Equation

Source: The Trusted Advisor, David H Maister, Charles H Green

and Robert M Galford

www.boft.com 3

Relationships

Partner

Social

Technical

Ad-hoc

Partner

www.boft.com 4

Relationship scores

Social

Technical

Ad-hoc

Partner

• The letter indicates the relationship for which you scored the highest

• The number indicates what score out of 100 you scored for partner

• If you scored over 70 for partner then you are deemed to have a

partner relationship

45S

65A

39T

75P

Partner

www.boft.com 5

Knowing me, knowing you

www.boft.com 6

Who you are

Specific actions

Behaviour patterns

Personality

Essence

www.boft.com 7

Introducing the OctagonTM

Opportunity vs Fear

Free flowing

vs Organised

Feelings vs Facts

Big picture

vs Detail

Trust vs Control

Your needs vs

My needs

My best vs

Better than you

Leading vs Following

www.boft.com 8

Introducing the OctagonTM

• The Octagon behavioural tool measures 8 behaviours, each with two extremes

• Scores range from 0 - 180

• There is no right or wrong answer

• However, matching behaviour is the best way to build rapport so it is important to have flexibility

• It is about awareness and choice!

www.boft.com 9

Leading vs Following

Leading (high score)

• You start the conversation

• You fill every silence in a conversation

• You make definitive statements

Following (low score)

• You tend to say little

• You leave silence for the buyer to fill

• You caveat your statements

• You wait for the buyer to talk first

(Moderate score)

• You ask the buyer questions

• You will answer the buyers questions

• You make confident statements when asked

www.boft.com 10

Opportunity vs Fear

Opportunity (high score)

• You ask questions about opportunities

• You explain how much the purchase will help

• You try to “enthuse” the buyer

Fear (low score)

• You ask questions about threats

• You point out problems, potential obstacles/risks

• You try to “frighten” buyers into purchasing

(Moderate score)

• You point out the pros and cons of different solutions

• You counsel against over-optimism and over-pessimism

• You make pragmatic suggestions

www.boft.com 11

Trust vs Control

Trust (high score)

• You ask open questions and let the client dictate

• You let the buyer control the pace and timing

• You are happy to make referrals or pass buyers along to colleagues

Control (low score)

• You ask closed questions to direct the conversation

• You tell the buyer what they should buy

• Once you think you have a sale you close too quickly

(Moderate score)

•You give the client limited options

•You ask questions – but within your area of knowledge

•You accompany colleagues to meetings with your clients

www.boft.com 12

Your needs vs My needs

Your needs (high score)

• You ask the buyer what they want

• You challenge the buyer to buy something even more appropriate

• You try to understand the buyer’s needs

My needs (low score)

• You tell the buyer what he/she needs

• You push the buyer towards solutions that help your sales figures

• You try to sell additional items even if they don’t add value

(Moderate score)

•You try to make sure the buyermeets their needs – as long as yours are met too

•You want to make sure that both you and the buyer enjoy the relationship

www.boft.com 13

Feelings vs Facts

Feelings (high score)

• You ask about personal needs and goals

• You talk to the buyer about your own personal situation

• You engage with the buyer’s team members

Facts (low score)

• You ask the buyer about their business needs and goals

• You talk about how the purchase will help the business

• You talk about the cost and efficiency of the purchase

• You focus on the economic buyer

• You may have difficulty dealing with buyers different than you

(Moderate score)

• You relate to many different types of buyers

• You talk about how the purchase will help the buyer

• You talk to the buyer about your role as sales person

www.boft.com 14

Free flowing vs Organised

Free flowing (high score)

• You have no plan and take things as they come

• You don’t need to have agendas for meetings

• You find yourself panicking to meet buyer deadlines

Organised (low score)

• You bring an agenda to meetings

• You have a more or less standard script for sales

• You will bring the conversation back on track if it strays

• You will have a very organised plan of action for a potential buyer(Moderate score)

• You ask the buyer if they would like an agenda or not

• You are happy to change the structure of a meeting, as long as the objectives are still met

• You meet all important deadlines

www.boft.com 15

My best vs Better than you

My best (high score)

• You will do what ever you can do to be the best salesperson you can be

• You will work as hard as you can

• You assume you will achieve your sales targets

Better than you (low score)

• You will focus on being the best salesperson in the team

• You may “show off” to a buyer

• You might work with a buyer even though someone else in the organisation would be a better match

(Moderate score)

• You will do everything you can to help your client succeed

• You are conscious of what the competition is doing, but do not focus on it

www.boft.com 16

Big picture vs Detail

Big picture (high score)

• You ask the buyer what they are trying to achieve

• You will sell the impact of your offering

• You will link your offering to the buyer’s vision and long-term strategy

• You will talk about the long-term advantages

Detail (low score)

• You will ask the buyer about current problems

• You will sell the detail of your offering

• You will link your offering to the buyer’s current situation

• You will talk about the immediate advantages

(Moderate score)

•You will link your offering to the buyer’s short term strategy

•You will talk about the practical application of your offering

www.boft.com 17

Average 0 - 30 30-60 60-90 90-120 120-150 150-180

L/F 122 0% 4% 7% 33% 44% 11%

O/F 78 0% 37% 26% 37% 0% 0%

T/C 94 0% 4% 41% 44% 11% 0%

YN/MN 98 0% 0% 33% 59% 7% 0%

Fe/Fa 91 0% 4% 37% 59% 0% 0%

Fa/Org 71 7% 30% 41% 22% 0% 0%

MB/BTY 105 0% 0% 22% 59% 19% 0%

BP/D 76 4% 30% 33% 30% 4% 0%

www.boft.com 18

What is your buyer thinking ?

Facts

Challenges

Outcomes

1000

30

3

www.boft.com 19

How engaged is your buyer ?

Facts

Challenges

Outcomes% 100

1

www.boft.com 20

SHAPE

Facts

Next steps

Challenges

Outcomes

Other person states

S urface

H unt

A djust

P aint

E ngage

You Ask

www.boft.com 21

SHAPE

1 Are you happy with the front desk?

2 What would you like to get from your Body Corporate?

3 What don’t you like about us as the Body Corporate?

4 Of all the things you want from a front desk, which is the most important?

5 So what would you like me to do about it?

www.boft.com 22

SHAPE

1 I want you to be open 24 hours a day

2 You manage the desires of the owners

3 I am not happy with the body corporate fees, they are way too high

4 The staff at the front desk change all the time

5 Get back to me with how you will deal with this issue

www.boft.com 23

Focus-5

1. Financial

• Revenue

• Profit

• Cashflow

2. Customers

3. Competitors

4. Market

• Market share

• Market perception

5. Employees

www.boft.com 24

Dear Jane,

Many thanks for your time today. This is just a quick note to say how excited I am about your new

plans and to make sure that we are on the same page. Please let me know if I have missed or

misunderstood anything.

• You talked about your plans to double the business in the next 3 years. You also said that you

saw the critical issues as being Financing, marketing and the right staff.

• I mentioned YZ company who I know who are probably a year further into their plans and I offered

to put them in touch with you

• You expressed your concerns about the need for confidentiality – duly noted

• You also said you have already developed an outline strategy document which you are happy for

me to look at and make comment on

• We agreed at this stage to make sure you were on track based on other people’s input before you

moved further into the project

Next Steps

1. I will send you the contact details for Fred at YZ company by the end of today so you can speak to

him.

2. By the end of today you will also send me a confidentiality agreement to sign.

3. By the end of this week you will send me your initial strategy document

Regards Pauline

www.boft.com 25

Keep in Touch

www.boft.com 26

Building trust with

stakeholders

quickly