Lies Lose Sales

Sat at a desk in a client's office the other day, we were interrupted by the telephone. My client's sales manager took the call. The caller (having selected our sales line) asked for the Tech Support manager by name. The caller was, politely, advised that we needed to find the Tech Support Manager but could we know who was calling. Fred Smith from Blogs & Co. "Is he expecting your call?" "Oh ye" came the answer.

After a walk to the next room to find the Tech Support Manager engrossed in the weekly team meeting (the one where all unresolved trouble tickets are reviewed), our caller was advised "He is in a meeting. And he says he was not expecting your call."

The caller then said "no he wasn't, but you are a salesman, you know the game of saying anything to get past the gatekeeper."

So, we have an expensive resource ensuring that my client will never do business with his employer - because he lied. They may have a fabulous proposition which, at some more convenient time, the Tech Support Manager may have found compelling.

It was a stupid lie too - one that was easily found out.

The lesson: If your sales people are so weak that they resort to lies to try and con their way past gate-keepers you have a real problem. Gate-Keepers are good people doing a variety of jobs - always with the best interests of their employer at heart.

Make sure that your sales team have a short introduction which includes your compelling USP - that anybody can understand. Then you will often find that the internal meeting only lasts an hour every Tuesday and a call back later in the afternoon on another day will see your call put through. It will not always work, but it will give substantially better results than telling lies to gate-keepers.