I recently read an article in the Washington Post that really disturbed me. The article, written by former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen, was titled A Dishonest Presidency.  What disturbed me about this article was that Thiessen's insight into the vetting process for presidential speeches made it hard not to believe. The crux of the article was that President Obama consciously decided to lie to the American people when he said, "If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what." Yes, I do realize that the overwhelming majority of politicians lie constantly, regardless of their political affiliation. To be fair, it wouldn't take much digging to come up with examples of Republican Presidents lying.

The Obama deception reminded me of other times in my career when people I respected disappointed me with unethical, immoral or illegal behavior. In business relationships, trust is the tie that binds. Buyers look for sellers they can trust. Employees look for managers and leaders that they can trust. Without trust, a business will quickly fall apart.

Many professionals are willing to lie, cheat and steal because they feel the interests of the company absolve them from the responsibility to conduct themselves with integrity. Never sacrifice your personal integrity for anyone - be it your customer, employer or partner. The short-term benefits never outweigh the long-term consequences. A good reputation is hard to earn, but easy to lose.

To turn things around to the positive, let's explore how an integrity-based approach can improve your revenue generation process.

Don't lie to yourself - pay attention to data!

Many executives don't like to accept reality. Corporate groupthink often produces strategies that either ignore or don't adapt to on-the-ground facts. If you're not running your business with a realistic strategy, you're doomed to failure.

Let's take the example of how the stagnant economy of the past five years is influencing business decisions. The unrealistic business strategy is to continue to execute the plan as you alway's have, circumstances be damned. The realistic strategy looks for ways to position products and services to minimize perceived risk to the buyer. You can only increase revenue generation when you understand the problems your buyers face and solve problems in your sales process. Marketing analytics let you quickly measure the success of every step of your sales process. Pay attention to the data, numbers don't lie like politicians do.

Trust is a precious commodity, don't waste it.

In B2B sales, you can't close a deal if the buyer doesn't trust you. SMB companies work hard to earn trust in the marketplace. Trust is the currency of growth. Trust gets clients to buy more from you and refer you to their friends and colleagues. Trust earns you the right to make mistakes. A trusting partner will give you the chance to fix the mistake. If you fix the mistake quickly and give the customer an added service or discount, you'll develop more trust and have a great shot at more business and referrals.

Woe to the seller who closes the deal and immediately turns his attention to the next one. Although your new customer trusted you when you made the sale, she won't trust you anymore. She certainly won't buy more from you or refer you to her friends. Customer service will be challenged because the customer doesn't trust your company. You're looking at an unprofitable customer with no opportunity to enhance your revenue stream. A few more customers like this and you have serious problems.

Make sure your buyer experience enhances the trust you earned in the sales process. You'll be rewarded with more referrals and enhanced revenue streams from your customers. But remember, trust comes much harder than it goes

Incorporate trust into your inbound marketing campaigns

Trust is a crucial element of your inbound marketing campaigns. A 2012 Local Consumer Review Survey found that 72% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. B2B sellers can use trust elements in their inbound marketing campaigns to generate more leads and nurture them to customers. Share testimonials on your landing pages to encourage site visitors to convert to leads. Trust elements like certifications and affiliations also help generate leads.

Make sure you grow trust in your lead nurturing process. Make it easy for people to unsubscribe from email marketing and keep the promises you make as you nurture your leads. This will help build the trust needed to close the sale.

Summary

Trust is an essential quality for business success. A hard-earned reputation for integrity can be lost quickly. But if you condcut yourself ethically, your chances for success are much greater. Be true to yourself and use reality-based strategies that are calibrated based on marketing analytics. Develop trust from the beginning of your sales process and carry it through your service delivery - you'll get more referrals and upsells. Incorporate trust elements into your inbound marketing and you'll generate more leads for your sales funnel. You can increase revenue generation with integrity.