This article was written by Nigel Edelshain, CEO of Sales2.com and was originally published on the Sales2.com blog, where I’m a contributing author.
It was such a great post I wanted to share it with you here. If you would like to read my interview with Nigel Edelshain please click here.
Trust is not something we have a lot of right now. Wall Street bankers, mortgage brokers and some mortgage recipients seem to have walked off with wheelbarrows full of it. But trust is key in selling. Much of what we all sell today is a service. People buy services based on trust (and it’s cousin credibility).
In these times of economic woe most of us are scrambling around looking for quick revenue. The old school sales default on how to get quick revenue to “pound” the telephone with cold calls. But cold calling is not the quickest way to revenue. The quickest way to revenue is through trusted relationships. Cold calling is more effective as a technique to start relationships but to assume that cold calling alone is a quick method to closed deals, especially in these times of low trust, is likely to be a mistake.
Sales 2.0 techniques are available to us to build relationships faster than we’ve built them ever before. We can connect to people through online communities like LinkedIn, Allyforce, Inquisix and Salesconx. These tools allow us to connect to people who already have existing relationships (and trust), with our prospects. Using these tools we can leverage our “partner’s” trust to get a warm referral to our prospect.
The telephone certainly has its place in a Sales 2.0 sales process but it’s only part of the solution. The telephone today works best as part of an integrated strategy that uses relationships, content and trigger events to cut through the noise of today’s society and get through to the prospect. Pounding away on the telephone alone is not smart selling and not the fastest way to revenue – especially when trust is low (like now!)
For those interested in Sales 2.0 techniques and working with other sales professionals, business owners and marketers to combine our Rolodexes and sell faster please join our new Sales 2.0 LinkedIn group 
And make sure to subscribe to the New Sales Economy blog for all the latest Sales 2.0 and Social Media tips to help you connect, create more opportunities and increase your business. You can also follow me on Twitter @ChadALevitt.
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Hey Chad,
Trust has not brought new business since the advent of the internet. Now that everything you want to know about a vendor is a click a way, there is no need to go on trust. Same with investing.
@Seth I think trust is essential in the Web 2.0, digital economy we live in today. Without trust no sale or transaction ever happens and the likelihood of repeat business is close to zero.
What do you think?