- November 18, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Uncategorized, Understanding the Sales Force
We use bromine instead of chlorine in our Hot Tub and I was looking at two options, one from Clorox and one from Bromiguard. Other than their packaging, they appeared to be identical. Both were 1″ Bromine tablets for Hot Tubs, they were the essentially the same price, they both claimed to be long-lasting, odor-free, and provided excellent water clarity and cleanliness.
I purchased the recognizable brand name, Clorox, and had an awful user experience with these Bromine tablets for 76 cents/oz. The bromine level in the spa was so high that it was consistently unsafe to enter the spa, and because the tablets dissolved so quickly, I had to replace them every three days.
Frustrated, I purchased the Bromiguard Bromine tablets for 75 cents/oz. The bromine level stabilized, they dissolved slowly over two weeks and lasted 4 times longer than the Clorox tablets. Wow! Completely different. Value. Was I mislead?
Hold on to that thought – I’ll return to it.
The people of the USA have voted and I think one of the most important story lines after more than 76 million people voted for Trump is that most people finally realized the government and most of the media have been lying to us – about almost everything and everybody – for years. And it was never more obvious than this year.
If we the people know that we are being lied to, or gaslighted, as they like to say, what are the implications for selling?
I don’t have any science to back this up other than my White Paper on Trust in Selling [request it here] from several years ago, and my own expertise for what it currently takes to succeed in selling.
That said, I believe that people will be less trusting of everything they hear – from everyone. That includes professionals who at one time were perceived to be very trust-worthy, like Doctors. It extends to marketers and sellers who never had the best reputation for truth-telling, but who might be more scrutinized than ever as we move forward.
This is not the time to exaggerate or make untrue claims about the following 20 things:
- Product Capabilities
- Service Capabilities
- Technical Capabilities
- Reliability
- Quality
- Pricing
- Competition
- Rating
- Sources
- Warranty
- Delivery Dates
- Terms
- Timelines
- Availability
- References
- Reviews
- Fulfillment
- Specifications
- Value
- Responsiveness
I’m sure you can come up with another twenty items but those were the first that came to mind.
The problem is not that prospects and customers expect you to lie, the problem is that they wonder if you are being truthful, especially when it sounds too good to be true, or they believe you are telling them what they want to hear.
Thank God that Larry Levine wrote and published Selling in a Post Trust World earlier this year! That’s a book that will help you adapt to these changing times. Another book that will have you selling more and selling with integrity is my timeless book, Baseline Selling-How to Become a Sales Superstar.
In addition to the 21 Sales Core Competencies that are currently best practices, I recommend the following ten, additional, post 2024 selling attributes:
- Honesty
- Integrity
- Sincerity
- Empathy
- Responsive
- Trustworthy
- Problem Solver
- Reliable
- Expert
- Authentic
I believe the Closing competency is over-rated and largely irrelevant so I will replace the closing competency with this new competency into which these ten attributes will be included. I don’t yet have a name for the new competency so feel free to make suggestions.
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