Instant Sales Karma – Get it by being honest!

Telling the truth! It sounds like the simplest thing in the world, but being honest with salespeople seems like a real challenge these days. Business owners think sales people are liars and will say anything to get the sale. But have you ever stopped to think how many times you’ve lied to salespeople and will say anything to avoid the truth?

How many times have you told a salesperson that you’ll think it over with no intention of doing any thinking? Or tell them to call you next week and never pick up the phone when they do? Maybe you even tell them to put together a proposal or send information without any regard for their time spent honoring your request.

Salespeople take the brunt of hostility, deception, and disrespect every day in the marketplace.

These professionals suffer with the reputation of being dishonest liars who will say or do anything to close the sale. Let me be clear, I’m not talking about those types of sales people. They exist and unfortunately will be around for a long time. I’m standing for and writing about the sales professionals who wake up every day and attempt to accomplish an honest day’s work. The people with great passion for their products, service, ideas, talents and skills and are trying to make a decent living. Honest salespeople exist!

How you treat sales people always comes back to you in the same style, aka sales karma. Karma is the idea that actions you perform today have an impact on what happens to you in the future. If you do a “good” deed today, it will come back in the same way. If you lie to salespeople, your salespeople will be lied to. If you treat another honest business owner with disrespect, you or your company will be on the receiving end of that too. That’s how karma works.

How do we undo this vicious cycle?

So, if buyers are lying because they think sales people are lying, how do we undo this vicious cycle? How about we start by telling each other the truth? Honesty is the best policy was something I learned in Kindergarten. Telling the truth and being honest in sales and business means we never have to worry about the teeth of sales karma coming back to bite.

Many people think it’s completely acceptable to lie to salespeople because in their minds they believe all sales people lie. To them, it’s perfectly normal to look someone in the eye and lie. They tell themselves they don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings but the reality is they don’t want to feel the emotions of telling someone the truth. If they really cared about someone else’s emotions, they would feel awful about pretending to be interested. Sure, it can be uncomfortable to tell a salesperson “no” but isn’t it more uncomfortable knowing you’re lying and leading them on?

Business owners please take into account how much time and money is being wasted by not being honest.

There is another human being on the other side of the phone or email just trying to make a living. Shoot them straight, be up front and honest. If you’re not interested, tell them so they can move. Don’t tell them to call you next week, your proposal looks great, I need to think about it and let me get back to you; with no intention of ever talking to them again. Think about your business. How much more efficient and profitable would you be if they heard the truth from their customers?

Sales karma is at play all day, every day and when you least expect it, it will come back to bite. Make honesty and serving others your number one priority and the good karma will find its way to you and your business.