Integrity in Sales: You Are the Company, You Are the Product

By Dennis Peacocke

Integrity is perhaps our highest and most valuable human commodity. When we possess it, it can open many doors and keep them open. When we’ve lost it or don’t possess it as a character quality, few people want to associate with us. Even criminals have strong codes by which they measure one another’s integrity. Regardless of what sub-culture we belong to, the Bible says it best:

A good name is to be more desired than great wealth, favor is better than silver and gold. —Proverbs 22:1

The very word integrity connotes soundness or oneness of being. Physical elements in the natural world carry no “baggage” beyond themselves. They are remarkable because nothing in them contradicts their fundamental essence—there are no hidden surprises. Like spiritual character, elements are revealed only after heat and pressure have stripped away everything but their true essence. Whereas compounds may be very useful, by their very form, they are full of mixture. “Mixture” in human beings, spiritually speaking, is not considered desirable.

Indeed, whether it’s “street smarts” or “keen business intuition,” discovering “mixture” in someone often undermines their credibility. In sales or client relationships, this often leads to severed relationships or interactions reduced to mere convenience, with each party using each other until the benefits wear out. Integrity means truth with no hidden motives or unrevealed consequences as extra baggage.

When it comes to sales, integrity in our products, policies, personnel, and sales staff is not optional if we want long-term success and, most importantly, if we aim to represent God with even a measure of accuracy. True sales integrity begins with top leadership, not simply with the products or the people selling them. Let’s start our discussion there.

Sales Is About Believing in the Integrity of Our Company

Selling something is really about selling ourselves. When I teach that God builds relationally, I am not simply trying to sound “spiritual.” God designed the world is such a way that people intuitively trust or distrust a product or idea based on their “gut reaction” to who is representing it. If they sense a lack of integrity, a feeling of duplicity, or simply unknown elements of “flaky-ness,” the game is over. That is why in sales, we are not simply selling a product or service; we are, in fact, selling everything that stands behind it. If we distrust those running the company or servicing the product, it will most likely show up in our presentation or follow through in some discernable way. If it doesn’t, we have become good “actors” and are on our way to a spiritual calamity that will spread into every area of life and relationship.

You cannot sell a product properly if you don’t believe what stands behind it, even if the product itself is excellent. You are the company because, relationally, you are “selling” the reality of your confidence in what backs you up. Try and fake it or make a sale without revealing your concerns about the integrity of the management, name, and reputation of the company, and sooner or later your clients will smell it. Our confidence in what we represent is our true product; the thing or service itself is but a mere reflection of the people and processes behind it.

This is why it is so important to connect with organizations and people who demonstrate solid integrity and with whom we identify deeply enough to truly “wear their name.” I am the organization I represent. I pray this truth will sink deeply into each of us, extending far deeper than simply intellectual understanding of this concept.

If we find ourselves in a situation where we have an integrity problem with our organization, we must address it in biblical fashion. First, and most important, we should keep the people and the organization itself in regular, consistent, and intentional prayer before the Lord. Remember that God answers general prayers generally and specific prayers specifically. Ask our prayer partner, the Holy Spirit, to show us how to specifically and effectively pray in the areas where change is needed (Romans 8:26). Obviously, this prayer work should involve our spouses, if we are married, and hopefully our pastors and closest spiritual confidant(s).

Secondly, we need to ask God for clarity of perspective on how to share our concerns with the right people where we work, in the right spirit, touching on the most critical issues, not the less important ones. Thirdly, we need to seek God again for His specific calling where we are working, or if and when we should move on. In the case of leaving, we should ask God and our prayer partners for specific confirmation through circumstances.

God delights in showing His will through circumstances, as the Bible amply demonstrates. If God says, “Stay put for now,” we can represent the calling of God on us in the company with confidence, even if we have reservations about the company itself. Wherever we work, we must be on assignment from God. Spiritual integrity demands that we live out of our being, divinely commissioned and sent. This statement requires deep reflection and subsequent action. When we say, “I am the company,” we should be stating both a conviction of divine placement and the ability to identify with our employer.

Sales is About the Ability to Personally Identify with the Integrity of What We Are Selling

We are not only the company we represent; we are the product or service we are selling. While Michael Pink has noted with depth and excellence that sales is about serving and listening, he and many of us also agree that sales is about integrous faith in the real value of what we are selling. I cannot sell what I don’t believe has the best value for the customer at the fairest price. As previously noted, my “acting” or “selling” ability can lead me into a world of problems.

What does it mean to “be” the product or service we are selling? Here are a few specific thoughts. Firstly, I must place the product or service on a “teeter-totter” of integrity and the core values I hold myself accountable to. That is to say, is this product or service at least equal in weight to myself on the scales of integrity? Ideally, it might even carry more weight than I do, which can leverage me to a higher level. If it’s slightly lighter than me, but within an acceptable range, the question then becomes, “How can I leverage it up?” In either case, the issue is resolved and in process, and I can proceed to sell it with all my heart because my heart truly believes that our core values are equally yoked, which is a critically important principle (2 Corinthians 6:14).

Secondly, I must have confidence that the product or service has “staying power,” meaning that it will wear well over its period of service and even increase in value because the principles upon which it rests are sound. Good advice, if it is biblical, grows in value over time. So should our services and products.

Thirdly, we should have confidence in our ability to deliver and maintain these products or services as promised. The ability to deliver is as much a part of the sale as the product or service itself. Few things in life are more frustrating than having a great product with insufficient resources to service it. The product and delivery must be seen as one unit; sales integrity demands it. A good salesperson has not closed the sale until the delivery and proper usage are complete. A great salesperson goes one step further—they create a loyal customer demand which manifests itself with the customer seeking them out in the future, rather than the onus always resting with the diligent salesperson calling them!

Conclusions

You are the company, and you are the product or service. The best possible example of this is Jesus. He is the company; He is the product and service. Buy into Him. You get both, and the value only increases over time. As in all things, Christ and the Scripture mold our business goals. I rest my case.

This article by Dennis Peacocke originally appeared in the September/October 2005 edition of Business Reform Magazine.