How do you know when a salesman is lying? His lips are moving!
That popular joke still makes me bristle. It’s a stinging reproach to a profession I love. And yet, while many sales professionals work with complete integrity, far too many others don’t -- and that has tainted the image of the profession.
My recent discussion with a 40-something-year-old sales veteran reveals how the profession became tainted. He told me, “The fact that I don’t always tell the truth is your problem -- not mine.” He wrongly believes that nobody was getting hurt and that a biblically based, principle-centered approach to sales sounded good in theory, but wouldn’t work in the real world. He bought into the lie that “nice guys finish last” and in the dog-eat-dog world of sales, only the tough, the ruthless and the silver-tongued can survive.
Dishonesty in sales is not confined to a few fly-by-night home-siding salesmen as depicted by actor Danny DeVito in “Tin Man” or to used car salesmen as shown by Robin Williams in “Cadillac Man.” In fact, the 75th anniversary issue of “Sales and Marketing Management” magazine devoted its cover story to the near fatal free-fall of IBM stock, which lost 70 percent of its value and forced the company to eliminate about 40,000 sales and sales-related positions.
A major problem, according to former salesman Bill Gardner, was that: “we were so well-trained, we could sell anything, good or bad. So under quota pressures, we sold systems that our customers didn’t need, didn’t want and couldn’t afford.” Although IBM had a short-term gain, the long-term loss was nearly fatal.
My experience in the sales profession tells me that IBM’s selling style is the rule, not the exception.
In 1986, after marrying my wife, Brenda, I took a job in Nashville, Tenn., selling copiers for a reputable copier company. It had been years since I had sold copiers, and all I knew for sure was that I didn’t want to do it ever again. Nevertheless, there I was, my first day on the job, listening to the vice president of sales explain the ground rules.
“We expect you to sell one copier for every four or five you demonstrate,” he said. “One out of four is the national average. We don’t expect any sales your first month, but we do expect two sales your second month and four per month from then on.”
I was expected to make six sales within my first 90 days even though no new rep had ever achieved this goal. When I arrived home from work, Brenda could tell something was bothering me. I told her I was expected to sell one copier for every four that I demonstrated. She asked me what was wrong with that. I sighed and explained it meant I had to accept a 75 percent failure rate, and I wasn’t about to do that.
I didn’t want to sell copiers in the first place, but God had clearly provided that job for me. So, I decided to study the Bible and find principles and strategies that could apply to my sales career. Instead of setting my goal for one sale for every four demonstrations, I was going to find a biblical way to sell one out of one!
The next day, when I reported for duty at the branch level, the branch manager asked me what my goals were. I told him my goal was to sell one out of one, and he looked at me as though I was crazy. But he had already printed my business cards so he decided to give me a chance.
Exactly 91 days later, at a quarterly sales meeting with 20 other sales reps, I had to stand in front of my peers and state my results. “I’ve been with this company 90 days,” I began. “Today is my 91st day. As of yesterday, I have done 22 copier demonstrations and I am pleased to report to you that I also have 22 sales.”
The group was stunned. For 30 minutes they hurled questions at me, wanting to know how I had achieved three-and-a-half times a goal that had never been met before. I had promised God that I would give Him the credit, and I began sharing some of the practical insight God had given me from His Word. Some were sputtering in disbelief, “All we need is some evangelist to tell us how to sell copiers!” They kept waiting for me to tell them some kind of technique or gimmick.
In the face of their disbelief, I finished off the year setting a new sales record for copiers sold and was promoted to sales manager. Ten months later, my sales team was 430 percent ahead of the previous year and I became the company’s sales trainer.
It was integrity (conforming reality to my words) and honesty (conforming my words to reality) that fueled my sales success. Biblical principles had navigated my course to record-setting levels.
Though truth is more powerful than a lie, it can sometimes cost you a sale, but do it anyway and you’ll gain in something that’s sadly lacking in this world: honor. If you make a sale at the expense of your integrity, you may gain another meal ticket (a “mess of pottage”), or a commission check, but you drain a little more fuel from your tank and you give up that precious commodity called honor. In a day when honor and integrity are scarce, they become more valuable when found. Customers know this and they respond with their trust and resources.
Remember: Whatever we do to the “least of these” (our prospects and customers), we are doing to the Lord. Sell with integrity, esteem the truth and walk honorably before God and man.
Today, I make my living helping companies make paradigm shifts in their sales approach so they can achieve quantum leaps in their sales results. I’ve learned that selling is less about closing sales and more about opening relationships; that lasting motivation doesn’t come from without, but from within; and, that quality begets quantity. Good selling is not about slick techniques, but rather it is the practical application of eternal principles to sanctified, Spirit-led strategies.
Like it or not, Scripture compares us to sheep -- not very flattering. However, as sheep under the watchful eye of the Shepherd, we can compete and succeed in a marketplace full of wolves.
Be warned, however, if you try and compete with wolves as a sheep in wolf’s clothing, don’t be surprised if you look in the mirror one day and see a wolf in sheep’s clothing!
Michael J. Pink for “New Man” magazine. All rights reserved.
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