Honesty, integrity and truth in sales.

We are in the sales industry. We receive payment for providing a product or service. So what is to stop us lying or misrepresenting our product in the interests of increasing the number of sales that we make?

For one thing, each of us has our own moral compass, or set of ethics that we follow. But it's not the same for everyone. One person's conscience can be completely clear for something that would have another person in tears with shame.

Here is a hypothetical situation: Bob knows that his best friend Jim's new girlfriend is having an affair. Does Bob tell Jim about it? Bob would be helping Jim out by telling him the truth, right?

What if it's not Jim's girlfriend, but his wife who is having the affair?

What if Jim and his wife have two wonderful kids who would be devastated by a divorce?

What if Jim has a really nasty temper, and a handgun nearby?

How about if Bob and Jim are both secret agents, in the middle of defusing a massive bomb that would take out half the city? Should Bob tell Jim about the affair, knowing that Jim needs to be able to concentrate on cutting the green wire, instead of the red one while the timer is counting down to zero?

In each of these cases the circumstances are different, even though the truth is exactly the same in each situation. Honesty would have different repercussions.

In our case, selling our products or services, we are generally selling things that will improve somebody's life. Maybe a little, maybe a lot. Maybe not at all. But we are here to satisfy our customer's needs or wants.

So if a customer is a little hesitant to sign up for our product when we know it will help them, is it OK to bend the truth? Or maybe we can just 'forget' to tell them about something that might influence their decision to buy, and make you lose the sale.

You want to help the customer don't you? And you know that your product is the answer they have been looking forward even if they don't know it themselves. It's your job to persuade them.

As I said, each person is different. And don't forget, each sale you make is putting food on the table for you and your family.

But think about this. Say you sell to the customer after misrepresenting your product. They have just bought something that isn't quite what they were told it was going to be.

They felt uneasy and suspicious to begin with, but you explained it all in a way that pushed them over the edge so that they signed up.

Now the customer has buyer's remorse. Did I make the right decision? Have I made a mistake? It's a normal thing for a customer to feel this after a sale even if the product hasn't been misrepresented.

The customer looks deeper into their new purchase, and finds that things are not quite the way that they were explained.

The buyer's remorse shifts focus. No longer is it about "have I made the right decision?". Now it's all about "I made the wrong decision, because I was lied to... I'm really not happy about this! And somebody is going to pay!"

No money back guarantee is going to make that customer feel that much better about the fact that they've been suckered. The quality of the product is now firmly linked to the quality of the sales approach that led them to it.

So the customer tells his friends to avoid that company. As a rule of thumb in the old days, it was said that each unhappy customer would tell ten of their friends about it on average.

But hello twenty first century... We have the internet now.

So the unhappy customer now posts on a review site. "I was lied to. This product doesn't do what it's supposed to do. They took my money and didn't deliver. It's a scam!!!" Potentially every person who searches on the internet for Wealthy Affiliate Scam sees this post.

So one person's opinion doesn't make a difference? It really can. Forgetting about the fact that a shark salesperson is unlikely to use the smoke and mirrors on only one customer, just that one unhappy customer can cause enough of a problem.

Company X has 100 reviews online. "All good. Fantastic product! Does what it's supposed to. Couldn't be happier".

Company Y also has 100 reviews. 99 say "Great service. Everything is wonderful. I can recommend this to anyone". And one review that says "I was lied to. Dishonest company. A scam".

That one bad review will be enough to influence people's decision. Two companies selling the same product at the same price. Who would you go with? What about the other ten thousand people who see those reviews?

In the case of Wealthy Affiliate, we are in an industry where we get tarred with the same brush as the other 98% of internet money making schemes that don't deliver as much as they might say that they do, ranging from outright scams and pure thievery to other affiliate marketing systems that promise the world and don't deliver.

Just mention the word "Internet" to some people, and their first thought can sometimes be "scam".

Worst case scenario, enough people make a noise about "affiliate marketing scams" that a major news network runs a sensationalised story about it. It gets great ratings, so another news network picks it up. Then there is a government enquiry. Then the laws get changed, and affiliate marketing gets banned entirely. Good news? Not really. It doesn't matter that the truth has been manipulated to make a good news story, it's too late for that.

From my previous experience in traditional sales with high ticket services, I know that for pretty much every sale that a shark salesperson in our company (we had a couple of them) would make by bending the truth or through outright lies, the rest of the company could have problems with that customer for an average of six months. And the salespeople who sold ethically were all affected. Customer service reps spent most of their time dealing with complaints and problems from the same customers. Customer retention goes down the tubes. Future sales can be affected.

It is not wrong to tell a prospective customer "Well, we've both had a good look at this, and I'm not sure that this product is right for you. Thanks for taking the time to check it out though, and definitely recommend us to your friends". You will lose a customer. But maybe you will gain much more than that.

So please. Do me, yourself, your family, and everybody else here a favour. Think about how you represent your products and the company we are all tied in with.

If nothing else, it's just good business.

Cheers.