Who Says Buyers Are Liars!?

Articles, Selling

Actually, I do. For that matter, so would anybody who has ever sold something. Quick! How can you tell when a salesperson is lying to you? His lips move. How about a buyer? Same answer. LOL. Come on people! You know it’s true. As a buyer, I lie to sales people everyday. During my career in sales, I have heard every one of the following statements. Even better, I’ve heard each of  them falling from my very own lips ……

  • “I’ll get back with you later.” – Sure you will.
  • “Maybe in a few months.” –  Why not just tell me “No” now?
  • “We want to do that but have no idea of what to budget.” –  No … everybody has a budget. You just don’t want to tell me yours.
  • “I make all the final decisions on my own.” –  Let’s ask your wife how she feels about that.
  • “I really busted my butt to sell your services to the boss but, he/she said “No”. I’m so mad I just might quit!” – Right. You walked in, brought it up in passing, he said “No”, and you turned around and walked back through that door.
  • “Your price is just too high?” –  What does that mean? Compared to what? Your initial investment or long term maintenance?
  • “No thanks, I’m just looking.” – If you are looking, you likely have a need that you would like to fill.

Craig M. Jamieson has been active in B2B selling since 1977. This post is representative of just some of the materials included in his sales training workshops. All sessions are designed to be fun, energetic, and most of all … real. Examples like these don’t come from books. They come from real life experiences.

Why in the world do folks seem compelled to lie like this? I once called on a church regarding a new audio visual system for their chapel. We are in the chapel talking to the pastor and we asked the question .. “How much has the church budgeted for this project?” His response …. “We really don’t have any kind of budget but we know that we need the work done. We’ll just have to see how much it is and then go to the committee and see if we can swing it.” Well, at this point, we threw him a number. An inflated number. “Pastor, depending on how extensive you want to go with this, we could see spending anywhere up to $100,000.” “Good Grief!” he replied. “When we met with the committee they told us that we could only spend up to $14,000 but no more!” True story. Standing in the church, in front of God, this “man of the cloth” had flat out lied to us 🙂

Are these people bad? No. What they are is conditioned and sales people have enabled the bulk of this conditioning. They have been conditioned to respond, in a buyer/seller situation in the following ways ….

  • They view the relationship as being adversarial.
  • It is easier to stall than it is to make an actual decision. Buying is a commitment and it is so final.
  • “Your price is too high” and “I’m just looking” are conditioned and reflex responses.
  • Certain answers may, in fact, be negotiation techniques.
  • Other responses are used to avoid what is viewed to be a confrontational situation.

Ultimately, a great deal of the responsibility for these displayed buyer behaviors falls directly on the shoulders of the sales person themselves. You haven’t established rapport. It is clear to the buyer that your goal is to make the kill rather than to form a win-win relationship. You are in serious need of help with your qualification skills. You may have little to know idea of how to question for need and provide solutions for those identified areas. Likely, listening and clarifying are skills you are not comfortable with. You ask others to do the job you are supposed to be doing. You take everything said as gospel, at face value, and as final answer. You don’t help people to buy. Instead, you seek to impose your will to force them to do so. After all, this is a contest with a clear winner, is it not?

So, if buyers are indeed liars, can you blame them? You, my friend, may have given them little choice, and even less direction, in choosing the path of honesty and openness. Think about it first and then prepare to take the necessary steps to correct that.

Thanks for visiting!

Craig

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Craig M. Jamieson

Craig M. Jamieson

Managing Member at Adaptive Business Services
Craig M. Jamieson is a lifelong B2B salesperson, manager, owner, and a networking enthusiast. Adaptive Business Services provides solutions related to the sales professional. We are a Nimble CRM Solution Partner. Craig also conducts training and workshops primarily in social selling and communication skills. Craig is also the author of "The Small Business' Guide to Social CRM", now available on Amazon!
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