A very wise man once said, “An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.”

Honesty - A Crucial Character Trait

When recruiting great salespeople, hire character first. And, do you know what character trait is moreimportant than all the others? Honesty.Yes, honesty. The number one character trait to recruit for ishonesty followed by hard work and personal responsibility.

Honesty is nonnegotiable and must be present for you, the coach, to turn your back and leave thingsunattended. It is difficult and just about impossible to coach this trait. Recruit for it.

The degree of honesty impacts reporting accuracy. A salesperson who embraces the facts, despite thebrutality of them, willingly faces the truth. This person wants to know their progress numbers towardpersonal goal achievement. They do not want to kid themselves or their coaches or managers. They mustknow where they are relative to where they need to be and they do not mind if others know.

Honesty brings clarity into a salesperson’s goals and progress toward them. It keeps what’s important ...important. It increases the emotional attachment to motivating circumstances. With reality brightly shiningon skills, habits, goal achievement progress, and past behaviors, the ease of future adjustments increase. Aperson grows stronger - gets better.

Honest words are sometimes painful, but said kindly and with concern, they free a person for greaterimprovement. Honest discussions pave the way for sales training and a more peaceful future.

Obviously, honesty impacts customer satisfaction during a face-to-face sales call. Does the customerdiscover that a salesperson behaves with honest intent? Is the sale made with truthful evidence andtestimony? Will the salesperson protect a company’s branded image by steering away from fraud ordeceit? These are crucial questions and the impact of handling a customer’s trust will have lastingimpressions upon corporate profit.

Honesty sewn within a person’s makeup also makes a statement during normal day-to-day coworkerinteractions. An honest salesperson shows up for work on time. Service personnel can count on thepromises that the salesperson makes.

With honor present, salespeople trust each other. Management can count on sincerity being present inexchanges in communication. Everyone can operate in a well lit operation of straightforward talk. And, ofcourse, all money is accounted for and in the right places.

One question that’s interesting to ask in a structured interview is, “ Which of these traits is the mostimportant one for the type of sales we do? Persistence, Self-Discipline, Honesty, or Hard Worth Ethic?(Award 5 points only if the candidate says that Honesty is most important. Award 0 points for any otheranswer.)

How would you respond?

Honesty, hard work ethic, and personal responsibility. These are important and related character traits.Recruit for them first and personality traits (goal-orientation, social confidence, etc.) last. The culture youbuild by recruiting with this focus will make all the difference. Now, go and get better. You can. Lance.