Selling and Truth

There are some crutch phrases that people use in their everyday lexicon. Usually people use phrases so casually they don't realize how often they utter them.

We all have heard "you know" and "I was like" or "they were like" or just "like". There is also the classic "like, you know" and the proverbial "umm". I'm not going to talk about these partly because I'm guilty of using them from time to time in spite of being as conscious as I can about not.

The phrases I wanted to mention here today are "let me be honest with you", "to tell you the truth", and the basic "honestly" or "truthfully".

The reason I mention selling in the title of this post is because that's pretty much what I do. I know I have a different title, but selling is my deal and has been for some time. One of my previous employers was big on training and self improvement. He had me read different books and listen to various "Selling Gurus" on tape.

A basic principal I picked up was that everybody sells everyday. The spouse who would prefer a different restaurant than you will sell you on their choice's attributes to get you to change your mind. A child will sell a parent on why they should have the toy or the sugar infused cereal. An employee will sell a boss on why they need that vacation or raise. We will sell ourselves on why we should buy new clothes. Just in general conversation people will try and sell their point of view to another.

That's where these catch phrases some in. People use them to try and validate or emphasize a point they're making. As if the words they are saying just after "let me be honest with you" carry more weight or are more important than what they said previously. Most people do this in innocuous settings and it goes unnoticed.

But try and think of it this way (I do); when you preface a statement with "let me be honest with you" do you thin that what the person said just a moment ago was a slight fabrication, or exaggeration, misrepresentation, or even a flat out lie? It really bothers me when I hear a salesman use these phrases. People in sales have a bad enough rap, we don't need to go around reinforcing it by flat out telling somebody we're not honest all the time, just when we say so.

I like to think that when I tell somebody something, they'll believe me regardless of whether I tell them it's the truth. It should be the truth.

People like to be taken at their word, for some, it's all they have.