One of the principles that I have discovered in my 35
years as a consultant and sales guru is this:
Biblical business principles are also those principles that enable a
company to achieve more of its potential.
In other words, you can take the Biblical sourcing away from a business
principle, and the principle still works.
I’ve
stumbled across this truth as it specifically relates to B2B salespeople.
Assemble a system and a set of practices that enable a salesperson to leap to
the top of his/her profession, and, coincidentally, those principles arrived at
through a study of the best practices of successful salespeople are the very
same principles discerned through a study of the Bible.
As a
consultant, I’ve discovered the same truth applied to businesses and
professional careers. Adhere to certain
Biblical principles, whether or not you know they are Biblical, and your career
will blossom, and your business will reach more of it’s potential. You don’t
need to be a Bible student to discover the principles upon which you can build
a successful career, you just need to study the best practices of the best in
your business and the two will coincide.
In an
earlier article, I unpacked one such principle: “Do unto others as you would
have them do unto you.” Biblically,
Jesus said this in Matthew 7:12.
Practically, it’s incredibly good advice upon which you can build a
personal character and a corporate culture.
In
this article, I’m going to add another Biblical principle that coincides with
best business practices: Do
everything with integrity. Build integrity into your personal character and
your corporate culture.
Let’s
begin with a definition: According to
Dictionary.com, integrity is “adherence to moral or ethical principles.” Biblically, the New Testament Greek word which
is translated as Integrity in English means “Honesty and adherence to a pattern
of good works.” It is one of the
core Christian ……………………….
So,
if you build integrity into your business character and your corporate culture,
you’ll be manifesting what is both a Biblical principle as well as a best
business practice. Simply put, operating with integrity is good business.
Here’s
why: Integrity leads to trust. Trust
saves time and is necessary for any ongoing customer or employee relationship. It’s hard to develop a core of loyal customers,
or employees if they don’t trust you.
Honesty
is a powerful sales strategy that is probably more important today than ever
before.
It works like this.
If you have integrity, you save your customer time. In today’s frenzied world, time is more precious
than money. If your customers cannot
believe you, then they must spend hours, days or weeks of precious time
confirming the representations you have made.
If, however, they can believe you, then they don’t feel the need to
check for the veracity of every fact or statement.
Here’s an illustration. A few years ago, we attempted to
purchase a condominium. The condo was in
a resort location and had been used as a rental unit. So, it came fully furnished, down to the
silverware and cooking utensils. We
thought it was a good value, a wise investment, and offered the owner exactly
his asking price. Shortly thereafter,
word came from the real estate agent that the owner, on receiving our full
price offer, had increased his price.
The
owner may have been looking at his action as a slick negotiating ploy. We saw it as a lack of integrity. If we couldn’t believe his stated price, then
we couldn’t believe any of the representations he had made. We would be reduced to counting the number of
knives and forks instead of believing the inventory sheet provided for us. We didn’t want to waste the time checking out
every aspect of the deal. If we couldn’t
trust some of the representations by the owner, then we couldn’t trust
any. And, if we couldn’t trust any, it
wasn’t worth it to us to take the risk in dealing with him. We walked away from the deal.
We
saw the owner’s lack of integrity as causing us to invest a great deal of time
to assure ourselves that the risk was worth the money.
The same is true of your customers. The more your customer trusts you, the less
risk your customer feels in dealing with you, and the less time necessary to
invest in understanding the product, service or program you are offering. From the customer’s perspective, it’s easier
and less risky to deal with someone you trust than with someone you don’t
trust.
And
that can translate directly into dollars.
I’m always willing to pay more for something if I can buy it with less
risk. In other words, if I can buy it
from a company or person I can trust. On
the other hand, I’d rather not buy something at all if I have suspicious
feelings about the vendor.
Here’s another example.
A few years ago, I grew jealous of my neighbor’s lawn. His was far greener, thicker and fuller than
my lawn. It was because he had a lawn
care service fertilize his lawn several times each year. I determined to do the same thing. So I obtained the name and phone number of
the company he used, formed an idea of what the service would cost me, and
decided to do business with that company.
I
called the company, ready to buy the service.
When I inquired about the types of service available, the salesperson
indicated that there were several options available. Now, I’m a visually oriented person, and I
like to make decisions based on what I read, not on what I hear. So, I said, “OK, why not come out and do the
first application, and leave me a brochure so that I can review my options, and
then I’ll make a decision.” The salesperson
agreed.
We
then reviewed the details of my location, and the approximate date for the
first fertilizer application. It was a
deal. The salesperson then repeated our
agreement, saying, “OK, we’ll be out to do the first application and we’ll
leave a brochure, and then you can cancel at any time with 30 days’ notice.”
“What?”
I said.
He
repeated his comment. “Wait a minute,” I
said. “I only agreed to one
application. I’m not committing to any
ongoing contract until I check out all the options.”
“But
that’s not how we do it,” the salesperson stammered.
“No,”
I said.
“But,
But…” more stammers.
“NO.” I said again.
“Forget it. Cancel me.”
What
happened? Here I was, as good a prospect
as there ever was. I was ready to
purchase, having decided to use this company, even calling them to make the
purchase. Yet something in what the salesperson
said raised a red flag in my mind, and made me doubt the integrity of the
person, and by inference, the company.
He had originally said that I would be billed for only one application,
and then implied that I was committing to an ongoing program.
I
viewed that as being deceitful, or at best manipulative. If I can’t trust them on that, on what can I
trust them? There are lots of other lawn
care companies, and the next one in the yellow pages got my business.
Which
illustrates another aspect of integrity.
There can be no compromises with integrity. You can’t have integrity on this thing, but
not on that, and expect to build trust.
It is an all or nothing issue. Integrity must extend down to the
smallest details. My lawn care story illustrated that principle. The company may have prided themselves on
their integrity, but a few words from a salesperson evoked my suspicions. If I can’t trust them on this, how can I
trust them on something else?
Life’s too short, and
business is too busy to deal with people you can’t trust. And trust is the natural outcome of
integrity.
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