There is so much advice out there to be agile and flexible to manage change. The risk sometimes comes when you become too flexible and compromise on certain traits that shouldn't be comprised.

One such trait is INTEGRITY.

You can find this characteristic on most qualities-of-successful-people lists, yet, it's difficult for people to describe how someone can exude this quality.

Before we dive into the benefits of INTEGRITY, let's define it.

INTEGRITY comes from the Latin word "integer" meaning whole and complete. You are whole when your beliefs, values, principles, words, actions, expectations and reactions are consistent. Simply put:

• The rules that govern your life are aligned with your values and principles.
• The words that speak matches what you believe.
• The actions that you take mirrors what you say and think.
• Your reactions match your expectations.

What makes INTEGRITY valuable is that, although all agree it's a good trait, it's uncommon. A potential reason for that is because it's easy to believe having INTEGRITY will hold you back in life. It's easy to see this trait as a burden rather than an advantage.

This viewpoint makes senses. There are numerous examples that show people benefiting from a lack of INTEGRITY:

• Colleagues who lie and get promoted
• Business men who cheat and make millions
• Athletes who use drugs and win 1st
• Politicians who break their promises after being elected

Cutting corners and acting inconsistently with your beliefs is especially tempting when things change quickly and you're fighting hard just to keep up.

The issue with this perspective is that it's skewed. People only see the positives of not having INTEGRITY while being blind to the consequences and costs.

Here are some negatives to leading a life without INTEGRITY:

• You live in constant fear of being found out
• You are stressed in having to keep all your stories straight
• You lose sleep over the people you've hurt
• You get punished if people do find out - jail, unemployment, lost relationships/reputation, etc.

When you weigh the costs and benefits, living with INTEGRITY is typically the better option. You reduce the stress of covering who you are. Living with INTEGRITY frees up your mind to think of ways to grow as opposed to expending mental energy to watching your back or keep track of your lies. 

Having INTEGRITY also boosts your reputation. When people trust you, doors will open for you professionally and personally. By choosing to have INTEGRITY, you not only open up more possibilities but makes it easier to make decisions about different paths.  When you know who you are and you value INTEGRITY, you pick the option that best aligns with the person you want to be.

For those of you who already have INTEGRITY, congratulations and stay strong. For those of you who are not sure if you have it, know that INTEGRITY can be learned and built.

To build INTEGRITY:

Clearly Define Yourself

To know whether you are being consistent, you first need to be clear about your values, beliefs, and principles. People around you will try to sway you to take on their value and belief systems but only YOU can decide the ones that best fit you. To have INTEGRITY doesn't mean you need to do what society deems as "good", you just have to live according to how you want to live and align everything about you to that core.

Keep Your Promises

One strong sign of INTEGRITY is keeping your word. If you say you're going to do something, do it. If you don't want to do it, say you don't want to do it and don't do it.  Sounds simple and the truth is, it is simple.

Note: Simple does not mean easy.

Take It Easy on Yourself

There will be times when it is tough to make the right decision and you end up making the wrong decision. That's ok, it happens. Get back on track and learn from that experience to prevent it in the future. What you don't want to do is give up on having INTEGRITY.

INTEGRITY, in both the long and short run, will make your life easier. Give it a try and see for yourself.

Photo by Allen Allen

The post Maintaining Integrity in a Fast-Changing World appeared first on Embrace Possibility.

If this sounds foreign to you, you may want to review Lesson 1 again by clicking here.

Now that you've got some great information about your prospective customer concerning what they want, the next thing you want to do is to make sure you thoroughly understand your products and/or services. You need to know all the features and be able to translate them into benefits because the next step is to ... (drums start rolling)

(drums abruptly stop) ... before I tell you what the next step is, we should really discuss the difference between features and benefits and why you want to sell using benefits. A feature is a characteristic about your product or service.  A benefit describes how these characteristics make people's lives better.

Here are two examples:

For my own products and services, I use a method from this excellent post on extracting true benefits from features.

Anyway, where were we? Oh yea, the next step after finding out what your customer truly wants is ... (drums roll again and then dramatically stops as you read the answer)

Compare What You are Selling to What Your Customer Wants to Buy

If there is a good match, your work is halfway done. If what you are selling doesn't match the prospect's needs, END the sales process and refer them to someone who has what they're looking for. Remember you are still the assistant buyer. Even if your products and services might not help them, I highly recommend going above and beyond and helping them find a way to meet their needs and wants. The famous author, salesman and motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar, was on to something when he said "You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want."

I believe that's great advice and try to live by that suggestion but what if I am a bachelor looking to "sell" myself to eligible women? I don't really want to spend my time referring women to other more suitable guys. I don't care if I am a good fit or not.

To avoid this undesirable situation, you have two choices:

Define your ideal customer based on your current features/benefits or create better products or services that cater to the needs of your target customer

To continue with the bachelor analogy, your chances for success increases dramatically if you first decide what type of woman would find the benefits you have to offer attractive. Are you good looking (benefit = beautiful babies or the envy of her friends), make a lot of money (benefit = financial stability) or caring (benefit = being loved and cared for)? Once you know your ideal customer, then you just need to target them and make them see the benefits you have to offer.

If you find that you are not a good match for a certain type of prospect but you still want to target them, develop better products or services with features and benefits that appeal to your target group. For someone having a hard time getting the job they want or a job with a company they want to work for, it may mean taking classes or other jobs to upgrade their skills or networking to make themselves more appealing to the hiring manager.

The goal is to match what the buyer wants to buy with what you have to sell.

Please note that the customer doesn't always know everything about the products or services they come across and unfortunately there are people who exploit this lack of information by exaggerating or misrepresenting the benefits of their products to make the sale. My advice to you is NEVER DO THIS!! Always be honest because the most precious commodity to a salesperson is trust. Once your reputation is tainted as being untrustworthy, it will be much harder to build rapport and get past the first step in Lesson 1, which is to drill deep into what the prospect really wants.

In the next lesson, we're going to discuss how people make the decision to buy and how you can increase your chances of closing the sale.

The post How to Sell with Integrity – Lesson 2 – Matchmaker – Assist the Buyer appeared first on Embrace Possibility.