Malcolm Fleschner (www.sellingpower.com) just wrote a nice piece in the latest issue. He quoted us extensively in it. Thought you’d get a kick out of reading it. Who Loves Ya’ Baby?

One of the issues he brings up is the idea of “calling the game.” When someone is lying to you, you must call it out–or else it’s you who is out of integrity. I don’t talk about that much in Same Game New Rules, but it’s a fact. Every time you have a feeling (that you’re being misled by your customer) and you fail to call him on it, you lose self-esteem.

Now, there are ways to call it and ways NOT to call it. I prefer the very soft, simple approach we might call,”Broaching The Subject.”  You say, “John, a couple of things don’t jibe with me. Can I bring it up then you react to it?”

I like that approach because there is no pressure. You aren’t accusing him/her of lying. You make it an “I” message. “It’s just me not having understood something.”

By “broaching the subject”, you send a signal that you are listening intently to what he’s saying. And that you take this whole thing seriously. When you’re getting misled, you have to call it–and not worry about the approval (or lack thereof).

Hope that helps with the courage to take a stand and demand the truth.

Come to think of it…we just did a podcast on the topic of truth as well.