It's almost certain that your next prospect will respond to you, if they respond at all, with an unhealthy dose of skepticism. And, this is before you ever say a word or let them know you're one of those "insurance/benefits people."
That's not an exaggeration. Trust in institutions (government, media, financial services) is at a generational low. Your burden is even heavier because you start every conversation carrying the weight of one of the least trusted industries in business. Fair or not, that's your reality.
We throw around phrases like "trusted advisor" and "relationship business" as if saying them often enough makes them true. It doesn't. They're mental placeholders for a conversation most advisors never actually have with themselves.
Most advisors convince themselves that it takes two or three years to earn a new client. That doing so comes down to personality fit, shared history, or spending enough time to prove how nice and smart you are. No doubt, there's some truth in that. However, much of it is an easy excuse for why you're not closing deals.
The kind of trust that drives decisions and moves a prospect from skeptical to committed is far more controllable than most salespeople believe. It's built through skills and behaviors that you can practice, refine, and repeat. It's not a mystery; it's a skill.
The question isn't whether trust matters. You already know it does. The question is whether you're willing to be honest about where your process falls short in building it.
That's the conversation we're going to have in our session at BenefitPro Expo in Chicago.
In this session, three experienced benefits advisors will join me for a candid panel discussion on what it takes to build trust during the sales process, not over years, but across a handful of conversations.
We'll dig into where trust breaks down without advisors even realizing it, which habits consistently separate high performers from everyone else, and what buyers are silently evaluating every time you're in the room with them.
This won't be a panel of polished, one-time success stories. It will be an honest look at the deals that stalled, the meetings that went sideways, and what specifically changed the result. Because that's where the real learning lives.
If you've ever lost a deal you knew you should have won, there's a trust leak somewhere in your process. This session is designed to help you find it and fix it.
You'll leave with a clearer understanding of how trust is built, specific behaviors you can put to work before your next meeting, and a way of thinking about the sales process that makes closing feel less like pushing and more like guiding.
Trust isn't something that happens to you. It's something you build, deliberately, consistently, and faster than you think.
Come ready to be honest about where you are and leave ready to do something about it.
Join me and Allison De Paoli, Luke Davis, and Talia Hansen for our session "You Can't Afford to Be Another Salesperson They Don't Trust" on Wednesday, April 29th at 3:15 PM at the BenefitsPRO Broker Expo.
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