Sales ethics & integrity...

Not exactly the mental image that Alec here conjures up, is it? But I couldn't find a completely suitable graphic so I thought I'd give him an airing in the ironic sense...

To sell once to someone is one thing, but to keep selling to the same people time and again is another thing entirely and as well as a great offer and everything else that’s needed, Integrity and ethics will be right up there on your customer’s buying criteria, so...

Why are they so essential, and how do we deploy them?

Sales ethics and integrity are often spoken of, but equally often forgotten in the next breath! Although they’re essential skills. Buyers need to trust salespeople, especially now more than ever. When everyone is scrambling to make quotas and hit targets, today’s investors are inclined to be more wary and cautious than ever...

As a profession, sales does not have the best of reputations - that’s why firms get all creative and call their salespeople anything but salespeople!. Buyers’ trust is seen as a commodity in short supply, particularly in the property and investment sectors.

In all facets of sales, the image of the Arthur Daley salesperson isn’t easily overcome!

It takes time for salespeople to earn the trust of their prospects and new clients. Hence the value of sales integrity - always under-promise and over-deliver. Go the extra mile, always do a little more than you have to and they’ll love you for it, and trust you all the more quickly.

You know buyers are a hundred times more likely to go ahead when they trust the person selling the product or service. Personal integrity is critical. It’s the faculty that takes high-performance salespeople to the top. Here we’re seeing how salespeople achieve the levels of integrity and sales ethics to succeed and dominate their sectors. I believe these attributes, along with a solid and compelling offer, are the difference that makes the difference - especially in times of high uncertainty.

 How we achieve sales integrity...

You must 110% believe in your product and the company you represent...

How can you congruently sell anything if you don’t believe it will ultimately benefit the prospect you’re pitching it to?

Selling is very much the art of transference of feeling.

That sixth sense intuition which conveys a message from one person to another. Your prospect has to believe in your offer enough to want to invest his or her savings into it. Surely, that’s easier to achieve when you are fully on board with your product and company - to the extent, you wouldn’t hesitate to sell it to your own Mother!

If you don’t think it has value, and approach the ethics and integrity side of things casually, your whole pitch is going to be insincere. Usually, prospective buyers are going to feel that. 

Remember, casualness leads to casualties - don’t become one - especially today. Closing a deal is always going to be more challenging when you don’t believe in the opportunity you’re selling, or even in the company you work for, and the principles behind it. 

Confidence in the product and company, and congruency therein is derived out of total belief - belief is the most powerful force in the entire universe. This way your palpable enthusiasm will be sincere when it’s aligned with your ethics and sales integrity. You can use the last four letters of the word enthusiasm as an acronym. IASM - I Am Sold Myself!

Confidence stemming out of belief is the cornerstone underpinning how you sell with integrity. Be certain you have absolute clarity for yourself and your sales team regarding what they’re selling, it’s value and benefits, and how will create profit for your clients. 

When we take a client’s money - it’s something representational of their life. Because they have most likely traded their time for that money, time which they can never recoup - they’re literally trusting you with their lives!

Don’t diss your competitors

Hopefully, your salespeople act professionally and rise above the temptation to speak disparagingly about rival firms.

Even if a competitor is known for having a bad reputation, or if a client or prospect had a negative experience with a competitor, bad-mouthing them is not the way to go - not least because on a subconscious level we’re telling the prospect he screwed up, he made a bad decision. After a fashion we’re insulting him, calling his judgment into question. 

And very possibly as a result of our highlighting his previous error - he’s gonna make damn sure he doesn’t slip up again - that could mean not buying ever again - and especially not from you, who’s just placed his pain and folly front of mind!

The best way to appreciate your competitors is to make certain you, your products and salespeople stand head and shoulders above the rest. Avoid becoming an ‘also ran’. 

Find the words to leverage your competitor’s shortcomings with your obvious strengths - but do elegantly by using suggestion and subtle language. Then coach and mentor your team to do the same, it’s actually very easy to do, and like anything, it gets easier and slicker with practice. Repetition is the Mother of all learning.

This way you’ll not be competing - you’ll be dominating!

Respect your prospects’ time

People of high integrity, respect and appreciate other peoples’ time, as well as their own.

Whether it’s meeting face-to-face, a video or phone call, we’re still taking the other persons’ time - and remember we’re using our own finite resource of time too, so be equally respectful of your own time, and don’t deal with time wasters, they’ll likely never buy anyway. But they will frustrate you, and ultimately detract from your performance as a top-flight professional salesperson.

Always thank prospects for taking the time to speak with you. Do this with total and earnest sincerity. Integrity is often measured on your sincerity above all else. 

I heard Jim Rohn speaking once, and prior to beginning his talk, he told us not to ask ourselves if he was right in the ideas and philosophies he was sharing - but to ask ourselves if was he sincere!

Sell with the long-game in mind. Qualify your prospects thoroughly, so you’re certain you’re not wasting your time or theirs. After all, you want them to buy again, and again and again. You want to be in the re-buy business as much, if not more than the next-new-client business. 

The obvious BIG exception to this rule, is if your next new client happens to be a referral! 

Referrals usually have an 80% plus probability of closing over and above any form of paid advertising, due to various trust and social proof factors - but they take time to start flooding in, in their droves - for pretty much the same reasons.

Stay completely honest, never compromise your values and integrity just for the commission

Honesty will get you everywhere. 

Churchill said, “The truth is incontrovertible.”

 Truth is the nearest thing to water - it always seeps out eventually!

Integrity and ethics are staying consistent with the truth.

This entails listening to the prospect’s needs and goals and really adapting your offer to meet their criteria - if it doesn’t, don’t push it, rather tell them. They’ll love and trust you for it and maybe adapt their criteria just so they can deal with an honest outfit - I’ve seen this happen time and again.

Keep your integrity in high gear, you’ll certainly make more sales, more money, and get more sleep at night!

You’ll be inundated with new enquiries from people recommended by your existing clients - yes, every investor is looking for an opportunity they can trust - but equally for a firm they can trust.

 Let that be your firm. 

Make certain your firm is top of the charts when it comes to honesty, reputation, and integrity. Once you have achieved this lofty status, you’ll never be short of new clients and re-buys.

And by default, you’ll never be short of money...

Happy, well served, trusting clients keep coming back for more. 

Clients who smell a rat, and discern you’re in it solely for yourself, and possibly even at their expense, will disappear as surely as night follows day!

Here’s to your integrity and the success that must and will follow.