InsureMe Agent Blog: Are Your Prospects Lying to You?

That's what sales blog Landing the Deal asks in a recent post.

Landing the Deal author, Dan Tudor, threw up a link to the Top Seven Signs Someone Is Lying to You; I'm sure you've heard most of these "signs" before: avoiding eye contact, making inconsistent statements, uncomfortable or nervous body language, etc. Most of us know when we're getting the run-around. What we don't often know is why, or how to get the prospect back on board. And really, that's what it's all about, right?

When I was in sales, it was fairly easy to tell when someone was fibbing, and after awhile I learned that most prospects would lie to me for one of three reasons:

I was doing a crappy job of appealing to the prospect's needs and wants
The prospect really, truly didn't want what I had to offer
The prospect desperately wanted to get back to Jerry Springer [which, in daytime telemarketing is more common than one might think.]

But usually, I had to decipher between reasons one and two—which meant scaling back the sales pressure and getting back to basics: establishing the prospect's habits, the capabilities they demand from a product [price, flexibility, etc.] and then demonstrating how the product can both accommodate current habits and satisfy the prospect's wants and needs.

Did this tactic work every time? Of course not. But I saved quite a few sales with these kinds of white liars just by slowing down and explaining to them my truth.

What are your tactics? How do you save the sale from white lie limbo?