7 Ways to Sell and Retain Your Integrity

As a web developer, there are many reasons that you may need to sell your company's product or services. But with all of this pressure to sell, it's hard to maintain your integrity and do what is right. Here are 7 ways that will help you get over the hump and stay true to yourself while still doing what needs to be done.

1) Sell honestly - If a prospect contacts you about purchasing something from your company, don't lie about the price or tell them it will only work if they use your products exclusively. Conversely, don't sell a prospect something that you know is overpriced.

2) Sell yourself - Don't hide your company's shortcomings. If a customer asks a question about something your company does poorly, be honest and forward about the shortcoming. This will give the customer the opportunity to do business with someone else if they are not satisfied with the response.

3) Sell your vision - Don't sell a product that you have doubts about. Being confident in what you're selling is much more important than making the sale at any cost. Work hard at convincing prospects why they should buy from you instead of someone else. If you do a good job convincing them, they will be more likely to buy from you.

4) Sell yourself and your company as a whole - If you get approached by a prospect about your company, don't sell yourself just for the sake of selling. Tell the prospect why your company is special. Tell them how you fit into their organization and why you're worth retaining. If everything else fails, tell the prospect that there are better opportunities to be had selling from another company if the product doesn't work out for them.

5) Be honest about it - Don't try to hide poor products or services from prospects under the guise of not disclosing it until after they've made an order. If you're doing something wrong, take the initiative and tell the prospect about your company's shortcomings. At least for the sake of customer relations, don't be "that guy who gets over on a customer."

6) Be yourself (and not salesperson) - Don't try to present yourself as being "more than a salesman" or anything else that could come off as false or flaky. It's okay to sell your product or service if that's what you do best, but also be yourself at all times; this will make prospects respect you more and make them more likely to buy from you than someone who acts like they are too good to sell products.