Honest Selling

With no reservation whatsoever, I can confidently say that 90 percent of all problems with salespeople can be solved if you can just get them to shut up and listen.

I’ve worked with hundreds of salespeople – from rookies to seasoned veterans to entrepreneurs that have started several successful companies – and if there’s one skill set that must be improved every time, it’s listening. If you choose to do only one thing I tell you in this entire book, then learn how to apply the interview concepts I’m about to explain.

Before I get to the concepts of how to interview, I need to get back on my soapbox for a few minutes, so I can explain one key reason why you should interview, and, once again, voice my disdain for much of what I’ve heard about this particular subject.



Decision-makers buy from people they trust. If there is one indisputable law of sales, it’s that, when all else is equal, and most times even when things are unequal, trust is the #1 factor that controls purchase decisions.

I have no way to actually prove this, but it’s an assumption I’m willing to make, simply because I’ve seen what the lack of trust can do to any relationship, whether it be in sales or any other aspect of life. Besides, decision-makers rarely have all the facts when making final decisions – unknowns always remain – so in the final analysis, trust in what a salesperson says is the key that actually locks a deal.

So if trust is essential to the sales process, it stands to reason that salespeople would want to know how to create trust – right?

In an earlier chapter, you learned about supply and demand – that to sell you must offer stuff that people want. Sales trainers know that salespeople want to learn how to establish trust, so most of them offer training in accomplishing that goal.

Throughout my sales career, I’ve read dozens of sales books, taken almost a dozen sales courses and participated in a few one-on-one coaching and mentoring programs. With few exceptions, the experts giving the advice told me about the importance of trust, and then how to establish “strong,” “profound” or “deeply held” trust. The thing I found curious was that all of them claimed their techniques could produce this level of trust in not more than 15 minutes – an astounding accomplishment, and a little outlandish. The only people I have ever trusted deeply are those who behaved in a trustworthy manner over a long period of time. I give new acquaintances, such as salespeople, the benefit of the doubt when it seems they’re being straight with me. But strong, profound and deeply held trust? That never happens in only 15 minutes.

Nevertheless, I listened carefully to what I was told, and even practiced some of the techniques – the ones that weren’t totally outrageous. And, after 25 years of analyzing what others had to say about establishing trust, I’ve managed to finally find the key.

Yes, I’m serious, I’ve actually landed on the one and only way to establish trust. No, I did not invent this idea, nor did I learn it from an expert. But learning from these experts is what gave me the insights I needed to arrive at my conclusions.

Are you ready to learn what it takes to establish deeply held trust with prospects? Are you truly prepared to have this question finally answered? Then brace yourself, because I’m about to give you the secret to this age-old question. [Drumroll please …]

To establish trust, you must behave in a manner that is worthy of trust.

Imagine that! All that is required to establish trust is to be trustworthy! Whew! I’m glad that question is finally answered – aren’t you?



This is taken from the book Honest Selling, I recommend you read it.