Studio du Clos | Trust Centered Selling

Heightened Confidence.
Measureable Results.

Proven success, trusted by beginners

"Our high-stakes opportunity had been stuck for months. In the Opportunity Risk Intensive, we were able to diagnose the specific risk that were holding back the university’s decision -makers to win the deal and we now have a repeatable way to handle our pipeline..."

Jeff Oliva

CEO, VMD Sciences

"We are dealing with non-FDA approved medicines, so the perceived risk can feel almost impossible to get past. Using the Trust-Risk Framework, we were able to systematically surface the doctor’s real concerns and address the risks holding them back…”

Richard Falcha

President, VMD Sciences

“I’ve personally been through just about every sales training out there and usually walk away with only a few useful nuggets. This was different. Instead of staying in theory, we applied the framework directly to one of our live opportunities... Our complex highly technical deals started moving faster and with far more clarity.”

Dan Wasserstrom

Senior Director, Clinigen

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Sales FAQ: quick answers, real results

Essential guidance for new sales professionals

Will discussing risks with a buyer scare them away or give them reasons to say no?

This is the core of the Trust-Risk Framework. Buyers are already analyzing risk; they just aren't telling you. By surfacing the risk yourself, you move from being a "vendor" trying to hide flaws to a "consultant" helping them address the risk of change. It builds immediate credibility because only someone with expertise is confident enough to point out risks.

How can I tell if a buyer is telling me the truth or just being polite?

Most salespeople mistake polite engagement for deal progress. The buyer should be sharing their goals—specific, measurable outcomes for which they are personally on the hook. If they won't share their internal stakes, you don't have the truth; you have a "nice" conversation that will likely end in a "no-decision."

Is 'Trust' really something you can measure and manage, or is it just a gut feeling?

Trust is not a vibe. It is a mathematical equation developed by David Maister that calculates an individuals trustworthiness. Trust is based on Credibility (expertise) Reliability (dependability), and Intimacy (safety in the decision), divided by Self-Orientation (self-serving behavior). When a salesperson’s "Self-Orientation" (their need to close the deal) is higher than their focus on the buyer's outcome, trust is destroyed.

What do I do when a deal is stalled? Every time I 'check in,' the buyer goes dark.

Deals stall because the risk of moving forward has become higher than the pain of staying the same. "Checking in" adds no value. Instead, the salesperson needs to "De-Risk" the next step. The answer is to stop asking for the sale and start asking what changed in their internal environment that made the status quo feel safer.

How do I manage a 'Technical Buyer' versus a 'Economic Buyer'?

This is a classic risk profile. The technical win is not the business win. You must explore further to uncover the impact to the business if the problem is not addressed or the opportunity is overlooked. Essentially, you are trying to uncover the consequence of inaction. It all starts with understanding the buyer’s goal and the issue preventing them from achieving that goal.

How do I handle a manager obsessed with 'Pipeline Math,' if half my deals won't close?

Traditional "directional math"(weighted pipelines) often creates noise rather than clarity. If you have $1M in the "Proposal" stage and your CRM says that stage has a 50% win-rate, it tells you that you have $500k in revenue coming. However, you never win half a deal. You either win or lose 100% of the deal. If you want an accurate picture of your revenue, you have to look past the percentages and manage trust and risk. A deal doesn't close because it reached "Stage 4"; it closes because the Trust you have built with the buyer has finally outweighed the Risk they feel in making the purchase. By forecasting specific deals, you stop looking at stages and start looking at the human reality: Do we have enough trust to overcome their fear of change? If the answer is no, no amount of weighted math will make that revenue real.

How do I differentiate myself when buyers think our product is the same as the competition?

Remember not to be self-serving. You don't differentiate on yourfeatures or capabilities; you differentiate on the customer’s decision criteria. If they are generic (price, features, delivery time), then price wins. However, if the criteria are value-based, outcome-oriented evaluation criteria that are your strengths and the competitor's weaknesses, you are positioned to win. When you address the risk of change, you become the value-add, not just the person delivering the quote.

When is it actually time to walk away from a deal? I don't want to give up too early.

You walk away when the cost of the pursuit outweighs the probability of winning based on the insight and information you have acquired about the buyer's goals and issues. If a buyer refuses to provide information, insight, or access to the right people, you are not giving up—you are reallocating your time, a valuable asset, to a deal that is actually investable.

How do I get a buyer to agree to a higher price when they are pushing for a discount?

Discounting is often a symptom of unaddressed risk. If the buyer doesn't trust that the solution will deliver the winning outcome, they hedge that risk by asking for a lower price. The answer is to stop defending the price and start revalidating the "Cost of Inaction." Reconfirm their goals and the issue preventing the achievement of that goal, and the cost of inaction. Make sure you have shifted the buying criteria to those that support the achievement of their goal. If the problem is significant enough, the price is secondary.

What is the most common reason high-stakes deals fail at the very last minute?

It’s rarely the competitor; it’s usually "No Decision." At the 11th hour, someone in the buyer's organization who wasn't involved in the process gets "cold feet" because the risk of change was too high. De-risking means identifying the risk of change with every stakeholder long before the contract hits their desk.