Every organization needs healthy teams. A healthy team will be more productive, more efficient, and more willing to go the extra mile to get results for your organization. It’s a huge investment to build healthy and effective teams, but it’s well worth the effort.
In a recent episode of The Cure… With Scotty and Sully, hosts Scott Adams and Brian Sullivan spoke to Joel Goldberg, host of the pre- and post-game shows for the Kansas City Royals for Fox Sports, about the importance of building trust within your teams and the power of curiosity.
Establishing trust on your team
Trust is the foundation of any effective team. With trust, you can build a relationship and a reputation – for better or worse. Goldberg said, “One of the key pieces to building trust with someone is checking to make sure that we are making their lives easier. Are our personal friends, business acquaintances, employees, or team members eager to answer the phone when they see you calling? Or do they want to hide?”
A unique thing about trust is that it’s not something that you can establish and set aside. Trust needs to be cultivated and maintained. Building trust is a daily job, and every decision you make can impact the level of trust that other people have for you.
That’s the hopeful part – if trust is broken, it can be restored. It will take a lot of work, but that’s what makes trust such a valuable piece of the puzzle.
The power of curiosity
Every sales rep has the opportunity to build relationships with their customers, which can help to get you better insights into the problems they need solved. How do sales reps get these insights? By listening. Average and below average sales reps will spend too much time talking about the solution and not enough time listening to the problem.
It all comes down to working on your communication skills. Goldberg said, “You need to listen and be curious. I’m amazed at the stories that I stumble into by just being curious and asking questions.” By asking questions, you can work towards a greater understanding of what the customer needs and how your organization can help them. Additionally, when you ask the right questions, your customers will feel like you are taking the time to truly hear and understand what they are working with.
There’s a fine line between chasing your curiosity and flying by the seat of your pants. You can’t come into these conversations and expect good results when you are not prepared. “The key here is that you need to be prepared,” Goldberg said. “I think that you can follow your own curiosity best when you are prepared, but you need to be flexible with where the conversation could go.”