#34: The fast lane of sales, with Stephen M.R. Covey

On this episode, Stephen M.R. Covey shares insights on the value of trust. Stephen calls mistrust a tax on your business. After all, mistrust makes it harder to get referrals and adds friction to your work environment. You end up fighting uphill.

Bottom line, you really feel it when trust is lacking. But having trust creates a dividend. It encourages enthusiastic referrals that lead to effortless sales. Life is easier and business is fun.

If Stephen’s name sounds familiar, that’s because it should. He is carrying on the legacy of his father, Stephen R. Covey, who wrote The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the groundbreaking book that became essential reading for anybody wanting a more productive life.

Stephen M.R. Covey became CEO of his dad’s company, Covey Leadership Center, and doubled sales within three years. He then orchestrated the merger that created FranklinCovey. Covey parlayed his leadership experience into the book The Speed of Trust, which explains how trust leads to success. He founded and now heads CoveyLink Worldwide and speaks internationally about leadership and trust.

In this in-person interview, Stephen and Paul dug deep into why trust is so valuable to a business, and how to earn it.

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SHOW NOTES:

3:45  A Gallup poll that recently came out about the least trusted professions ranked insurance pretty far down on the list.

6:10  Credibility has two halves to it: character and competence

8:35  Stephen emphasizes the need to have trust in yourself in order for others to find trust in you.

10:00  Building trust in yourself starts with getting the little things right.

11:45  Some people think that trust comes automatically if you’re good at what you do. But even skilled advisors and insurance professionals always need to be working at getting better at trust. After all, it is an economic driver.

14:40  It may be unfair, but it’s true: insurance and financial advisors are in a low-trust profession. But that creates an opportunity.

18:10  Can you accelerate the speed at which trust is achieved? Stephen says ‘absolutely,’ though there are no shortcuts.

19:25  Stephen walks through the three key steps in building trust.