Integrity and Trust: A Must for Successful Sales.
Larry Levine
In a world of empty suits, I’m leading a movement of authenticity, integrity, and trust inside the sales profession
"Honesty is more than not lying. It is?truth?telling, truth speaking, truth living, and truth loving."
James E Faust
This quote emphasizes that honesty encompasses a holistic approach to truth.
It involves not just avoiding falsehoods but intentionally engaging in and embracing the truth in all aspects of life.
This means being straightforward in communication, consistently living by truthful principles, and fostering a genuine affection for truth in both personal conduct and interactions with others.
A few questions for you, as we kick off our time together:
Whether this be in your personal life or in business, strong relationships are built upon the foundation of trust.
Real connections, real conversations, and real relationships are all built on trust.
In a recent study conducted by the Dale Carnegie group, they found that 73% of the respondents indicated that trust is very or extremely important to them for building relationships with salespeople.
Check this out... in the same study they found that 71% of respondents said they would rather buy from a salesperson they trusted over one who gave them the lowest price.
Hard to build a trust-based relationship centered around transactional and price-hammering conversations.
Trust, it's the holy grail in sales. Trust boils down to perception.
Sales community, please key in on this for a moment...
How many of your client's perceive you as being credible and trustworthy?
How many believe you have their best interest at heart? Would you even know?
This my friends are your mirror moments.
Plain and simple, trust drives profitable business.
Trust creates...
In Psalm 15:2,
"The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart".
This verse suggests that trustworthy people prioritize righteousness and truthfulness, and lead by example.
Need I say more?
Trusted Salespeople Are Consistent
"Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters."
Albert Einstein
A trustworthy professional is consistently congruent. The walk matches the talk.
What we do on a daily basis matter more than what we do just on occasion.
Daily habits have a far greater impact than sporadic efforts.
Consistent and disciplined work help us to become successful. Consistent exercise helps to keep us fit. Consistent honesty and integrity helps us gain the trust of others.
While we all strive to act honorably, often our character is judged by our lapses rather than our consistent good behavior.
Much like first impressions, people may assess you based on a brief encounter or hearsay rather than on your sustained efforts.
Truth, your identity is not fixed by your past actions or occasional missteps. Rather, it's defined by your ongoing behaviors and attitudes, which highlights the importance of consistency in your daily life.
Consistent sales professionals show compassion and out-care all other salespeople.
They consistently show respect, gratitude and appreciation.
They consistently respect boundaries in their relationships because they help communicate around what a person is comfortable with.
More importantly, they consistently live with the utmost of integrity.
Sales professionals who are trustworthy are reliable. They do what they say they will do over, and over, and over again. It's difficult to gain your clients trust when you're reliable once.
How many times have you heard someone say... To be honest with you?
Can we all agree to always be honest with each other, all the time.
“We learned about honesty and integrity – that the truth matters… that you don’t take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules…and success doesn’t count unless you earn it fair and square.”
Michelle Obama
NEVER WAIVER FROM INTEGRITY
In a post-trust sales world, you must bring your integrity forward every single day.
You must live it, breathe it and demonstrate it.
Living with integrity especially in sales takes courage.
"Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not."
Oprah Winfrey
Answer these two questions...
“If you don’t have integrity, you have nothing. You can’t buy it. You can have all the money in the world, but if you are not a moral and ethical person, you really have nothing.”
Henry Kravis
In all your interactions, both personal and professional, be honest, trustworthy, candid, respectful, and straightforward.
I encourage you to speak up when something doesn’t feel right and respond swiftly when others raise concerns. Try to do the right thing, the first time, every time.
Should you come across an ethical challenge, and let's face it, this will happen- just be honest. Plain and simple.
From integrity springs transparency, and from transparency emerges the?most precious asset of all, trust.
INTEGRITY AND TRUST, THE 1-2 COMBO
Integrity will shape your sales world and your career.
What do you want to be known for?
Will your integrity guide you?
领英推荐
Does it sit on your shoulder?
I love what Andy Stanley says about integrity,
"People with integrity do the right thing because it is the right thing even if it costs them."
Therefore, a failure of personal integrity adds stress to the people around you. Now apply this to your interactions with your clients... Do you smell what I am cooking up here?
Will integrity guide you or will your appetite for commissions guide you?
Andy Stanley goes onto to say...
"You can’t be yourself as long as you're lying to yourself."
You can’t give your full self to your clients as long as you're lying to yourself. This will all come back to haunt you throughout your sales career. Your reputation is a terrible thing to waste.
Do you want to be known as a trust builder or trust buster?
I ask you to think about the following...
I'm here to inform you that when you breech your personal integrity, this will change/impact someone else’s and often this just might be your clients' trust.
Think about where trust sits inside the sales world, and follow along with this...
Sales professionals with integrity are guided by integrity. They refuse to not lower themselves and they refuse to waiver from it.
YOU WILL ALWAYS WIN WITH INTEGRITY
Your integrity is what determines your reputation, and as stated in Proverbs 10:9,
"Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out."
There will always be people who will try to cut corners to get a leg up. Don’t be one of them. If you carry yourself from a position of integrity, you will always make the right decision.
Sales professionals who carry themselves with integrity win, and those who do not, get exposed as being empty suits.
Most relationships suffer because of a lack of integrity. This applies to your client relationships as well.
How many make commitments to themselves and to others, then break them, then make excuses to avoid taking responsibility?
You win with integrity by:
The foundation of trust, respect and integrity will contribute significantly to the health and longevity of your relationships, your sales career and your reputation.
Niraj Kapur is a seasoned sales professional with 25 years of experience in London. He's recognized as a LinkedIn Top Voice and a TEDx speaker. Through his career, he has trained over 500 small businesses, solo-preneurs, and start-ups in various aspects of sales, including LinkedIn strategies, overcoming objections, and effective email writing.
His book "Everybody Works In Sales" garnered significant acclaim, reaching the Amazon Top 100 list 30 times. Rather than relying on statistics, Niraj shares his personal journey of overcoming failures to achieve success, making it a refreshing read in the sales genre.
In "The Easy Guide to Sales for Business Owners," Niraj offers practical insights to help businesses thrive while saving time and money. The book includes exercises and actionable takeaways for readers.
Additionally, Niraj's work extends beyond traditional sales advice. In "Business Growth: Lessons Learned From Divorce, Dating and Falling in Love Again," he shares poignant lessons from his personal life, including overcoming divorce, navigating post-lockdown life, and finding love anew. Each chapter offers valuable insights applicable to business growth and personal development.
SHOW SUMMARY
In this episode of the Selling From the Heart podcast, we are joined by returning guest Niraj Kapur, a renowned sales coach, TEDx speaker, and bestselling author. Niraj shares his profound journey of overcoming personal challenges, including his recent diagnosis of ADHD and autism. He discusses the importance of authenticity, self-awareness, and resilience in sales. Listen in to discover how Niraj uses his experiences to transform his approach to sales, emphasizing the power of genuine connections and serving others.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Embracing Authenticity: Authenticity in sales builds trust and fosters lasting relationships. Being genuine and sincere is crucial in today's skeptical market.
Navigating Personal Challenges: Personal setbacks and challenges, such as ADHD and autism, can be transformed into strengths with the right mindset and support.
Self-Improvement: Continuous self-improvement and learning are essential. Reading, meditating, and seeking professional help can significantly impact personal and professional growth.
Mindset Shift: Shifting from a transactional to a relational mindset can enhance your sales approach. Focus on impacting a few people deeply rather than reaching many superficially.
Serving Others: Serving others, even those who cannot directly help you, can lead to long-term success and fulfillment in sales.
QUOTES
"Selling from the heart means serving more people and helping those who can't necessarily help you."
"You cannot control the outcomes; you can only control the inputs."
"The more you learn, the more you earn. Continuous self-improvement is key."
"Authenticity and sincerity are the foundations of trust in sales."
"Transform personal challenges into superpowers by changing your mindset."
Learn more about Niraj Kapur:
LinkedIn:
/ nkapur
Learn more about Darrell and Larry:
Darrell's LinkedIn:
/ darrellamy
Larry's LinkedIn:
/ larrylevine1992
Website: https://www.sellingfromtheheart.net/
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Overcome sales objections, ghosting, prospecting challenges and generate more sales. Personalised 1:1 Sales & LinkedIn coaching. Group Training also available. 30 years international selling experience.
5 个月You always win with integrity Larry Levine also thanks for the lovely shout out in the newsletter.
Business Development Manager @ Performance Foodservice | Consultative Selling
5 个月Larry Levine “Hard to build a trust-based relationship centered around transactional and price-hammering conversations.” That’s gold right there, stop basing every Conversation on price! When I am working with DSR’s it’s always where they want to go because it’s easy. What’s not easy is digging into to what’s important to the customer and being solution oriented, listening effectively and empatheticaly, and stop thinking about what’s in it for them and just help their client from a point of service.
I help coaches reclaim time and grow their practice with fast, expert video editing services.
5 个月Absolutely, integrity is key. Trust and respect pave the way to success.
Retail Operations Expert | Strategic Sales Leader | Maximizing Profitability | Expertise in Store Operations & Team Leadership
5 个月The article is solid. Some of the individuals quoted I would not trust as people of integrity or honesty.
? Sales Manager ?? Serving a team of sales professionals ?? Growing a region ?? Connecting with new people ?? Always learning [email protected]
5 个月Wow! We need a class just around Trust!!! This is phenomenal!