I’m sure you’ve heard the old cliche’ “Honesty is the best policy.” In fact, you’ve probably heard it so it doesn’t mean anything to you anymore. It should. When it comes to business, not being honest with your customers will harm you in the long run. Your customers can sense when something isn’t quite right, and it’ll drive them away. Even if they believe you, there will be a point when they find out you weren’t telling the truth - and it’ll be more devastating to your relationship than anything. Instead, be open and honest with your customers at every chance. They will trust and appreciate you, which means they will keep coming back every time they have a problem that you can solve. I should note, that honesty comes from more than just your words. Honesty also needs to come from the representation of your brand. This means being honest with yourself. Your branding shouldn’t appear like a luxury item when you’re trying to appeal to a wide variety of clientele. You want your customers to look at you and your business, and instantly get a feel for who you are and what you represent. The moment they feel like their assumptions were wrong, they will start to doubt every part of your business. To make this even a little more complicated, I should also mention that honesty is subjective. You can be honest and someone else’s opinions will contradict what you said. I know this all sounds like a lot to take in, but luckily we have an expert on honesty in business who can really explain how this simple practice can bring in a lot more revenue: Peter Kozodoy Peter is an Inc. columnist, keynote speaker, Inc. 5000 serial entrepreneur, and the Partner and Chief Strategy Officer of GEM Advertising. His articles on business, leadership and entrepreneurship regularly appear in Inc., Forbes, The Huffington Post and more. His work at GEM has been featured in CNBC, Yahoo!, Bloomberg, Reuters and MarketWatch, and has earned him Telly, Pixie, Communicator, Aurora, Davey and W3 awards. Peter has spoken at Microsoft, the US Department of Commerce, CEO Clubs of America, Digital Book World, Quinnipiac University and other organizations on topics including the Millennial mindset, consumer experience, and the power of honesty in achieving both personal and professional success. He is a member of both Entrepreneur’s Organization and the Young Entrepreneur Council, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in Economics from Brandeis University. He is currently pursuing an MBA from Columbia Business School (Class of 2019). He is also a three-time New England figure skating champion, a black belt in Taekwondo and a SAG/AFTRA professional actor. So download this episode today to learn all about his insights as an entrepreneur and true leader.