How to Win Client Business When You Don't Know Where to Start

CHAPTER 17What Is Trust and Where Does It Come From? : Do Clients Really Hire People They Like?

Trust is a living, breathing, emotional bond that connects people to one another. It's intimate, personal and powerful. In a world where it seems like everyone is out to pitch, scam, or screw you, it is also a rare and precious commodity.

—John Hall, author, Top of Mind

Tom McMakin and I stirred up a bit of controversy in How Clients Buy when we claimed that respect and trust were more important than being liked. Our claim went against conventional wisdom because many believe clients hire people they like.

We suggested that likeability is a tiebreaker in the client's decision‐making journey. Between two equally qualified and trustworthy candidates, a client would give the nod to the one they liked better. We proposed that respect and trust were more important than being likeable: respect for our professional ability and trust that we had the client's best interests at heart.

FIGURE 17.1 Being Likeable Allows Respect and Trust to Grow

As I've studied this more carefully, I've come to believe that likeability is what social scientists call a moderating variable. A moderating variable (in this case being likeable) influences the relationship between the independent variables (respect and trust) and the dependent variable (you being selected or not). (See Figure 17.1.)

Or, put another ...