The first time I saw this little video by Jill Konrath, it hit me right between the eyes. That’s how powerful it was. (By the way, some folks like to hear Kathleen Turner talk. I’m partial to Jill. Her voice gives you a gentle little shake that says, “You need to listen to this!”)
But I digress. What Ms. Konrath says is that there are times you absolutely should not sell something to your client, even though you can. And she cites some real-life examples, like walking away from the sale when it would have gotten her into her company’s President’s Club. Why did she do that? It sounds old-fashioned, but refusing to pursue the sale was, for her, a matter of integrity. As she puts it, “I knew that if they got the lower-priced model, they’d hate me – and it, within months.”
Sacrificing long term gains for short term success, pleasure, gain—call it what you will—is all too human. And not a good idea. I still vividly remember selling a microrecorder to a client who really needed a product that would pick up voices in a room. Our competitor sold a cute little number that would do just that and had been eating our lunch with it. We, on the other hand, sold a nice-looking little oral note-taker that just wasn’t up to the job. Displaying a stunning lack of integrity, I plowed ahead and sold it anyway. The client was not happy, and I’m embarrassed to this day.
Tell me about your experience with integrity in sales. I’m curious about how it may have played out when you were under pressure to close a deal.
Leave a Comment