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"Is Integrity a Sales Strategy?"
Copyright 2000
by Dave Kahle
I was speaking to a group of professional
sales people in Johannesburg, South Africa, on the subject
of integrity in business. At dinner later in the evening, my
host, who had been sitting in the audience, sheepishly
shared with me that several of the people seated near her
snickered at the idea. Evidently, to them sales was just a
series of transactions, and the salesperson's job was to
ring as much money out of each transaction as possible,
under whatever means were necessary.
Their position was, I believe, both sad as well as unwise. I
believe that there are certainly practices in the business
world where morality perfectly coincides with wise business.
Integrity is one such practice. It is both good business as
well as good morals.
I believe it is such good business that salespeople should
adhere to a no-exceptions policy of maintaining absolute
integrity. I'm not going to make the case for absolute
honesty as a moral policy. That's better left to our
churches to do. There is, however, a powerful case to be
made for honesty from a practical point of view. Honesty is
a powerful sales strategy that is probably more important
today than ever before.
It works like this. If you have integrity, you save your
customer time. In today's frenzied world, time is more
precious than money for a lot of people. If your customers
cannot believe you, then they must spend hours, days or
weeks of precious time confirming the representations you
have made. If, however, they can believe you, then they
don't feel the need to check for the veracity of every fact
or statement.
Here's an illustration. A few years ago, we attempted to
purchase a condominium. The condo was in a resort location,
and had been used as a rental unit. So it came fully
furnished, down to the silverware and cooking utensils. We
thought it was a good value, a wise investment, and offered
the owner exactly his asking price. Shortly thereafter, word
came from the real estate agent that the owner, on receiving
our full price offer, had increased his price.
The owner may have been looking at his action as a slick
negotiating ploy. We saw it as a lack of integrity. If we
couldn't believe his stated price, then we couldn't believe
any of the representations he had made. We would be reduced
to counting the number of knives and forks instead of
believing the inventory sheet provided for us. We didn't
want to waste the time checking out every aspect of the
deal. If we couldn't trust some of the representations by
the owner, then we couldn't trust any. And, if we couldn't
trust any, it wasn't worth it to us to take the risk in
dealing with him. We walked away from the deal.
We saw the owner's lack of integrity as causing us to invest
a great deal of time to assure ourselves that the risk was
worth the money.
In this case, we were the buyers who saw the seller's lack
of integrity as causing us to spend more time on the
project. We chose not to.
The same is true of your customers. The more your customer
trusts you, the less risk your customer feels in dealing
with you, and the less time necessary to invest in
understanding the product, service or program you are
offering. From the customer's perspective, it's easier and
less risky to deal with someone you trust than with someone
you don't.
And that can translate directly into dollars. I'm always
willing to pay more for something if I can buy it with less
risk. In other words, if I can buy it from a company or
person I can trust. On the other hand, I'd rather not buy
something at all if I have suspicious feelings about the
vendor.
Here's another example. A few years ago I grew jealous of my
neighbor's lawn. His was far greener, thicker and fuller
than mine was. It was because he had a lawn care service
fertilize his lawn several times each year. I determined to
do the same thing. So I obtained the name and phone number
of the company he used, formed an idea of what the service
would cost me, and decided to do business with that company.
I called the company, ready to buy the service. When I
inquired about the types of service available, the
salesperson indicated that there were several options
available. Now, I'm a visually oriented person, and I like
to make decisions based on what I read, not on what I hear.
So, I said, "OK, why not come out and do the first
application, and then leave me a brochure so that I can
review my options, and then I'll make a decision?" The
salesperson agreed.
We then reviewed the details of my location, and the
approximate date for the first fertilizer application. It
was a deal. The salesperson then repeated our agreement,
saying, "OK, we'll be out to do the first application and
we'll leave a brochure, and then you can cancel at any time
with 30 days notice."
"What?" I said.
He repeated his comment. "Wait a minute," I said. "I only
agreed to one application. I'm not committing to any ongoing
contract until I check out all the options."
"But that's not how we do it," the salesperson stammered.
"No," I said.
"But, But..." more stammers.
"NO." I said again. "Forget it. Cancel me."
What happened? Here I was, as good a prospect as there ever
was. I was ready to purchase, having decided to use this
company, even calling them to make the purchase. Yet
something in what the salesperson said raised a red flag in
my mind, and made me doubt the integrity of the person, and
by inference, the company. He had originally said that I
would be billed for only one application, and then implied
that I was committing to an ongoing program.
I viewed that as being deceitful, or at best manipulative.
If I can't trust them on that, what can I trust them on?
There are lots of other lawn care companies, and the next
one in the yellow pages got my business.
Life's too short, and business is too busy to deal with
people you can't trust. The question, then, for you as a
salesperson is this: Do your customers see you as
trustworthy?
That's a difficult question to answer. You can't just ask
them, because you know you are unlikely to hear a candid
response. But you can gain a sense of their perception of
you by looking for some of the symptoms of trust or a lack
of it.
For example, if you find your customers sometimes buying
from a higher priced source, or buying a product or service
you consider to be inferior, it may be that your customer
doesn't trust you!
On the other hand, if you find your customers accepting your
word, and choosing to deal with you, even when you are
offering an identical product at a higher price, then
chances are they do trust you. Your reputation for honesty
and integrity has been a smart business strategy, resulting
in measurable benefits to you.
Unfortunately, a reputation for trustworthiness and honesty
is not a result of one event or a single transaction. It
doesn't develop out of some clever phrases you memorize and
repeat. Rather, it develops over time as you adhere to a set
of ethical standards in small as well as big things. It's
not a technique you use, rather it's the person you chose to
become. As you strive to adhere to the standard of absolute
honesty and integrity in all that you do, you'll develop a
character trait that will become evident to everyone around
you, including your customers. And that is good business as
well as good morals.
To review my suggested set of ethical guidelines for
salespeople, take a look at my "Ten
Commandments for the Ethical Salesperson." Then, commit
yourself to implementing a powerful and effective sales
strategy - integrity.
About Dave Kahle, The Growth Coach®:
Dave Kahle is a consultant and trainer who helps his clients
increase their sales and improve their sales productivity.
He speaks from real world experience, having been the number
one salesperson in the country for two companies in two
distinct industries. Dave has trained thousands of
salespeople to be more successful in the Information Age
economy. He's the author of over 500 articles, a monthly
ezine, and four books. His latest is
10
Secrets of Time Management for Salespeople. He has a
gift for creating powerful training events that get
audiences thinking differently about sales.
His "Thinking About Sales" Ezine features content-filled
motivating articles, practical tips for immediate
improvements, useful resources and helpful tips to help
increase sales. Join for NOTHING on-line at
www.davekahle.com/mailinglist.htm.
You can reach Dave at:
The DaCo Corporation
3736 West River Drive
Comstock Park, MI 49321
Phone: 800-331-1287 / 616-451-9377
Fax: 616-451-9412
info@davekahle.com
www.davekahle.com
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