Selling Without Selling Your Soul: The True Test of a Salesperson

Sales has a Reputation Problem

Everybody knows about the sleazy, fast-talking salespeople who will cheat, lie, and say anything to close a deal. They make grandiose promises they cannot keep, manipulate you, gaslight you, and pressure you until you sign the contract.

The pressure to hit high targets, the hope for big commissions, and the fear of losing out to the competition in their teams – these three factors alone can tempt even the most principled salesperson to cross the line into shady territorities.

Unsurprisingly, sales has a massive reputation problem.

That's a true dilemma, because companies hire salespeople exactly for their ability to convince and persuade prospects into buying a product or service. It is the job of a salesperson to help a prospect make the decision to become a customer and in such a profession, the lines between right and wrong can often be blurry.

Without a clear moral compass, well-meaning salespeople end up engaging in practices that are against their own values and are left confused and disappointed about themselves and their behaviors.

The Difference between Persuasion and Manipulation

To clear up some of the confusion, it is helpful to differentiate between "persuasion" and "manipulation".

Persuasion, at its core, is about presenting a case so compelling that the prospect willingly chooses your product and becomes a customer. It's a meeting of minds, where the salesperson's understanding of the customer's needs aligns with the value their product offers. Persuasion is rooted in truth, transparency, and, more than anything, in mutual benefit.

Manipulation, on the other hand, is about steering the prospect's decision through deception, pressure, or withholding crucial information. It's a one-sided game, where the salesperson's interests are advanced at the expense and to the disadvantage of the customer.

Many sales interactions happen somewhere along the wide spectrum between those two extremes. This makes creating accountability in sales organizations not always easy. It requires experienced managers who can spot the nuances, intervene forcefully, and save salespeople and companies from the consequences of their own short-term-minded sales behavior.

Where it Comes From

Leaders play a fundamental role in setting the tone and expectations in a sales team. If a sales leader not only tolerates but celebrates dishonest behaviors towards customers, then the expectation is set for the rest of the team that dishonest behavior is expected to keep one's job.

New employees in such teams develop bad professional habits that make them literally unemployable in future companies. Instead of receiving professional training, many of these unskilled newbies learn from their peers and end up misrepresenting product features or benefits, making false claims about the product's performance, and using deceptive tactics to hit their quotas and keep their jobs.

Some salespeople have built their entire self-image, reputation, and standing in the company by constantly exceeding targets. Facing a few bad months can signal the potential loss of one's entire carefully built professional identity, and status. It is easy to see how such a person can be tempted to cheat, lie, and pressure prospects with an attitude of "Either me or the customer".

It is easy to point the finger at the "Wolf of Wall Street" types and see sales as being driven by endless greed, decadence, and megalomania. But this the exception. Many people work in sales out of financial necessity to support their families, others to boost their career, for the need for a challenge or a simple lack of alternatives.

Many salespeople are regular, honest people who feel fear every day; fear of losing their jobs or losing their standing in the team. They question if they are good enough and are fearful of disappointing those around them. Don't forget that in many companies, the value of a sales person is measured in the most brutal and potentially dehumanizing way of the corporate world: By numbers, and by numbers only.

Unrealistic sales targets are not helpful either. If there is a perception that the quota cannot be hit by normal means, and if managers react to feedback by saying "try harder", then lying to prospects to close a few deals before the end of each month can become a career survival strategy.

Negative Consequences

The combination of fear-driven salespersons and bad leadership might be effective for reckless short-term revenue creation, but it is a recipe for disaster when it comes to industry reputation, company culture, and the very foundations of long-term revenue creation of the company.

For the salesperson, each act of manipulation chips away at their integrity, eroding the very foundation of their self-esteem upon which long-term career success is built. For the company, the consequences of repeatedly crossing the line can be catastrophic. In the age of social media, one single instance of unethical selling can spiral into a PR nightmare.

If being honest about your product means that nobody will buy it, then no amount of manipulative sales superstars can fix that. You might want to have a hard look in the mirror of your product strategy and ask yourself if your product should be on the market in the first place..

Is your business founded on the premise of creating genuine value for customers?

If it isn't, then why would you expect anyone to pay for it?

It's a race to the bottom when companies become less about the customer and more about the quota, and less about creating value but only about extracting it.

Some extra short-term revenue can be gained, but at the price of customers who feel tricked and betrayed. Salespeople who are burnt out, disillusioned, and on the edge of leaving the company.

It is a game in which nobody can win anything in the long term.

The Essence of Sales

At its most fundamental level, sales is about solving problems, creating value, and getting financially compensated for it. It's about understanding the needs and desires of the customer and finding ways to meet those needs in a mutually beneficial way. Sometimes, that means being willing to walk away from deals that aren't a good fit, even if it means missing out on a commission.

This is easier said than done. The pressures and temptations in the sales profession are real and persistent. It takes a strong moral compass and a willingness to stand up for what's right, even when it's hard. But that is what separates the champions from the amateur league.

Selling with integrity builds trust in the target industry. It creates loyal customers who become advocates for the brand, and the positive reputation attracts top talent and high-quality opportunities.

Play the long-term game and choose to be the kind of salesperson you'd want to buy from yourself. If your company cannot provide you an environment to be that person, then ask yourself what that might mean for you and your future.

Remember that your integrity is your most valuable asset, and no commission check can compensate for its loss.