Sales Values

I just finished reading an excellent book about the history of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Interestingly enough, it’s simply called “Harley-Davidson.” This is an unusual read for me since I am not a Harley owner nor do I own or even ride motorcycles. But I am interested in learning about how successful companies got their start and grew over the years, and this book was very interesting and educational, and loaded with the most beautiful pictures of motorcycles that one could imagine. At one point there was a picture of the company’s value statements. It read:

- Tell the Truth - Be Fair - Keep Your Promises - Respect the Individual - Encourage Intellectual Curiosity Sadly, I know more than one company that barely follows even one of these values, let alone all or most of them. As I read them I saw how simple they were yet clearly defined. They are the values that have driven the Harley-Davidson company and its people from its founding days over 100 years ago. Then I started to realize how these same values can, and should, be applied to all sales professionals in everything they do, every day of their selling careers.

One of the reasons sales people get bad reputations is that they lie. Not always willingly or knowingly, but in the end their false or exaggerated promises turn out to be plain old lies. The first value statement, “Tell the Truth”, is as basic and simple as “Do the right thing” or “Do unto others” or “Eat a good breakfast”. Yet many sales people don’t always subscribe to this simple rule. They sometimes feel they have to tell their customer what they think the customer wants to hear, which may not be true or accurate. What the customer wants to hear though is the truth, regardless of how painful it might be.

I’ve always said that it takes courage to be in sales, for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons is that sometimes you have to look your customer straight in the eye and tell him the cold hard truth – “We just don’t have a discount schedule that meets your requirements, but we can try to accommodate your needs another way,” or “I’m sorry but your delivery has been delayed and we won’t be able to meet your deadline,” or “I’m very sorry but I dropped the ball and that feature wasn’t included.” The reaction to these statements by your customer may not be pleasant, but that won’t compare to the wrath you’ll witness if you lie, or dance around the issues, when he finds out later (and he WILL find out later). So telling the truth should be the number one value of all sales people.

The second value, “Be Fair”, follows the win-win style of negotiating and working with people. Why do you need to be fair in sales? For one, you should always treat others as you wish to be treated yourself (Remember “Do unto others…”?) If you want to be treated fairly, you should treat others fairly as well. That won’t guarantee you’ll be treated fairly in kind, but if you treat other people unfairly, you’re almost guaranteeing that you WON’T be treated fairly either. Second, the best style of negotiating is when all parties come out as winners. In the “I Win – You Lose” scenario, at least one party loses, which in the long run usually means the other party will eventually lose too. In sales, you might win the sale by making the customer lose. But in the long run you will lose him as a customer to your competitor, putting you on the losing end of the stick as well. By being fair to your customers you are showing respect and demonstrating that you want all parties to win, today and into the future. Hence, being fair is another important value for all sales professionals.

The next value, “Keep Your Promises”, is probably the most repeated offense by sales people. Unlike lying, where a sales person speaks an untruth, keeping a promise is frequently more “innocent.” He didn’t actually mean to do it, in fact, he had every intention of following up with that service issue the customer was having, or adding the additional refills to the order, or telling his legal department to add those special terms to the contract. But, alas, none of those things happened because the sales person got too busy or forgot or was afraid his manager wouldn’t approve it. There are few acceptable reasons for not following up. Illness, death, accidents, etc are all good ones. But when you tell a customer you will call him back next Thursday, short of the reasons just listed or similar ones, you better call him back next Thursday.

One of my pet peeves (and, yes, I have quite a few of them unfortunately) is when someone says they will do something for me and I never hear back from them and I keep calling them for an update, but they don’t call me back. The “peeve” part is when I find out that they haven’t called me back because they didn’t have an update to give me. How the heck am I supposed to know that? Instead I get more and more frustrated because I’m not hearing back from this clown when he’s thinking all along, “Well no sense calling him back with no update,” instead of realizing that I am clearly deserving of an update, even if it’s just to say he’s still working on it but there is no status. That’s all I ask for. And, that’s all your customers ask for when you make a promise. Folks, it’s the simple things that count and keeping your promise is one of the simplest ones that should also be on the list of values for all sales people.

“Respect the Individual” is a value that is important in sales because you are trying to get your customer to part with his money and you must respect him as an individual in order to do so. Even if it’s a business you’re selling to, it’s an individual that’s making the actual purchase decision. And that individual’s job might be on the line if he makes the wrong one. You need to respect him as a person and respect the situation he’s in. Like you, he may have a family to support, a job he’d like to keep, goals in his life he wants to reach, and lots more. So, like being fair, this value touches on the human aspect of selling and is another important value for sales professionals to follow.

The last value, “Encourage Intellectual Curiosity”, means you should always strive to keep on learning. Whether you learn more about your own products and company, or selling skills, or simply how and why things work the way they do, it’s important to increase your knowledge. We live in an ever-changing world as well as a very fast-paced one. Too often people get caught up in the fast-paced aspect and neglect to pay attention to the parts that are changing around us. Sure, you might work eighty-hour weeks or have a family and no time to read. But there’s always time to read and learn more. When you’re in the customer’s lobby waiting for a meeting, read an article. While waiting to board a plane or while on the plane, read a book. When you’re driving to work, listen to books-on-tapes. Download podcasts to your iPod (or similar device) to learn about new technologies or methodologies. While you’re at it, why not subscribe to sales-related magazines such as Selling Power and Sales & Marketing Management? Or signup for an on-line sales training course or get your company to bring in a sales trainer for your entire sales team (www.peaksalesconsulting.com Use the Internet to learn more about your trade by doing research and subscribing to sales-related newsletters.

I’m currently reading a biography on Andrew Carnegie, which is very interesting. He was a corporate titan who rarely worked full-time. His philosophy was to balance his life with work and the pleasures of travel, learning, relaxing and other non-work related activities. Once, when someone told him that he worked sixty-hour weeks, Carnegie responded by saying that he must be very lazy since it took him that long to get a week’s work completed. Carnegie would get a day’s work done in about three hours. Efficiency was his secret. Of course, he didn’t have email to contend with, but you get my point. How often do you waste time doing irrelevant things when you could be more productive? Use those times to learn and read. On days when I am in the office all day long, I force myself to leave my office and eat lunch while reading a book. I only need to read a chapter or two a day and I end up reading a whole book in no time, and learning. The result is that I take about 45 minutes from my day to relax and learn something new. No harm, no foul. It’s all acceptable and allowed. Encouraging your own intellectual curiosity is an important value that will help satisfy your natural quest for knowledge and provide you with answers to many things in life.

You don’t have to be a motorcycle company to apply these simple values, just a professional sales person who cares about his customers and the relationships he establishes with them. Keep these values posted somewhere near your desk to remind yourself of the important things in sales, and life.

Good luck and good selling!

Russ Lombardo

Sales Values - To learn more about this author, visit Russ Lombardo's Website.

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