SKILL
How to Get the Truth from Prospects STEVE ATLAS
When customers or prospects don’t come clean about their real reasons for neither seeing you nor buying from you, they don’t consider it lying. And, if you point a finger and accuse them of lying – well, where does that get you?
Instead of being confrontational, uncover the real reason for the customer’s reluctance to make a decision. Let’s say you’re on a call when you suddenly realize the prospect is not being open with you. The prospect may quote an unrealistically low price currently paid for the product or service you sell, invent a reason not to talk to you, or beat around the bush
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when you ask when the company will make a decision about purchasing your product or service. Now you’re not sure whether to ignore the lie, confront the prospect directly about the deceit, or simply walk away and refuse to deal with a dishonest customer. The answer is, “none of the above.” Ward Ellison sells advertising to a local market – car dealerships,
medical specialties, cemeteries, funeral homes, specialty stores, gyms, and restaurants. On occasion, prospects are
reluctant to tell Ellison the real reason for their hesitation to purchase advertising from him. What a surprise. So he uses a direct approach to draw out the real reasons for not buying. If a customer asks him to call back next week, he’ll respond by saying, “Mr. Jones, what will you know next week that you don’t know now?” This encourages the prospect to think about why he’s stalling and allows him the chance to give the real reason. Although the prospect may not think of a stall or evasion as lying, Ellison finds three main reasons prospects do lie to him:
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