Little white lies will zap your sales credibility.
This email popped into my inbox just moments ago. Despite the friendly initial sentence, I knew she was lying. I’ll explain how I knew below.
“Hi Jill, I was recently on the phone with a colleague from Lake and Leapfrog-Strategies Inc [my official company name] came up in the conversation….and it started me thinking about your sales team.
I found you in our executive database and wanted to reach out. I would like to set up a brief phone conversation at your convenience to discuss our unique platform that would be an excellent resource to finding new prospects just in time for Q4.
Click here to learn more about our full-service package – Data, Messaging & Deployment.
If you are looking for a great way to jump start 4 Quarter sales, please let me know when you are open for a call.”
How did I know she wasn’t telling the truth about talking to one of my colleagues? First, my home town is White Bear Lake — not Lake. Second, no one knows my company’s official name is Leapfrog Strategies, Inc.
Her lies zapped her credibility. Even if she had something I was interested in, I would never, ever do business with her.
Not too long ago, I heard a big name sales guru describe his best strategy for getting callbacks. Here it is (and I paraphrase from memory):
“Tease ’em with some info they can’t resist. For example, you could say, ‘Hi Pat. This is Terry calling. 123-456-7890. I was recently talking to one of your customers and he said …’
Then, hang up on yourself mid sentence. No one ever does that. They’ll think you got disconnected and call you right back. Then, you can explain the real purpose of your call.”
I thought he was kidding. He wasn’t. He was dead serious. I was astounded when I heard him say, “It’s effective. That’s what matters.”
Apparently lots of people today think that if a strategy works, it’s okay to use. I see it happening more and more. Perhaps you do too.
But in my world, if you fudge the truth, you forfeit the opportunity. I don’t think I’m alone in believing that.
