“The most important persuasion tool you have in your entire arsenal is integrity.” –Zig Ziglar
I’m no cop, not a persuasion cop or any other. However, there are times when I feel I have to pause for a moment and remind my students of what is of the utmost importance in persuasion and in life. I am a person who really learns from their mistakes. And I’m hoping that you can too learn from my mistakes. My goal here is to guide. My goal is to help you to avoid the mistakes I made. One of these tough lessons I learned the hard way came about because when I was young, overly eager, and foolish, I acted in a way that wasn’t guided by integrity.
As we apply these social influence skills it is my sincere hope that we will go forward with an application towards ethics and integrity.
Ethics and integrity go hand in hand with congruity, and congruity forms a key component. Why? Congruity is like someone making a mistake and being genuinely sorry they made it. Whereas you can really tell the difference between that and someone who says I’m sorry but doesn’t necessarily mean it.
When we come from a place of integrity and ethics, it allows us to use these powerful skills for good. We have a clean, clear conscience and people feel easy and comfortable trusting us. Integrity is something I discuss often in my coaching and teaching. It’s integral to the process of persuasion. I encourage and promote these without being preachy, but I do so earnestly because I know how important they’ve been for me in my progress as a persuader.
My belief is, that without ethics, integrity and congruity, a sales person will never rise above mediocrity.
Trustworthiness is the single most valuable perception a client can have of us as sales people. When we’re in line with integrity, we are clearly and naturally trustworthy and people can see that in us.
When I realized this and started living my life, personally and professionally, with total integrity, I experienced rapid results in all facets of life. I began drawing more of what I wanted in my life. I began drawing higher end students who were infinitely trustworthy and eager and ready for the skills I teach whereas some of my prior clients sadly were not of such a high caliber (as in, not trustworthy and lacking integrity).
Having concentrated with intention on building up that aspect of my life and having an abundance of integrity in the bank is like having built up my ‘f-you’ money. I could walk away from any situation that was not comfortable because I no longer “needed” to take on just anyone but could be very selective in my processes. Consider never compromising yourself again as the first step. It’s an amazing feeling.
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