Authenticity and the Sales Profession

Name: Authenticity and the Sales Profession
Author: Kersten Kelly Brunner

Learn how to promote authentic sales while interacting with customers

Preview the first lesson free — get full access to all 6 lessons.

Course: On-Demand

Let's discuss what it means to be authentic when you're selling to customers. To do this, we'll explore the basic concept and definition of authenticity and how someone's personality plays a role in their interaction with customers. You'll learn what an authentic sales person strives to achieve including how personal and professional goals can impact one's behavior. These lessons will also focus on how sales services a brand, an organization and its customers. Think about a time that you purchase a product or service. Did you trust that the salesperson was being honest about the promises that they made? Did you feel like you were getting what you were paying for? What characteristics did the salesperson demonstrate to reassure you that you were making the right decision? If you had a good experience, it's likely that you'll buy from that salesperson or business again. If you had a poor experience such as the product not living up to expectations, it's less likely that you'll make another purchase. The core value behind customer satisfaction is trust and when it's broken, it can affect the sales process. In business, trust is a belief in the reliability and validity of someone or something. When you approach a customer to sell them a good or service, it's important for you to come across as authentic. Authenticity is the quality of being genuine, trustworthy, and verifiable in your message and delivery. In other words, your job is to convey that your knowledge and qualifications as a salesperson are applicable to your customer's needs. If a customer trusts you, they are more likely to give you their business. Salespeople can learn how to be more authentic through practice. This requires you to establish a relationship with your customers that's built on transparency and integrity. Your role is to lead discussions and follow through on the commitments you and your organization make. Imagine you sell a couch but upon delivery the customer discovers that it's been damaged. It's your job to manage the process of replacing the couch and handling the inconvenience to the customer. To establish authenticity, you should contact the customer directly to apologize and create a plan of action with them to fix the problem. Communicate a timeline, a lists of next steps, and address any questions or concerns the customer may have. This will have you actively engaged in the process, demonstrating your credibility. Being authentic involves listening to your customers. What are their needs, wants, and priorities? What problems do they have that your product or service can help them solve? By asking the right questions and listening carefully, you can establish a shared goal to achieve with your customer. This creates a partnership that focuses on their desired outcome, allowing you both to succeed. Authentic sales will ultimately keep the customer satisfied. It takes time, patience, and active engagement throughout the entire sales process to build authenticity. But once your customers trust your judgment, you have a better chance that they'll want to work with you again.

Beginner Provider : Kersten Kelly Brunner 6 Lessons · 16m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

These lessons will provide an overview of the fundamentals of authentic sales. You will explore the concept of authenticity and how a salesperson’s personality plays a role in their interaction with customers. The lessons will describe what an authentic salesperson should strive to achieve and how personal and professional beliefs and goals impact one’s behavior. These lessons dive deep into how salespeople service the brand, organization, and customers.

What You'll Learn

Define authenticity and how it applies to salespeople
Integrate your personality into your approach with customers
Identify the relationship between professional and personal goals and beliefs
Discover how making lasting connections with customers yields future business rewards
Examine the goal of an authentic salesperson
Understand sales as service to your brand, organization, and customer

Key Takeaways

Authentic sales rests on a clear understanding of what authenticity means and how it applies to salespeople.
A salesperson's personality plays a role in how they interact with customers and should be integrated into their approach.
Personal and professional beliefs and goals influence a salesperson's behavior, and the course explores the relationship between them.
Salespeople serve the brand, the organization, and the customer.
Making lasting connections with customers yields future business rewards.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is this course about?

It provides an overview of the fundamentals of authentic sales, exploring the concept of authenticity and how a salesperson's personality plays a role in their interaction with customers. It also covers what an authentic salesperson should strive to achieve and how personal and professional beliefs and goals impact behavior.

What will I learn in this course?

You will define authenticity and how it applies to salespeople, learn how your personality should integrate into your approach with customers, identify the relationship between professional and personal goals and beliefs, and discover how making lasting connections with customers yields future business rewards.

What topics do the lessons cover?

Lessons cover What is "Authenticity"?, Sales, Personality, and Authenticity, The Goal of an Authentic Salesperson, Organizational Versus Personal Beliefs and Goals, and Sales as Service to Your Brand, Your Organization, and Your Customer, followed by a Test Your Knowledge assessment.

What skills does this course help develop?

The course addresses sales concepts, sales principles, sales qualification, sales training, salesmanship, and selling techniques.

Is there an assessment in this course?

Yes, the course includes a Test Your Knowledge lesson.