[#1033] Children's lies are obvious to adults, and the lies of fledgling businesspeople are just as obvious

Hello!
Today's note is about how "children's lies are obvious to adults, and the lies of fledgling businesspeople are just as obvious."

Shallow lies are 1000% obvious

I recently had an experience that really made me think.
To put it simply, I was about to purchase a service, had received proposals from various companies, and just before I was about to sign up, I received an email saying, "Actually, the price has gone up..."

Although it was verbal, I had already expressed my intent to sign up, and the price had been clearly stated in the proposal when it was changed. I was very surprised that they just sent a simple email about it.
It felt like they were saying, "Since the contract hasn't been signed yet, there's no problem with us changing the price for our own convenience, right?"

Also, as a practical matter, since this was a service purchase for my company, I was worried that this price hike at such an impossible time would make it look like I wasn't doing my job properly. (The price hike happened after I had already submitted the internal approval request.)

I was also questioning the fact that the burden was clearly falling on me, the customer, but at this point, I was already thinking:
"The salesperson made a mistake and is trying to cover it up..."
Because a decent company would never raise prices (without saying anything) after a proposal and verbal agreement.

Still, wondering if they really thought an email would suffice, I called them, and as expected, they said, "I accidentally brought an old proposal during the initial pitch, and the amount was wrong."

During that call, I said,
"I thought it was completely unacceptable to raise the price at this stage, and by trying to get through this with a shallow lie, you have significantly damaged our relationship of trust."
But they just kept repeating,
"Since it was before the contract..."
"I'm sorry I made a mistake on the proposal..."
and it seemed like my words weren't getting through at all.
*I am not angry that the price changed; I am calling out the shallow lie.

"I'm not angry, and I don't intend to blame you for the price increase. I'm simply talking about something important for you and me to work together comfortably from here on out."
"You might think you're covering it up, but I already know that you are telling little lies as you speak so that you won't be held responsible as long as it isn't found out."
I told them that strongly several times, and I finally felt like it got through to the salesperson a little bit.

Through this experience, I thought, "This is the same structure as when a child's lie is completely obvious to an adult..."

It is scary not to realize one's own shallowness

At the same time, while feeling sad that I had been told a shallow lie, I was horrified to remember that there was a time in the past when I used to cover things up in the same way.
I'm sure it was completely obvious to my customers, even if they didn't go out of their way to point it out like I did this time.

Just as it is 1000% obvious when my daughter tries to cover up spilling juice, and just as I feel a bitter emotion watching her try to cover it up even more thinking it won't be noticed, the lies of fledgling businesspeople must have been obvious to adult businesspeople.

And the scariest part of this phenomenon is that the person telling the lie or covering things up is giving it their all, so they don't realize it's obvious.
I felt that it is very terrifying to be unable to view one's own shallowness objectively, even though it is a very shallow act.

Build up your combat power

Just like with children's lies, we often fail to realize when we are telling shallow lies...
Given this fact, how should a salesperson behave?

I believe there are two ways.

The first is to build up your combat power. The reason why children's lies are exposed, and why sales deceptions are exposed, is basically because the other party is superior to you.
Adults have far greater imagination, deductive reasoning, and experience than children, so they can see through a child's lies.

No matter what excuse is given, if the carpet is wet, they know you spilled something, and if the tissues are scattered everywhere, they know you were up to mischief.
In the same way, a salesperson's lies are exposed even when they think they are getting away with it, because the other party has higher imagination, deductive reasoning, and experience.

To use the example from the beginning, from my perspective as someone who has been in business for a while, when a price is raised right before an application without any explanation, I know something is fishy.

I have used the term 'combat power' here to describe this gap. In other words, if you acquire experience, knowledge, and imagination, and can always see further ahead than the other party, you will stop telling shallow lies. That is what I mean.

Don't deceive in the first place

And the second method is 'not to deceive in the first place'.

...Well, it would be easy if I could just do that, but stopping the mindset of 'maybe I won't get caught' or 'I'll explain things little by little, and if it doesn't seem like they've noticed, I'll just gloss over it,' and acting on the premise that what you want to hide is already known, is the fundamental solution.

There are facts that don't need to be shared, and I think it is realistically difficult (regardless of whether you are in sales or not) to say that you will never tell a lie for the sake of the other person. I think it is best to consider it as, 'I will not tell lies for my own sake, and I will not deceive for my own sake.'

This is a more reliable way to reduce shallow deceptions than building up combat power, and I suspect that you will sell more as a salesperson that way.

I recommend this with confidence, so let's aim for 'honest, straightforward sales' together.

Finally

Today, I talked about the theme: 'Children's lies are obvious to adults, and the lies of fledgling businesspeople are obvious too.'

Even with 20 years of sales experience, I am still a fledgling myself, so I want to work on not being swayed by the urge to deceive so that I can always remain an honest salesperson.

After all, this tends to be common among young salespeople, so if you can always act with integrity, that alone might be a great way to differentiate yourself from your peers!

See you next time!

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