THE BENEFITS OF OPEN, HONEST COMMUNICATION

By Ronda Payne

PERHAPS ONE OF THE BIGGEST HURDLES SALESPEOPLE GENERALLY HAVE to overcome is the consumer's perception that they work with a hidden agenda to get the best for themselves without any consideration of others. This bias that salespeople (often those in used car sales) are dishonest, secretive or hiding information is something that may not come up daily, but will certainly be a regular challenge to overcome.

It’s not just the relationship between salesperson and customer either. Sometimes the thought that there is information being withheld also applies between colleagues; managers and employees; or owners and staff.

This is definitely not an issue confined to car sales. It’s something that has been around as long as people have worked together. Transparency is the key to unlocking this mystery and while the term has been bandied around for a while, what it really means is open, honest communication with nothing withheld.

Pam Paquet, a performance management consultant and certified counsellor with The Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association, describes transparency as pure clarity of information.

“It’s a wonderful word and everyone wants it but very few know what it means or how to achieve it,” she says. “It’s not easy, it’s not automatic, it takes work.”

Beyond this sense of ‘putting all the cards on the table’, transparency also includes not withholding information, remaining open to receiving feedback and taking responsibility for actions.

Working together in a transparent environment

There are times when people may not want to be transparent. A sales manager who also works the floor may justify taking the next customer who walks through the door despite knowing that wasn’t the plan. The parts department might hold back data on how the month is going in hopes it will get better soon. An owner may prefer to not discuss the opportunity of selling a dealership to protect employees from fears of job losses.

A lack of transparency doesn’t always come tied to malicious intent. Often it is well-meaning, but it can still be damaging to how a business runs, the relationships within a business or the overall sense of organizational culture.

“As soon as you start withholding information, it’s the equivalent of lying,” Paquet notes. “In this world of social media, good luck for anyone who tries.”

For example, if a merger opportunity has come forward, owners may want to keep that information to themselves until the transaction is confirmed to be going forward. She says this is a mistake.

“Your employees are going to find out about any sort of merger long before you even think about not telling them,” she says. “If I think I’ve heard a rumour about a possible merger or acquisition, [I will wonder] am I going to lose my job? If I don’t hear about it from my company, there’s no trust.”

In essence, she’s saying that it should be assumed that anything you might think about keeping secret, won’t be. People will get information from a variety of sources.

“A good question to ask yourself, is what is a valid reason for me not sharing this information with you, my team or my people?” she says. “What reason do I have to hide things, to not be honest, to withhold information?”

Although there are times when that reason is to protect people, if the assumption is that they’ve already gotten a taste of the information, they will need clarity in order to maintain trust. Conversations are overheard every day, social media is rife with rumours, people love to talk – get ahead of it.

“When you have a lack of trust in any organization, association or company, you’ve got problems,” Paquet says.

Transparency on the sales floor

Remember how undercoating was the epitome of a hidden agenda for car buyers? No one wanted to buy undercoating. It didn’t matter how good it was or wasn’t. Once word got around that some salespeople were selling it to line their pockets, it became the pariah of car sales.

Everyone knows what both sides should want in a car sales transaction:

• A salesperson should want to find the right car for their customer, ensure that customer has the knowledge they need to feel satisfied about the transaction and to earn a fair wage for selling it

• A buyer wants the best price, knowledge about any defects or issues and confidence that what they were told corresponds to what they drove off the lot.

How often does this actually happen?

The benefit of open, honest communication with buyers is they are happy with their experience, refer others to the dealership and aren’t outraged or pointing fingers when something goes wrong with the car.

“Look at certain steps, communication areas and how we can change that,” says Paquet. “You look at the very basics. There is just pure clarity coming forward and information sharing.”

It means that everyone is in agreement about the end goal and the process to get there. It should be made clear at the start of the conversation.

“We’re sharing, we’re helping, we’re supporting,” she says. “Transparency is saying we’ve got four people on the sales floor today. We will equally rotate the next person that walks in the door.”

Transparency may not be disclosing exactly how much money is being made off the sale of a car or an aftermarket modification package or a warranty, but if someone wouldn’t be willing to disclose that amount if asked, there may be an issue. When someone has a sense of others getting ahead off their back, there is definitely a problem.

Putting it into practice

As Paquet says, it comes from agreeing on a common goal and working back to agree on the steps to get there. Nothing is hidden, everyone is included and everything is on the table. If transparency is done right, there will never be a sense of needing to hide anything or wondering who has what information.

“I think as a company, you look at what gets us in trouble. What gets certain employees or certain staff in trouble,” she says. “What creates certain challenges or issues. It can probably be dialed back to what didn’t get shared; who didn’t understand the common goal or outcome; who wasn’t transparent.” ■