Do you walk your talk as a professional sales person? Are your personal and professional ethics consistently demonstrated 24/7? Do you have a credible reputation within your sales territory?

If you believe that your reputation is impeccable, then what behaviors are you demonstrating to those within your marketplace? For example, do you respond to every phone call or email promptly?

Much of relationship selling is truly dependent upon the business ethics within the referral generating process. People in business who know other people in business make referrals each and every day. Businesses such as Business Networking International (BNI), Leads or LeTip have actually evolved in helping to increase referrals. However, without a strong reputation within your business community, all the referrals in the world will not increase sales and help you become successful.

Locally, I belong to an informal networking group that has generated over $2,000,000 in sales during the last two years. One of the greatest challenges is making referrals and then having that referred party not respond to the referral. Not responding is a negative behavior that damages the reputation of the referred party as well as the referring party. I am asked to make referrals, but if the referring party does not respond, this creates an incredibly difficult situation.

Reputation is also visible in how you deal with your perceived competition. For me, my competition is myself and dollars, but for many others the competition is that other person or business that is doing something similar.

I believe that speaking ill of the competition is not only unprofessional, bad business ethics, but is also very damaging to my own personal reputation. As my Swedish grandmother once told me: If you cannot say anything nice, just don't say anything at all.

Gossiping is another negative reputation behavior. When you actively refuse to gossip, you demonstrate your high work ethics and reputation for being authentic. Living your personal core values as a professional sales person is critical.

If you are engaged in relationship selling, then look to maintaining and increasing your professional reputation, your business ethics and personal ethics, with your target market. Remember, people buy from people they trust and an exceptional reputation makes it much easier for people to buy from you.

Do you want more sales? Then register for FREE professional sales skills assessment http://www.processspecialist.com/sales-skill-assessment.htm.

Are you where you want to be? To find out where you are, then M.A.P. for Success, a FREE email course may help you begin to chart a course of business, professional or personal success. Visit http://www.processspecialist.com/action-plan.htm.

Please feel free to contact me, Leanne Hoagland-Smith, Your Chief People Officer and Business Coach, who works with individuals and organizations that are tired of not being where they want to be and truly want more for their businesses and their selves. 219.508.2859