In our research, we discovered something buyers rate much higher in importance than do sellers. It's the link between core values and actions. When sellers have aligned their values and actions, they will strengthen their credibility, improve the buyer's experience, and find greater sales success. See five classic situations that can trip up sellers and learn how to avoid them.

1. 5 Classic Situations That
Trip Up Sellers…
Jim Kouzes, Barry Posner, and Deb Calvert
DEB CALVERT is the founder of People First Productivity Solutions and The Sales
Experts Channel, and author of one of HubSpot’s “Top 20 Most Highly Rated Sales Books
of All Time.”
JAMES M. KOUZES is the Dean’s Executive Fellow
of Leadership, Leavey School of Business, Santa
Clara University, and according to the Wall Street
Journal, one of the twelve best executive educators
in the United States.
BARRY Z. POSNER, PHD, is the Accolti Endowed
Professor of Leadership at the Leavey School of
Business, Santa Clara University, where he served
for twelve years as dean of the school.
Jim and Barry have been
working together for more
than 35 years, studying
leaders and researching
leadership. They are the
coauthors of the bestselling
book The Leadership
Challenge and over a dozen
other books on leadership.
…And How to Avoid Them
Little White Lies
On occasion, sellers tell ‘little white lies’ to save face when they
skip or reschedule appointments, miss deadlines, or fail to
deliver on promises.
No Accountability
When buyers are dissatisfied, they don’t care who made the mistake.
They don’t want to be blamed or met with a defensive reaction. They
want sellers to follow through, to make it right, and to deliver what
was promised.
Self-Serving Choices
Sometimes sellers make choices that negatively impact buyers, like
upselling an unnecessary feature to earn additional incentive pay or
delaying an order so the revenue counts in a later quota period.
Divulging Confidential Information
Some sellers divulge confidential information about a buyer’s
competitors to create a sense of urgency, to capitalize on the fear of
missing out, or to demonstrate the popularity of their product.
1
2
3
4
5
No Price Integrity
Buyers will sometimes delay decisions in anticipation of more
favorable terms (like month-end deals). When price concessions
materialize, buyers wonder how much lower the price could go and
why sellers first tried suckering them into a higher price.
1
2
3
Clarify Your Values
Identify the values you use to guide the choices and decisions you
make. Your values are your internal compass, helping you know when
to say “yes” and when to say “no” even in high-stakes selling situations.
Find Your Voice
Find your own authentic way of talking about what’s important to
you. Connect what you believe with both what you say and what you
do and authentically communicate your beliefs in ways that uniquely
represent who you are. Buyers want to know the real you.
Affirm Shared Values
Help your buyers and internal partners to articulate why they do what
they do and what they care about. Build consensus with them around
values, principles, and standards, and make sure people adhere to
agreed-on values and standards before, during, and after a purchase
has been made.
These actions are aligned to the first of The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership®
,
Model the Way. Learn more about The Five Practices today.
These situations are easier to navigate when you know your guiding principles
and when what you say and do reflects the “real you”, not a version of you that
sets aside ethics or ideals to sell. Being a credible leader means you must
consistently live your values. That’s why, in selling, it’s essential that you:
In our groundbreaking research with more than 500 B2B buyers, we discovered
something buyers rate much higher in importance than do sellers: the link
between core values and actions.
The following five situations can trip up sellers who haven’t identified their own
values and consistently aligned their actions to demonstrate those values.
Discover more about our latest research and
explore the leadership behaviors that provide
a blueprint for greater sales success.
BECOME A SELLER WHO LEADS