The Art of Using Neutrality to Build Trust in Sales

Good morning! Today is National Go With Your Gut Day. Which is fitting, because half of sales forecasting is pretty much that. Your gut saying “yeah, I think this one will close this quarter”. We’d like to coin this as ‘vibe selling’. Selling and forecasting based on strictly gut and vibes. That’s the future. Now, let’s get into today’s Follow Up. (:

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Making decisions is hard.

What should I wear today? What should I have for lunch? What company should I work for?

All of these questions require us to make a decision based on available information.

So when buyers have a problem, they do the same. They gather the information they think they need to buy something they think will solve their problem.

But decisions aren’t easy.

Which is why prospects need someone to help them choose.

That’s where you come in…

Prospects want a ‘trusted advisor’ to understand their problem and recommend the best decision.

And the best way to become a trusted advisor is through neutrality.

Here's the Neutrality Playbook you can start running this quarter:

Most reps think being likable closes deals. That’s wrong.

Likability opens doors, but trust closes deals.

Buyers reward sellers who act competently with good intentions. Reps who put the customer's outcome first, instead of their commission check.

That means telling hard truths, even if it means you might not get the sale right away.

Trust has three parts you can control: competence, honesty, and benevolence.

Show you know your stuff, won't hide the downsides, and care about the long-term success of your customer over the quick close.

Lead discovery with questions that map their goals, constraints, and risk. This means no product talk for the first 10-15 minutes.

Think about problems, stakeholders, and points of failure before features.

Prompts you can use today:

Labeling is when you call out what you're observing, which forces the prospect to either confirm or correct you.

This cuts through polite surface-level convo and gets to real issues.

Try these:

When you label correctly, they'll elaborate and give you the real story.
When you're wrong, they'll correct you and still give you valuable information.

This technique breaks through the "everything's fine" responses and gets prospects to talk to you about specific pain points.

Own the downside or the features you don’t have.

Name the gap and how to cover it, even if that means recommending a partner or competitor.

When you say it yourself, it takes away someone’s power to use it against you.

Micro-script: "Based on what you've told me, Tier B covers your core needs. For the advanced reporting, {Partner X} is the cleanest we’ve found, and we can integrate or revisit once it makes sense. My job is finding the best total stack for you, not selling every module right now."

Package options that reflect trade-offs.

One plan that optimizes speed, one that optimizes cost, one that optimizes risk. Spell out what each doesn't include so buyers can choose with eyes open.

Add a Decision Brief the champion can forward: business goal, success metrics, risks, and why this choice is proportionate. You're helping the buyer make a defensible decision, not just a purchase.

When you operate as a neutral, trusted advisor, trust compounds.

Trusted vendors win renewals, expansions, and long-term relationships.