Veritas Vincit in Sales
The clear path to sales is the truth!
Veritas Vincit means "the truth shall prevail". Veritas Vincit is said to mean "Seek the truth, hear the truth, learn the truth, love the truth, speak the truth, hold the truth and defend the truth until death".
Telling the truth in sales is of the utmost importance. As I have mentioned in my School of Hard Knocks piece I have managed scores of sales people through the years. I have had great friends who were outstanding sales people.
When you are in the position of sales you are constantly giving information to your customers. These people are counting on you for the real scoop! Some are making huge financial decisions that will affect their lives. I have seen it in their eyes. They are looking at you and you can see what they are thinking. They are thinking, "Please be telling me the truth before I buy"!
It is Easy to Exaggerate in Sales
I am of the school that you should have a pretty big ego if you are going to actually persuade someone. The ego needs to be big but manageable. Take athletes for example. The good ones really believe they are going to win. They just know they are better than their opponent and they win. I have first hand experience with this because I have have known a few professional golfers in my day and they have a big ego. They have told me that they actually have to believe they will win or they couldn't compete. A great book to read is The Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday. Just understand the ego leads to narcissistic behavior. I have a lot of experience with this type of behavior, and trust me, it is the worst!!
Be a Warrior!
The more sales you make, sometimes that ego can get a bit LARGE. One exaggeration after another and before you know it, you are basically lying to people. It is a problem because a lot of people get burned by bad sales people because they were lied to. Thus, they believe that all sales people lie. Hey, it happens all the time.
I have had sales people I have known and good friends who changed over time because they thought they were something special and lied all the time to people. I have seen it ruin great people! After a while, they don't even know the truth if it hit them in the head!
Do me a favor, just stick to the truth! When the customer asks you a question you don't know the answer to, just say "I don't really know, let me find out and I will get back to you". When you lie, you go over to the dark side!