The Honest Sale
Too many white lies exist in our world. You’re more passionate and true when you’re honest. The truth hurts, we don’t want to hear it. The honest sale.
‘There’s a difference between honesty and truth. Honesty is your version of the truth. Truth itself is much more abstract. To comment on your life, you can only be honest. Truth is too big to think about. Honesty over truth.’
On the two-year anniversary of Brexit, I think a post about honesty is well-timed.
Brexit.
An event riddled with a multitude of white lies.
People never felt so manipulated.
Those who voted to leave now regret it — after the accurate economic analysts came out with future predictions.
Leaving the UK Government in limbo, the population calling for a second referendum and the British people never looked so naive.
For those who voted out and are still proud and righteous in their decisions — kudos.
There’s no reason to hide what you believe.
I’m talking about the people influenced by the false claims, ratified by those who made them, about the future situation of the UK post-Brexit.
There was no certainty in their claims.
It was speculation excellently-worded to make an argument and influence and win the vote.
It was successful.
Now, two years later, we’re no closer to an answer on our future.
Honesty could prevent this from happening again.
The truth on what you know and how you perceive it.
Most importantly, giving others the tools to make their own decisions — after a fair evaluation of the known facts.
Today, I want to talk not about Brexit, but about another relevant, honest sale.
University.
It was the QMUL Open Day today.
I worked as Geography Ambassador speaking to prospective students about Geography at QMUL.
They asked questions, and I did my best to answer honestly.
If I didn’t know, I would direct them elsewhere.
But, I had an idea about most things — most questions were a series of interrogation to see if I cracked.
It’s hard to crack when you talk honestly.
You’re not playing a character; it’s not scripted.
You crack when you say ‘I don’t know, and I wouldn’t want to tell you if I don’t know.’
That’s a humble way out.
Since I worked in retail, I’ve always sold honestly.
I don’t believe in the scripted sales pitch.
I used to work with a man who was the epitome of the scripted sales pitch.
He was successful because he was persistent — like a parasite.
Precisely like a parasite — I sold more by telling people not to buy things.
You see, reverse psychology would dictate that people’s inherent nature to be rebellious would make them buy it.
I didn’t make a commission from sales.
I had nothing to gain from their purchase.
I wanted the best outcome for the customer and the least hassle for me.
Typically, that would require being honest.
Because I didn’t care for the company, I was a servant to the customer.
I based my pitch on experience.
The same translated to my university talk.
They asked questions about the course, study abroad, field trips, careers and university life.
Study abroad, while I enjoyed it — I highlighted the financial burden.
Field trips, I explained that community-building occurs and that you can apply the critical learning and analysis you’ve learnt.
For critical analysis, I used the example of slavery in Liverpool as that’s the destination for first-year human geographers.
Slavery is bad. No doubt about it for the people involved.
But, slavery was essential to the success of the British Empire.
The reason we can live comfortably with money in our pockets is because of slavery during the Empire.
So, it was good for that time — it was politically, economically and culturally appropriate.
That’s being critical and genuinely evaluating both sides.
Being honest to both sides if you will.
The honest sale will work more often than not.
It will reveal if you’re knowledgeable.
Or if you know nothing at all.
The university paid me for my work today.
That’s the reason most people were there.
But, while I’m at work — I always work hard for the people we’re serving.
I try my best to give them the truth — or my version of it.
They wouldn’t speak to me if they wanted a sales pitch.
I want them to know my emotions so that when they attend university, they can assimilate or feel like they’re not alone.
It’s not about applications — it’s about allowing future generations to make informed choices.
The options are so broad and look perfect that one would lose themselves searching for an answer.
Teaching the future about your experience isn’t one of practice, it’s one of perception.