“The most important persuasion tool you have in your entire arsenal is integrity.” –Zig Ziglar

I’m no cop, not a persuasion cop or any other. However, there are times when I feel I have to pause for a moment and remind my students of what is of the utmost importance in persuasion and in life. I am a person who really learns from their mistakes. And I’m hoping that you can too learn from my mistakes. My goal here is to guide. My goal is to help you to avoid the mistakes I made. One of these tough lessons I learned the hard way came about because when I was young, overly eager, and foolish, I acted in a way that wasn’t guided by integrity.

Social influence skills are powerful and it is my sincere hope that as we move forward, we do so with an application towards ethics and integrity.

Ethics and integrity go hand in hand with congruity, and congruity forms a key component. Why? Congruity is like someone making a mistake and being genuinely sorry they made it. Whereas you can really tell the difference between that and someone who says I’m sorry but doesn’t necessarily mean it.

When we come from a place of integrity and ethics, it allows us to use these powerful skills for good. We have a clean, clear conscience and people feel easy and comfortable trusting us. Integrity is something I discuss often in my coaching and teaching. It’s integral to the process of persuasion. I encourage and promote these without being preachy, but I do so earnestly because I know how important they’ve been for me in my progress as a persuader.

My belief is, that without ethics, integrity and congruity, a sales person will never rise above mediocrity.

One of the most valuable perceptions a prospect can have of us as salespeople is trustworthiness. When we’re in line with integrity, there’s no need to fake it.

When I really started living my persuasion life with total integrity, I noticed amazing things start to happen for me and for my business. I began to draw more of what I wanted to me, I began to draw higher end clients and students who were also trustworthy whereas previously many of my clients were not people who I really wanted to do business with.

Having built up that aspect of my personality, having an abundance of integrity in the bank is like having built up my ‘f-you’ money. I absolutely know that I can walk away from any situation which is not comfortable because I no longer “need” to take on just anyone but could be very selective in my processes. Consider the benefits of integrity in that you never have to compromise yourself again. It’s an amazing feeling.