Do political ads drive you nuts as they do me? While most of us cringe watching them – we don’t realize that we’re doing a lot of the same crap in sales to our prospects!

Here in the United States, this week is the “midterm” elections. Political ads permeate every remaining crevice of life as we know it. Every single one of them includes one of the following three painful approaches:

Overpromises:

“If you vote for me, all of your wildest dreams will come true.” – Pedro Sanchez, Napoleon Dynamite

Dire consequences of going with the competitor: 

“Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… MASS HYSTERIA!” – Peter Venkman, Ghostbusters

Only sell the positive, ignoring the negative.

“We won the second quarter!” – The Chicago Bears, who outscored the Dallas Cowboys 17-14 in the second quarter last weekend in NFL football, but lost the game 49-29. (they didn’t really say this…but I see politicians with similar approaches daily)

There’s a reason why salespeople and politicians drag the bottom of Gallup’s annual listing of trusted professions.

Transparency sells better than perfection – whether you’re selling a product, a service, a policy, or yourself. There’s a reason why all of us skip the 5-star reviews when evaluating a purchase, and go right to the 4s, 3s, 2s, and 1st first. There’s a reason why a product with an average review score between a 4.2-4.5 is optimal for purchase conversion. There’s a reason why a product with nothing but 5-star reviews sells at about the same conversion rate as a product that has an average review score of 3.2.

Positioning yourself or your solutions as perfect is polarizing.

Positioning yourself and your solutions as perfect actually makes it HARDER for an individual to make a decision, not easier.

We all know, subconsciously, that perfection does not exist, and until we’re able to assess the downside of a purchase, we cannot possibly trigger a purchase decision – we cannot predict.

Imagine a politician who was willing to admit a mistake, willing to explain the downside of a policy decision instead of just the upside, willing to empathize with those who didn’t agree with their perspective

“Listen, I realize my position doesn’t align with everyone, and that’s cool. I’m probably not the best candidate for you to vote for then.”

Wouldn’t you instantly be drawn to that person?

Could the sales world use the same advice?

You and your solutions are not all things to all people. Not everyone will buy from you – and that’s totally cool. Your solution isn’t a perfect 5-stars, and never will be.

“Listen, I realize our solution doesn’t align with every company, and that’s cool. Let’s explore what we give up to be great at our core. If what we give up is a high priority, let’s part as friends as soon as possible.”

It doesn’t matter whether it’s a website acting as a salesperson, a politician selling themselves or a policy, or a human being selling in a B2B capacity, transparency sells better than perfection. You’ll speed up decision-making, build trust, win more often, lose the opportunities you’re going to lose anyway, just faster, and in the end…you make it very difficult for your competitors to message against you.

To that final point, I’ll leave you with this…(if you can get past the profanity), give a watch to the final rap battle – when Eminem reveals all his own negatives – what gets left off the end is Papa Doc has nothing left to say…

#transparencywins

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