HONESTY
Every person in business realizes that there are as many shades of honesty as there are shades of color in the rainbow. Sometimes we might very well be considered dishonest simply by standing by and saying nothing. Any misunderstanding a customer might get concerning a matter of importance connected with the sale should rightly be corrected by the salesman. There is the possibility that the customer may never learn the true fact and that no harm will come as a result of an untrue statement or mistaken idea, but the chances are the other way, and men of experience know that the results are fatal to further satisfactory business when the fact of deception is realized.
Business today is conducted on the basis of mutual confidence in the honor of recognized people. An example of this is in connection with transactions on the stock exchanges where business running into millions of dollars every day is conducted on the basis of a spoken “yes” and “no” between men. A buyer might easily claim he had not made the bargain, and in so doing save himself sometimes thousands of dollars, but he would sooner break his bond than break his word. Wholesale buying of shoes and all other merchandise is carried on in such enormous quantities that the honor system must be depended upon to a very great degree. No one is more despised either in business or private life than the man whose word cannot be depended upon and he must sooner or later descend to his own level.
Honesty in the salesman relates both to the house and to the customer. Any man who would stoop to stealing of stock is, of course, simply a plain everyday thief and the law provides for him. On the other hand, the matter of time as a thing of value is sometimes overlooked. There are only a limited number of working minutes in a business day and they rank pretty high in money value. They should be spent with as much care as we spend our money.
The customer is the man who pays the salaries. Without his business there could be no sales force, no stock and no organization. For that reason he deserves the best that can be given. He should not be oversold nor should he be sold under a mistaken impression. It may mean a little less business this time but the difference will be more than made up on the next sale.