The old saying goes that if you harm another, by word or by action, the same will somehow eventually happen to you. Does the universe somehow keep score, reward honest behavior and settle debts? Who knows, but it is uncanny how most successful business people have great integrity and a strong moral compass. It makes sense. Besides being dishonorable, and a sign of personal weakness, lacking integrity is just plain bad business. Word gets around when you break promises, manipulate the rules, breach contracts (written or verbal) and generally take advantage of others that place their trust in you. It becomes more difficult to gain trust, garner references, less favors come your way and you have to work harder to make outcomes turn out in your favor. There is also a lot to be said for going to bed with a clear conscience every night. If you are in the top percentile of business people, you already know this.

When I was much younger, I used to think that it was ok to BS customers and prospects as long as you did it well. Then I became a professional and learned how to make money and the matter of fact is that there is no such thing as good BS. It is usually obvious and always insulting.

So a few days back, I found myself sitting across the table interviewing a candidate who tried to con his way through the interview. He responded to most of my questions by avoiding them and instead throwing catch phrases, motherhood and buzz words. Shortly into the meeting, my frustration peaked and I politely told the individual to stop wasting my time and to start behaving like a professional.

If you think BS works for you, and you care about being successful, here is my advice to you. Become an honest person. Don`t fool yourself into thinking you can be successful by fooling others. You might think you customers are stupid. They are not. They want value. If you don’t know an answer, don’t pretend you do. Make a commitment to be an expert in your field, learn a sales process that allows you to operate with integrity and treat your customers with respect. If you can`t bring yourself to do this, spend your time thinking about where you will be working next because you probably won`t be earning many commission cheques in the meantime.

This is 2007. In 2007 sales professionals don’t walk into a sales presentation and drop 10 names in the first 5 minutes of the meeting. In 2007 sales professionals don’t spend most of the time talking and very little time listening. In 2007 sales people don’t sell technologies or features. In 2007 sales professionals don’t talk about what they did ten years ago. In 2007 sales professionals don’t expect fancy names on their resume to open doors. In 2007 sales professionals don’t take themselves seriously. In 2007 sales professionals don’t lie about their achievements and references. In 2007 sales professionals don’t claim to be buddies with people they just met. In 2007 a relationship sales person doesn’t earn much income. In 2007 sales professionals don’t have a drink at lunch everyday. In 2007 sales professionals don’t present themselves as experts on topics they know little about. In 2007 someone who doesn’t like cold calling is someone who doesn’t like working. I have seen all these things in the last seven days. So what defines sales professionals in 2007? In 2007 sales professionals are solution oriented, dynamic, energetic, outgoing, truthful, confident, humble, smart people and above all, they generate revenues and profits for the companies that employ them.

People who know me know they can rely on my word. Ethics are critical to me and I make it a rule not to do business with people that aren’t honest or don’t respect others. Living this rule and taking care of those that trust me has earned me many thousands of dollars in business from loyal customers and partners. Let me explain. A few years ago, I was about to receive a large product order. The order was real important – it would have made my quarter. Then I learned that the product was not functioning properly (actually not functioning much at all). My stomach sank, but I learned early in my life, that if you are up front with customers about problems, they often reward you with more business. So I told the client. Instead of canceling the order, they went ahead and placed the order putting in performance clauses that were manageable for both parties. There were other challenges and we went on to do many more deals together because the client trusted us and knew they would have absolute knowledge of what they were getting into. We have a very strong ongoing relationship and will likely do business again. In my experience, honesty pays.