Honesty In Business
All customers, whether they are B2C or B2B, like to buy from a service provider who are considered honest and have integrity. A good reputation is one of the best ways for any organisation to achieve long-term success.
Generally speaking the convention is; if your conduct is exemplary, either with your family, in your community or at work, the more people are likely to trust you.A high level of honesty and integrity will earn you respect; and likewise in business; the same principles apply.
Let us explore this concept a little. Suppose that I make visit to a business for a meeting, while I am there, the phone rings. I hear the manager order his employee to answer and tell say that he is not there, and he will be a back in a hour. That would be considered dishonest, but you will most likely find that many managers have been in this situation before. But the fact is that they could have easily said that they were unavailable for the moment, but would call them back when they were free. Now most people may consider this a white lie, and probably acceptable, because the person at the other end of the call will most likely accept the response as true and call back. However, if the same manager asked their employee to say that they were not there and they did not know when they would be back. Now if I heard this scenario, it may create doubt about the manager’s moral values and my confidence in them may decrease, furthermore the person on the other end of the call might feel that they are not important.
Now consider your own character; do you have a level of honesty and integrity above the average person? If you are a businessman or woman, who communicates with customers, where do you draw the line? Is the white lie acceptable? If you consider the perspective of your customers, it may make you aim for a higher level of integrity and honesty. You may well find that your sales will increase, if not in the short-term, certainly in the long-term.
In today's market, a high standard of transparency is a competitive advantage. It is not only because of honesty and integrity that you can be successful, but without them, it could be difficult to get a foothold in the market. Your customers are constantly testing your integrity and if they have any doubts, they will hesitate to do more business with you, without you knowing why.
You cannot fool people all of the time and whatever your reasons, it would be unwise to tell lies to your customers. You should always strive to maintain a high level of morality, regardless of the consequences. It is possible that you lose in the short-term, but win in the long-term.
14 June 2016