The Biggest Sales Lie in Business

When you read the latest books about how people buy, you find that the books all tend to have the same fatal flaw. In each book, even though the authors are describing today's savvy customer, the salesperson is still depicted as having more knowledge than the customer. He is portrayed as the main player who acts as a guide to the customer's buying process—as if the customer is ignorant and needs the salesperson's help.

This is completely untrue—now more than ever.

Want some knowledge about a service? Google the subject. Read the articles, blogs, reviews, and customer discussions. Whatever you need to know is at your fingertips (and much of it is not produced by the selling companies). Customers who are about to spend money on services take the time to educate themselves. They keep digging until they find answers that make sense. Their buying process is guided by the experiences of customers who have already bought that type of service.

Quite often, the ugly truth, if there is one, comes out in these venues. Given how easy it is to find answers, only the laziest customers are naïve these days. There aren't many of them out there.

Even before Google the customer was in charge of the customer's buying process. The salesperson plays only a small part—except in the mind of the salesperson. The salesperson is deceiving himself about his influence.