Hello friends and a very warm welcome to our program on Workplace Strategy.

Marketing and selling is an integral part of business. Even if we are not salespeople, or marketing managers, every time we present something and hope another would accept our idea, we are marketing and selling. In business, we always hope that buyers will accept our products or services at a certain price. But can we sell well without lying?

Commercial transactions are done through some form of negotiation – two parties bargain with each other until they gradually move towards the final agreement. One common technique used in price negotiation is that the buyer tries to devalue the seller's product so as to try to obtain a cheaper price. The seller, on the other hand, attempts to raise the value of his product in order to sell for a high price. In the Bible, the Book of Proverbs 20:14 captures this part of human nature very vividly, “It’s no good, it’s no good!” says the buyer – then goes off and boasts about the purchase.” Now if we are the seller of the product or service, how do we convince the buyer to buy at our price?

Bending the truth is often used as part of business negotiations, but as Christians, we must never tell a lie to the other party during negotiations. Of course, we also need to be wise. For example, we don't need to reveal all the facts when dealing with buyers for the first time.

Now if, for example, you are appointed to sell a certain property. The boss tells you, "The company is in urgent need of funds, so the higher the transaction price, the better. However, if you have worked hard negotiating, if it still doesn’t work, you can sell it at the price of six million dollars." In other words, six million dollars is the bottom line given by the company. Your obligation is to the company you work for. So let’s say you offer eight million dollars as your selling price, as your company would expect you to aim for the highest possible price. However, if the buyer explicitly asks, "Is this the lowest price authorized by the company?" You need wisdom. Do we lie? Or must we reveal our bottom line immediately? Perhaps we can simply answer, "Eight million dollars is the price I can give you at the moment." And of course, you could check again with your boss, if you perceive that the buyer is genuinely interested. In short, we have the right not to disclose our bottom line immediately.

Kind Tips:

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