The following was my response on Reddit to someone who suggested a salesperson say, “to be honest with you…”
Basically, be honest. Saying you’re honest, even as a space filler, creates doubt and distrust. Same thing with having the intention of getting prospects to trust you. That’s inherently manipulative. Just be trustworthy and trust the prospect first.
Radical honesty is more profitable.
Our prospects have so many choices nowadays, and they are the source of our prosperity. “Disrespect the source of your prosperity, and it will continually elude you.” C. Ingalls
A reply to my post on Reddit was as follows: “Never thought about it that way!”
“Being aware is more important than being smart.” Jacques Werth
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Nice, Carl. Excellent, and right on.
This is so powerful, and so simple, but most sales people have no idea how to “be” it (radically honest) in sales situations. And, in my 35 years of sales experience, no other sales training organization is teaching this. HPS “is” this concept. A big part of HPS training is how to unlearn everything you thought you knew about selling effectively, especially the part about faking sincerity, trustworthiness, honesty, and rapport-building. I’m just a long-standing student of HPS – I get no renumeration for endorsing it. 🙂