To Be Perfectly Honest With You

If you find yourself using the phrase “to be perfectly honest with you” in your sales presentations or in normal conversations with your customers you need to think about what you’re saying.

This week we had a manufacture’s representative introduce his new products to our sales team and a few of our customers. We catered lunch, had a decent crowd (hint: if you provide food people will show up) and was looking forward to learn something new.

Instead, what I heard was a repetition of “to be perfectly honest with you” each time he tried to emphasize something important he was going to say or make something he was about to say more believable.

“To be perfectly honest with you …”

This was like someone scratching a chalkboard with their fingernails. Every time I heard this phrase, I cringed and hoped others (especially our customers) weren’t feeling the same way.

I began to wonder, if what he said before saying “to be perfectly honest with you” wasn’t honest and now what he’s saying is or did he feel he had to preface his upcoming statement with “to be perfectly honest” before he felt comfortable being less than honest?

I hope neither statement is true.

Most likely, this is just one of those annoying words or filler phrases that creep into our presentations that are not needed, such as:

• “right”
• “uhh”
• “you know”

I’m pretty sure there was no intent of dishonesty but it did leave me questioning his choice of words.

I really couldn’t tell you much about the new products he was showing but I think the food was pretty good.

I do know for me, the presentation was sidetracked by a simple phrase.

Conclusion

So, what do you think when someone begins a statement with “To be perfectly honest with you?”

Does this make you wonder about the truthfulness of what they are saying or is it just the sales coach in me being overly critical?

Please email me your thoughts. I’d love to hear from you.

If you find yourself needing to start a sentence with “To be perfectly honest with you …” you probably want to consider or reconsider your words more carefully!

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