Sales Training – Salespeople, Let Me Sell You a Bridge!
Sales Training – Salespeople, Let Me Sell You a Bridge!
What do ethics mean to you?
When our actions are congruent with our moral values we behave ethically. Almost every profession has a code of ethics. Become familiar with yours. How often is your behavior in line with this code? That’s a simple test if your profession has a code of ethics. If your profession doesn’t have a code, then ask yourself, when you take action, is the action acceptable and right in regards to all stakeholders – customer, company and self? It seems the early bridge scammers didn’t have a code of ethics.
Why might good people in a good organization do unethical things?
The image of salespeople, maybe even dating back to before the bridge scammers, is usually filled with less than positive words like – deceiving, pushy, fast talking, exaggerating, and at least a dozen more. For a few years, in teaching an Ethical Leadership program for various organizations, I used the definition of morals as values defined by a higher authority to help an individual decide right versus wrong, good versus bad. Just as with morals and values, you want a higher authority for ethics. If you are in an organization without an ethical code considering referring to the UPSA, United Professional Sales Association, for their Ethical Code of Conduct. In just seven pages long, it has all encompassing principles and guidelines.
Can ethics be as simple as integrity, honesty and responsibility?
Your integrity includes your honesty and moral character. Just like moral concepts vary from one society to another, morals can be different from one profession to another. Values, like honesty and responsibility, are the beliefs or standards that guide our lives in defining importance and worth. Do you present your product and service honestly? Do you act with honesty and in good faith toward all concerned? Would you pass the three questions posed by Nan Demars, You Want Me To Do What? It’s one of several quick ethics tests to refer do when you have doubt or uncertainty about what to do. Here are the three questions: Would you want to be treated the same way? What would my mother say? How would I feel if this was reported on the front page of tomorrow’s newspaper?
The 1970’s scammers invaded Florida with swampland scams. It seems the bridge lesson wasn’t learned even with the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. But what about you? What did you learn? What is your responsibility to remain ethical as a seller? As a wise person once said, “It’s easier to know what is right than to do the right thing.” Can you find an ethical code to guide you to do the right thing?
Sales Training Salespeople Let Me Sell You a Bridge - To learn more about this author, visit Patricia Weber's Website.
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In the early 1900’s con men would try to sell parts of the Brooklyn Bridge to immigrants in the USA. This is what coined the phrase, “If you believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you!” Then the Verrazano Narrows bridge, the world's longest suspension bridge formally opened between Brooklyn and Staten Island, New York, in November 1964. Think of this as a chance for a new bridge, one that leads to ethical selling. Would this new bridge serve to avoid any of these early unscrupulous and unethical scammers?
What do ethics mean to you?
When our actions are congruent with our moral values we behave ethically. Almost every profession has a code of ethics. Become familiar with yours. How often is your behavior in line with this code? That’s a simple test if your profession has a code of ethics. If your profession doesn’t have a code, then ask yourself, when you take action, is the action acceptable and right in regards to all stakeholders – customer, company and self? It seems the early bridge scammers didn’t have a code of ethics.
Why might good people in a good organization do unethical things?
The image of salespeople, maybe even dating back to before the bridge scammers, is usually filled with less than positive words like – deceiving, pushy, fast talking, exaggerating, and at least a dozen more. For a few years, in teaching an Ethical Leadership program for various organizations, I used the definition of morals as values defined by a higher authority to help an individual decide right versus wrong, good versus bad. Just as with morals and values, you want a higher authority for ethics. If you are in an organization without an ethical code considering referring to the UPSA, United Professional Sales Association, for their Ethical Code of Conduct. In just seven pages long, it has all encompassing principles and guidelines.
Can ethics be as simple as integrity, honesty and responsibility?
Your integrity includes your honesty and moral character. Just like moral concepts vary from one society to another, morals can be different from one profession to another. Values, like honesty and responsibility, are the beliefs or standards that guide our lives in defining importance and worth. Do you present your product and service honestly? Do you act with honesty and in good faith toward all concerned? Would you pass the three questions posed by Nan Demars, You Want Me To Do What? It’s one of several quick ethics tests to refer do when you have doubt or uncertainty about what to do. Here are the three questions: Would you want to be treated the same way? What would my mother say? How would I feel if this was reported on the front page of tomorrow’s newspaper?
The 1970’s scammers invaded Florida with swampland scams. It seems the bridge lesson wasn’t learned even with the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. But what about you? What did you learn? What is your responsibility to remain ethical as a seller? As a wise person once said, “It’s easier to know what is right than to do the right thing.” Can you find an ethical code to guide you to do the right thing?
Sales Training Salespeople Let Me Sell You a Bridge - To learn more about this author, visit Patricia Weber's Website.
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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