Is your company or product too good to be true? When you deliver your sales presentation, do you talk about all the benefits and hide from areas you fall short? Next time as you deliver your benefits, tell the customer about an area or two where you are NOT perfect. Why? Because your prospect will believe your benefits even more by doing so.

For instance, an advertising agency did a test on two products. For the first product, they mentioned they were better than the competition in three of five areas. The second product was said to be superior in all five areas. You might be surprised to hear that the ad that mentioned it wasn’t absolutely perfect was the one that performed better. Surprising? Yes. But think about why it was the case. People want the truth. They don’t want manipulation or half-truths. If they get a “too good to believe” story, they will go out on their own and discover the areas you aren’t perfect on their own. Uh-oh…there goes your credibility.

So this week, keep it real. Be the salesperson that gives them everything they need to know. If your company or product isn’t as good as the competition in one or two areas, but blows the competition away in others….great! Sell your benefits with passion, and your shortcomings with integrity. In the end, you will develop the trust you need to create customers that will keep calling YOU for the truth.

For the truth about getting to the top of your sales profession, visit Brian Sullivan, CSP at www.preciseselling.com. We aren’t the largest sales training company in the world, but nobody delivers custom sales and leadership courses that produce top performers like we do.