How to Read a Salesperson

by Business Dictionary

 

Many people are taken in by accomplished salespeople and end up paying too much for an item they want or perhaps even buying something that they do not really need.

Basically, salespeople are not your friends. Instead, they just want to make you feel sufficiently comfortable with them so that they can sell you something. They do this to get the resulting rewards, which often come in the form of higher sales commissions or status with their employer.

To avoid being duped by this often subtle and even outright dishonest sales process, learning how to read a salesperson can be a valuable shopping skill. It can even save you thousands of dollars when buying high ticket items like new cars or homes.

The following sections will cover some of the more common techniques that experienced and astute shoppers often use to read a salesperson.

Detecting When Salespeople Lie

One of the most important objectives of reading salespeople is to determine with a reasonable likelihood of success when they are lying or deliberately providing false information about the product or service you might have an interest in purchasing.

The first step in doing so is to establish a baseline pattern of behavior by closely and attentively observing the salesperson, their mannerisms, and their speech when engaged in a normal conversation. During this process you might bring up questions about non-invasive topics like the weather or their favorite restaurant, for example.

Then you would look for deviations from this pattern when a deeper sales related conversation is initiated. Certain key body language signs like blinking excessively, averting the eyes or rubbing the back of the neck are often tell-tale signs that a salesperson is being evasive during a sale pitch, especially if they do not exhibit this behavior during the baseline conversation when they are unlikely to lie.

Once you get a signal that a salesperson may be lying, you would then question them further on the topic to see if they continue to act evasively.

Making an Intuitive Assessment

The final decision on reading a salesperson, or any other person for that matter, is generally best left to your intuition, which comes from your right brain that takes in all of the available information and even the subtlest of clues in order to provide you with a quick and appropriate assessment.

To use your intuition, you just need to ask yourself whether or not the salesperson or their questionable facts can be trusted and then listen to the silent response generated within you to discern the truth with remarkable accuracy.