How much information is too much to share with your new salesperson?

How much should I tell my new gun salesperson about my business?

Obviously, I need him to understand and sell the concept to clients, but does he need to know every detail about financials, future plans, etc?

I am worried about our plans becoming public knowledge if our salesperson is overly chatty in the marketplace.

This is a very interesting question and one that many business owners have expressed concerns about.

Obviously all employees should sign some sort of confidentiality agreement in their employment contract, although this may not be very enforceable if things go sour.

I feel the answer is that you need to confide as much in your gun salesperson as will give them the confidence to sell well.

If that information includes, for example, new products that might make current products redundant, you have to be careful and make sure that current sales are not hijacked by a wised-up client saying, “I think I will wait for the new model thanks!”

I remember killing a sale a long time ago by doing just that – telling a customer about an amazing new product and losing the current product sale!

As far as financial information goes, this depends on your level of confidence in the person selling. If the salesperson is new, you need to test their integrity and ability to retain confidential information.

They should be given a broad and confident view of the future so they can confidently promote your business, but the details need be given over time, once you have total trust in this person.

No matter how good the salesperson is, they need to be given specific instructions about the detail you want them to share about your business.

Don’t assume they will automatically know this, as every business environment is different.

Work out how open you can be without creating competitor advantage or consumer shyness, and make the salesperson feel that your business is confidently moving forward so that they can!

Of course, your reference checks should also shed some light on how discreet and smart they are.

Trust takes time to build.

To be trusted, you have to be trustworthy, and this applies to your salesperson.