Well they might be, but trust us, they don’t mean you any ill-will and they definitely don’t aim to deceive you. Customers lie because they are human. Many customers have a hard time expressing their thoughts, and this may cause them to lie or in a more realistic sense – withhold the truth.
The challenge begins when you, as a salesperson, find yourself believing the customer. It doesn’t take long for your “close ratio” to plummet along with your morale. How can you prevent this from happening to you?
Refuse to believe the lie and move forward! Here are simple ways to push through this challenge in your next sales call:
Accept the fact that you will be lied to. We’re all human and we all have an innate sense of not wanting to share our needs with people in whom we don’t have confidence. Because of the number of ineffective salespeople every customer has had to deal with over the years, the level of confidence is rarely high when a customer meets a salesperson for the first time.
Let the customer talk. When a customer is given the freedom to talk, it allows them to express themselves in their comfort zone and in their own words. By listening, this provides you key points and the opportunity to sell to them in a more targeted with and with a sense of relationship that they were allowed to lead.
Always ask a follow-up question. When a customer makes a comment that you feel is a lie, it’s time to ask a follow-up question. This not only allows you to show the customer that you were listening, but will help to correctly define what the customer is really trying to say as well as what they are looking for. When the follow-up questions are asked, many times the customer will become less defensive and more willing to share their true needs with you.
The lesson here is not that people have bad intentions (though some do). Your job is to anticipate this behavior and determine what the real message is and provide solutions that satisfy their need.
