Oftentimes we hear about companies who advertise a product or group of products at an insanely low price to get customers in their door. Many companies will do this with only a handful of that product in stock, so that they quickly sell out. The remaining customers are then caught up in this bait and switch scheme where they come looking for one deal which is not there, and are instead sold on another product. Schemes like this are fairly typical in the world of sales and generally are seen as deceptive and an all around bad practice. What many people don’t realize, is that customers are guilty of using those same tactics.
Anyone who has ever worked in sales has heard the line “Oh, I’m just looking.” While this is a perfectly acceptable thing to do, the fact of the matter is that many people who say this are waiting for you as a salesman to get desperate and spring a deal on them. Many customers simply enjoy toying with salesmen to get the best deal. They will shop around comparing prices and trying to get salesmen to beat down each other’s prices until finally they won’t get any lower. This works the same way with RFP’s (request for proposal). Businesses will feign interest 
in your product all the while knowing that you have a very limited chance of earning their business. The simple fact of the matter is that most customers lie, and their is little to nothing the salesman can do to stop it. The best thing you can do is to recognize early on when a customer is playing with you and pass them along to avoid letting them waste your time.
The sad fact of the matter is that customer try to play salesmen just as often as salesmen try to play customers, they only difference is that the salesman is viewed as a bad guy when he does it. When a customer realizes that he is being played, his most common response is to pick up and leave. A salesman has a duty to be a bit more courteous than this, but he still has no obligation to waste his time on a customer who is simply price shopping. Sometimes simply telling your customer that you are not willing to play their game, is enough to make the sale, sometimes it is not, but it is better to spend your time with customers who are serious about buying then those who are not.
BoweryJE22
It really is a one sided market. I know I have lied to so many sales people and give them false hope and say I will think about it. I really won’t but if a sales person did that to me I would be offended and probably never come back. I think that would be interesting to try, being honest with a sales person. I know it sounds like I’m a lying jerk but I have seen so much worst. I wonder if not lying off the bat to save some leverage would expedite the selling process and get me a better deal. It may be worth trying.