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How Salespeople Lie In A Way That Let’s Them Believe They Aren’t

Keenan
October 22, 2022

Some salespeople lie.

They don’t believe they do but they do. Salespeople lie to make a sale. Salespeople lie to get you to buy what they want you to buy. Salespeople lie to promote their agenda, not yours.

They don’t believe they lie because they don’t give you false information. They don’t blatantly tell you a lie. They don’t tell you something that is straight up not true and so because the don’t directly lie; they’ve convinced themselves they aren’t lying. But they are.

How do salespeople lie and convince themselves they aren’t lying?

Salespeople lie through omission.

Lying through omission is when someone deliberately and knowingly withholds information that could be beneficial to the buyer. When someone withholds information in order to influence a decision, that’s lying through omission.

I was in NYC with my girls a while back, and we went to the Empire State building. The minute we got out of the cab; we were approached by woman who was selling tickets to the top. She was quick to tell us the wait was an hour long, but that while waited we could get tickets to a cool, interactive ride. It took you on a virtual tour of NYC. She said the girls would absolutely love it.

She said that the tickets also included access to the museum on the 88th floor. I asked her if the price was the same at the ticket counter inside and she said yes. I asked her what the difference was if I got the tickets from her and instead of getting the tickets inside; she said nothing EXCEPT I couldn’t get the Skyride tickets inside. So, I bought the tickets.

Here’s what she didn’t tell me. She didn’t tell me that although the Skyride experience took about 30-45 minutes, it didn’t save us a place in line or reduce the hour wait. We still had to wait an hour once we finished the Skyride. She didn’t tell me that the museum was free, regardless of what tickets you bought. She didn’t tell me that buying tickets from her ONLY got us to the 88th floor NOT the 102nd floor or the top.

Finally, she DIDN’T tell me for the same price I could have bought Fastpass tickets. Fastpass tickets would have allowed us to go straight to the top, skipping the line. It allowed us to go to the museum, go to the 88th floor AND the 102nd floor all in half the time. My girls were 4, 7, and 9 – waiting in line fucking sucks. Had I known, we would have skipped the Skyride, and bought FastPass tickets straight to the tippy, tippy, top.

 

This woman lied to us without ever telling us something that wasn’t true.

She just lied through omission and as my dad taught me, that is just the same as lying.

Just because you haven’t told your customers or buyers a falsehood, doesn’t mean you’re telling the truth. It’s your job to make sure your buyers and customers have ALL the information so they can make an informed decision. Anything short of that, you’re being a scumbag.

Ask my kids, they’ll tell ya. Waiting in line for hours, when you didn’t have to, puts a sour taste in your mouth.

If you or your organization need help changing your sales culture, click here to schedule a discovery call with our sales team to learn if we can help you implement a new sales strategy.

 

 

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