Let’s be honest: When you hear that phrase, you should be thinking, “Wait, were you not practicing strong business ethics with me before this?”
Those of us that are top producers tend to have more prospects in our sales funnel than other sales reps. This allows us to be brutally honest with our prospects on how our product or service can best fix their problems. Our peers that have fewer prospects are under more pressure to close the sales and tend to embellish facts. Unfortunately, there are a small minority of salespeople that think it is an easy profession, just see dollar signs when they look at their prospects, and don’t even bother to learn the facts about what they are selling.
Lie once and get caught—it will spread like wildfire. You will become known as the person that will do anything to close a sale. Salespeople tend to inflate their facts and figures during the value summary stage. One upset prospect that catches you lying may result in numerous lost sales opportunities. It only takes one Tweet, one bad Yelp review or a viral blog post and, in a matter of hours, you can kiss your easy-to-fill pipeline goodbye.
We, the sales professionals, are supposed to be subject matter experts and solve problems. When sales people are asked a question that they don’t know the answer to, unfortunately some are not willing to say, “Let me confer with my colleague.” Doctors, lawyers and engineers have no problem saying those six words. Salespeople need to get more comfortable with them.
On a personal level, rarely does “I don’t know” pop into my head. What does pop into my head is “I think.” I need to be certain that my client’s problem will be solved before I offer a solution. Part of my personal brand is that I am not afraid to say, “Let me confer with my colleague.” That makes me unique, showing that I have a large network to call upon and am human enough to acknowledge that I need to think about creating their solution. It allows me to follow up one more time with that prospect.
Salespeople who show their human side end up closing more deals. Having the reputation of being ethical adds to our credibility and commitment to our clients. Suddenly our clients are honest with us about all of their problems, so we can assess the situation faster and offer a more through solution. As our partnerships with clients continue to grow, their honesty will help us know if our solution is working and ways we can improve. As a result, these strong relationships referrals flow to us, like liquid gold.
An honest day’s work really does pay.
Pipeliner CRM empowers a strong sense of business ethics. Get your free trial of Pipeliner CRM now.
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