These days it is fashionable to blame businesses for all sorts of fraud and cheating. However, our experience is that most small and mid-sized business owners are mostly honest. It is the buyers we have to watch out for!  

There is an old adage in the sales business: “All buyers are liars.” This is true in a number of ways: 

-         Buyers claim to want to solve their problem, when they really don’t.

-         Buyers pretend to be interested in a product, when they are not.

-         Buyers tell you they have money to purchase, when they do not.

-         Buyers tell you they intend to buy, when they do not.

-         Buyers tell you they will get back to you, and they do not.

-         Buyers tell you they are the primary decision maker, and they are not.

-         Buyers tell you “maybe” when they mean “no.”

 Many buyers will string along a salesperson for weeks, looking for as much “free consulting” as they can get so that they don’t have to buy.

The above reality has led to a number of sales courses based on helping business owners get on equal footing with buyers. These courses train sellers to stop offering information without something in return, and to prefer a “no” from a prospect over a never-ending series of “maybes.” There are conversations and questioning techniques that can help sellers determine whether a prospect is really serious, or just shopping around. That way, you can spend time with qualified prospects, and not waste time with those who will never buy from you (but mislead you into getting excited that they are interested).

For instance, you might ask questions such as:

        -         If this is really a problem for you, why are you only acting on it now?

-         Who else besides yourself is involved in making a decision?

-         What is your budget?

-         When do you expect to make a decision?

-         What happens if you don’t take action?

You might even challenge the prospect to see if they are serious about buying or not. For instance, you might say:

        -         You aren’t really serious about purchasing from me, are you?

-         This price is too expensive for you.

-         I get the sense that you aren’t serious about spending money to solve your problem.

 Worse, there is a second category of dishonest buyers – those who intentionally commit fraud. We have surveyed companies to find that they experience a 4% - 10% bad debt and questionable return rate among their buyers. I worked with one direct mail company that showed me a database of people who had bought their products under aliases in order to get free merchandise – things they never intended to pay for. Other business owners have shared horror stories about customers who charge merchandise on their cards and then claim identity fraud – even when it was clear to everyone that no such fraud had taken place; the buyer simply wanted free products. While some buyers purchase with good intentions and have misfortunes keep them from honoring their word, too many others are out to get things for nothing.

As business owners, it is up to us to protect ourselves from the above types of buyers. The first requires an appropriately assertive approach to selling. The second requires careful reviews of purchase behavior and constant testing to optimize payments and collections.

The bottom line is that we as business owners must protect ourselves from unscrupulous prospects – even if the media doesn’t see this issue as a problem compared to all of the supposedly corrupt business owners out there.