Trust usually comes before the opportunity
I've spent a lot of my career in sales, and one thing I've learned is that the best relationships rarely start with a purchase order.
They usually start much earlier.
A conversation.
A question.
Helping solve a problem when there may not be anything in it for you.
Answering the phone when someone needs help.
Being honest enough to say, “I don't think that's the right solution for you.”
None of those things guarantee you'll ever get the business.
But they build something much more valuable:
Trust.
And I don't think that's unique to sales.
Leadership works the same way.
You can't suddenly ask someone to trust you when things get difficult if you haven't invested in the relationship when things were easy.
Mentorship works that way.
Relationships work that way.
Teams work that way.
Trust is built slowly through dozens of small interactions that don't seem particularly important at the time.
Then eventually there's a moment when they matter.
Someone needs an answer.
Someone needs help.
Someone needs to make a difficult decision.
And they call you.
Not because of your title.
Not because you had the best sales pitch.
Because somewhere along the way, you earned their trust.
That's why I've come to believe relationships aren't something you build to get the opportunity.
Sometimes the relationship is what creates the opportunity.
Lead | Listen | Deliver
What makes you decide someone has earned your trust?
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