Why Do Honest Sales Staff Sometimes Lie?

A normally honest sales person can sometimes fall into the trap of lying to a customer – here we examine one reason why.
According to a recent survey just under a quarter of sales people will lie to close a sale. However, all research points to the fact that lying in sales is detrimental for business relationships not only in the long term but also in the short term too. For example, if a promised delivery date isn’t met on time, or a product doesn’t function how described, then straight away a business relationship can turn sour.
Apart from the obvious reasons for lying i.e. to achieve a sales target, get a commission etc. there is also a common reason to cause an otherwise honest salesperson to lie to a prospect – empathy.
Let me explain. All good sales people know that rather than just pitching a prospect with offers and closing techniques that the real way to achieve long term success in sales is to build a good rapport with prospective customers. To be agreeable and to share common ground on subject matters is the obvious way to do this. This then establishes an affinity with the customer and can begin the normal to and fro interaction of the sales process. The customer says he thinks business should be conducted in a certain way – the sales person agrees. Does your product do this? Yes, the salesperson replies, it does it in this way.
This is the time when a sales person can fall into the trap of trying to agree with the customer on everything so as to appear to share all the same thoughts and feelings in an effort to build rapport. For example the customer could say, “I think it is very important that delivery is within seven days, and of course I expect your product to be delivered by then!” In reality the sales person for example may know that a site survey is carried out before any of their products are delivered, and current waiting time for a survey is ten days. But, fatally, instead of handing the objection there and then, agrees with customer. In most cases this is because the sales person doesn’t want to affect the psychological balance of this newly made client relationship by telling the customer they are wrong. This of course is the time when the sales person should lead not follow. If they have done their job properly they will have built up a rapport with the customer and should now be able to have confidence to lead the conversation. In our example they should be able to explain the benefits of a site survey and justify why this would mean a longer wait for delivery.
So, when you train your sales staff, of course you will teach them the benefits of empathy and rapport building with customers. But also it is important to teach them not to agree with everything the customer says if it jeopardises their own honesty and integrity. In the back and forth exchanges of a sales conversation if the sales person has done enough to build a relationship, be that on the telephone or face to face, then they should be able to demonstrate to a customer why they may need to change their view or position on a certain element of the transaction. The sales person does not need to worry about breaking the rapport that has been built. The reason time was taken to build a rapport in the first place is so that the customer will trust a salesperson. An honest and forthright answer even if it is not what the customer would ideally like to hear is only going to further build on that trust.