Honestly, I’ve been lied to about problems when trying to talk people through situations, and it isn’t fun. Why do people do that though? Why would they call you and make an appointment with you to solve the problem if they’re going to lie about it anyway? I think there are three simple reasons.
Embarrassment. People don’t always want to admit they have a problem, they’re embarrassed by personal failure. They get anxious about admitting failures because they know it was there job not to do it, so they’ll lie instead of doing things easily and telling the truth. Personal failure to achieve a goal is one of the worst things for your ego and confidence.
They don’t know. A prospect may not lie on purpose, they may not know they’ve lied about a problem.
They aren’t the decision maker. This would be the biggest problem for a salesperson. If the prospect is lying because they aren’t the decision maker and you can find that out, you need to get to the decision maker. Just don’t let them run you in circles, get to the decision maker as quickly as possible.
BoweryJE22
I think the consulting process can bring up a lot of pain that might cause a prospect to lie. Those are all good reasons to keep in mind when communicating with a potential client.