It not just being honest, it's being consistent in everything you say and do.
There are many theories
about why some salespeople are more successful than others. Some say it's sales technique; some say
it's inborn talent. However, in my opinion, the most important source of
sales success is personal integrity.
Integrity isn't the same
thing as honesty. Integrity means that all the elements of your personality are
integrated into a consistent whole. According to Ron Willingham, author ofIntegrity
Selling in the 21st Century, this integrity has five interrelated aspects:
1. Your basic values about people and life.
If you have a positive view
of people and see life in optimistic terms, the people to whom you sell will be
drawn to you and be more likely to trust you. On the other hand, if you're
cynical and suspicious, those values will be echoed back and your customer will
resist trusting you.
2. Your general feelings about the act of
selling.
If you think that selling
means helping people and making them happier, healthier and more successful,
you'll approach each opportunity with energy and enthusiasm. If you think
selling means manipulating people into buying things they don't really need,
you'll feel, in your heart of hearts, that you're a louse and will eventually
self-sabotage.
If you're confident in your
ability to address customer concerns, understand their business issues, and
create a solution that works for their unique situation, that confidence will
make you more effective. If you're not sure that you're all that good at
selling, your lack of confidence will make customers doubt your competence.
4. Your level of commitment to taking action.
If you are absolutely
committed to doing whatever it takes (within legal and ethical bounds) to help
the customer, you will take timely action to make certain that the sale moves
forward. If you're not really committed, your actions will be half-hearted and
ineffective and customers will respond by buying elsewhere.
5. Your belief in the product or service you're
selling.
If you are certain that
what you're selling is the best available, that pride will reverberate through
every action you take. If you secretly suspect that what you're selling is
substandard, your desire to help the customer will conflict with the knowledge
that you're selling them rubbish, thereby making you less effective.
To summarize, if you intend
to be really, really good at selling:
1.
Be optimistic about
people and about life.
2.
Think of selling as a
way to help people.
3.
Learn how to sell and
keep learning more.
4.
Be 100% committed to
helping the customer.
5.
Sell only what truly
best for your customers.
OF SELLING AND ETHICS©
Selling
and Ethics must coexist side by side
Leaving
no room for us to decide
Whether
we talk in Truth or Lies
When
prospects ask how or why
We are
all able to tell our sales story
Filled
with great platitudes and glory
We
expound our features as is our whim
Oft
times slicing the Truth, much too thin
Hell,
No one will ever know
As down
the glory road we go
Yet in
retrospect after even a minor transgression
We wish
we could stop and go to Confession.
