|
Honesty and sales person are not commonly two words paired
together in word association exercises. Despite the prevailing
stereotype, most sales people are ethical professionals offering
a product or service. However, in many cases, honesty and sales
person shouldn’t be paired together because sales people are
afraid to be honest. They often stifle thoughts, suggestions, or
fears so that clients or prospects aren’t faced with something
unpleasant. That’s not honesty; it’s selectively providing
information to cater to what a sales person thinks the other
person wants to hear. Be honest with people, it will help both
parties. The rule for doing this is, if you feel it say it
gently.
Obviously we have to be tactful with clients and prospects. We
can’t insult their ideas or call them out for inadequacies. Not
only is it a poor way to treat people, it won’t get anything
sold. So we have to be gently honest. If a prospect tells a
sales person a planned solution to a problem that the sales
person has seen fail, they need to address the issue. A common
strategy that makes this less confrontational is telling the
third party story. “Not sure it’s the case with you, but when
that has been implemented in the past they ran into problems A,
B and C. Do you foresee that as an issue for you?” Sometimes
sales people need to be honest for the sake of sales efficiency.
Clients and prospects commonly stall sales people with
think-it-overs and other polite “no’s”. Again, that’s a good
time to be honest. While sales people can’t accuse a prospect of
putting them off and wasting time, they can say “It’s probably
not happening here, but when a prospect tells me they want to
think it over it often means no but they’re too nice to tell me.
I just want to make sure that’s not what’s happening here.”
There are an infinite number of examples in selling where sales
people get uncomfortable being honest. Unfortunately, they
usually let the situation slide and it causes problems for them
and their prospects and clients. Typically we’re uncomfortable
because we fear a negative reaction. While negative responses do
happen, most people appreciate a sales professional that can
foresee complications, will be direct about addressing mistakes,
and looks to efficiently solve problems. When a prospect gets
upset it usually means one of two things. First, you perhaps
missed the gently part of the rule, or second, the prospect was
doing something incorrectly, was called on it, and can’t
maturely deal with it. If it’s the first case, work on being
gentle. If it’s the second, you’re better off ending the
relationship and moving on. Be honest, even when it makes you
uncomfortable. Remember that tact goes a long way in these
situations and we need to be gentle when relaying the
information. When that is mastered you’ll find yourself in the
fortunate position of being honest with people, and getting the
same in return.
© Sandler Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
|
.jpg)