You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
This guards and protects a person’s legitimate motivational need TO BE UNDERSTOOD, and to understand correctly. The first point I want to make however is obvious…
Tell the truth
This seems like a simple enough point to understand but it’s very easy to make truthful statements while deliberately conveying a lie. For example, I once had the opportunity to speak to about 50,000 men at a Promise Keepers event. The venue was awesome. The crowd was intimidating in size. It was a day, I’ll never forget.
It was also one they’ll never remember me for, because you see, I wasn’t actually on the platform. I was in the bleachers and no one really heard me. As you can see from the silly example in the previous paragraph, it is very easy to tell the truth while conveying a lie. Sales people and politicians are notorious for this practice.
When you develop a relationship over time for truth telling, you become a valuable resource in the business community. Everyone wants to know they can absolutely trust the word of the person they are doing business with. When you become that person, you gain a reputation that will reward you well your whole life.
Practice full disclosure.
In sales it’s critically important to not only tell the truth, but to tell the whole truth. It is so easy to mislead someone by withholding pertinent information. The customer asks if he can get out of the lease agreement. The salesman says, “yes”. What he fails to mention is that the leasing company will assess them a penalty equaling the full value of the contract.
In sales, remember that people have a legitimate need to be understood and to understand. Help your customers understand the full picture and lead them through a well-informed decision making process. They’ll thank you for it with their business more often than not.
Customers want to be understood
I’ve also learned in business that customers expect you to understand them. In fact, most people seem to expect you to view their circumstances through their personal grid and get upset when you don’t see things their way.
Knowing this, how can we in sales, help meet our customers legitimate need to be understood? Well, you can start by asking lots of questions and really listening to the answers. While talking with your customer, ask them about their goals. Discover their worldview. By that I mean find out the grid through which they view life.
Learning to really understand your customers will help you express your offer in language and with illustrations, that will assure your customer that you truly understand and can help them. When you gain understanding, you are more likely to gain business. That skill can be used over and over again, unlike gold, which you can only spend once.
Until next time, be fruitful and multiply!