Every few months, it seems there is news of another failure of credibility by somebody in business.
Most recently it has been the resignation of the Yahoo CEO, Scott Thompson.
What’s amazing is how and why it occurred. Call it hubris, or just plain stupidity — either way, it was a failure of individual responsibility.
It’s easy to point fingers and talk about somebody who is at the top of the business food-chain taking a nosedive due to their own stupidity. It’s much harder, however, to look at ourselves and ask the critical question about how we handle situations.
Sales is life, and life is sales. We’re all doing it each day, and each day people are making decisions about our own credibility.
I’ve always been a strong believer that if we can’t deal with the little things with integrity, then how will we ever be able to handle the big things? How many times have customers asked you a question and you’ve shaded the answer to put you in the best light?
Sure, the responses you gave may very well have been of zero consequence to anything other than your own ego. The problem I have with this is that it is indeed a big deal. If you struggle with this sort of thing, then there is an issue you must deal with.
The credibility you have with your customers and, for that matter, everyone with whom you come in contact is as the advertisement goes “priceless.” For those of us in sales, a better word to describe it would be “profitable.”
People want credibility and they will pay for it.
Saying you’re more credible than your competitor is not good enough. That’s like saying some slime is better than other slime. Sorry, but it all is still slime.
Credibility exists in everything we do, seen and unseen. Maybe we should keep a picture of Scott Thompson visible to us at all times to remind us what the lack of credibility looks like.
Copyright 2012, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
