What does Fidelity have to do with selling?

The virtue of Fidelity is often associated with personal relationships, in particular, marriage. However, I would like to propose that we consciously extend this virtue to all aspects of our lives, including the functions of sales and service.

Why?

Because fulfilling our obligations and keeping our promises are critical to attracting and especially retaining customers. The way in which we keep our promises and fulfil our obligations (or not) has a dramatic impact on our reputation, brand, and ongoing viability as a business.

First let’s take a look at what ‘fidelity’ actually means (source www.dictionary.com):

• Fidelity: 1494, from M.Fr. fidélité, from L. fidelitatem (nom. fidelitas) “faithfulness, adherence,” from fidelis “faithful,” from fides “faith” (see faith).
• Fidelity implies the unfailing fulfilment of one’s duties and obligations and strict adherence to vows or promises: fidelity to one’s spouse.
• strict observance of promises, duties, etc.
• loyalty: fidelity to one’s country.
• conjugal faithfulness.
• adherence to fact or detail.
• accuracy; exactness: The speech was transcribed with great fidelity.
• Audio, Video: the degree of accuracy with which sound or images are recorded or reproduced.

When we read these definitions of fidelity we can see that they are very relevant to ethical business practices and are fundamental to any healthy relationship. While some may argue that fidelity should be a given with any buying experience, unfortunately it is not for many people. This is why I am raising fidelity in sales and service as a topic of conversation for 2010.

There are too many stories about ‘bad’ customer experiences to dismiss this as an irrelevant topic of conversation. I believe more and more we will be held to account for actions, especially after the sale has been made. This brings the practice of fidelity into stark reality as a core virtue for any business.

Many of us have had experiences where we were promised one thing by a sales person, customer service person, or business proprietor and received something different. For instance the sales or service person could say something like:

• ‘If you have any problems you can all on me and I will take good care of you no matter what happens’ (Reality – you have an issue and they do not want to know about you or your problem and make it very difficult for you to get any help)
• ‘If there are any issues with this piece of equipment bring it back and we will fix it at no charge’ (Reality – you have a problem and they blame you for the equipment problem without first uncovering what happened and then they complain about having to fix it, all the time telling you that other places would charge you for this service)

These examples and others like them leave people feeling let down, duped, and somewhat stupid for having trusted a person and taken them at their word.

But why is it this way?

Why do some people make these promises and then complain when they have to fulfil them? Are they scared to lose a sale so they say anything to get your money? Or do they have the best intentions of fulfilling their promises, however say ‘yes’ too much, setting unrealistic expectations, and overloading themselves?

I am sure there are many reasons why these issues occur, however whatever the reasons, the consequences of not practicing fidelity in business are dire.

If you want to kick off the New Year with a conversation about sales fidelity, you may like to ask the following questions:

• How do we abide by our agreements and honour our commitments?
• How do we fulfil our promises?
• How do we create and maintain trustworthy relationships?
• How do we work out problems directly?
• Do we walk our talk?

The answers you get may give you vital information about what you need to stop doing, start doing, and keep doing to ensure viable, healthy business practices and success in 2010 and beyond.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

PS. Don’t forget to complete the Barrett poll on The 12 Sales Trends of 2010. We want to know what you think will be the number one sales trend in 2010.

Author: Sue Barrett, Barrett