Latest / Sales Leadership with Fexingo: Quota Carriers, Sales Managers, and Revenue Teams / How to Handle a Prospect Who Lies to You
Transcript
- Lucas: Last month I was talking to a rep at a mid-market SaaS company. He had a deal worth three hundred and forty thousand dollars — annual contract value. Everything looked clean. The prospect had been responsive, the demo went well, the security review passed. Then, two days before close, the prospect goes dark. Rep calls, emails, nothing. Finally he reaches the prospect's assistant and finds out the person he'd been selling to never had budget authority. The guy had been lying about having 'final sign-off' for six weeks. Luna: Ouch. That's the fake authority lie. And it's probably the most expensive one a rep can fall for. Lucas: Exactly. And the thing is — not every lie from a prospect is malicious. Some are just people trying to seem more important than they are. Some are trying to buy time. Some are lying to themselves about their own budget. But as a sales rep, your job is to detect it early and handle it without torching the relationship. Luna: So let's start with the three most common lies. Fake authority, budget lies, and timeline lies. Lucas: Right. Let's take fake authority first. The prospect says they have final sign-off, but they don't. There's a classic tell: when you ask about the approval process, they give you an answer that's too specific. Like, 'I need my VP of Engineering to sign, but I make the final call.' That's actually a red flag. A real decision-maker will usually describe a process that involves other people in a looser way — 'we'll need to loop in legal, and then finance gives the thumbs-up.' The faker will overcompensate by being very precise about where the power lies. Luna: And there's another tell — the pronoun shift. When a prospect starts talking about 'they' instead of 'we.' 'They need to approve it.' 'They'll decide next week.' That's a sign they're not part of the final decision. Lucas: Huge one. The fake authority lie is usually driven by ego. The prospect wants to feel important, and they want you to keep investing time in them. So they inflate their role. The fix is simple but uncomfortable: you have to ask directly, 'Who else needs to be in the room for us to move forward?' And if they hesitate or deflect, you know. Luna: Second lie — the budget lie. 'We have plenty of budget.' Or 'Budget isn't an issue.' But then when you try to move to a proposal, they stall. Lucas: That one's tricky because sometimes it's true. But a classic pattern is the prospect who says budget is fine but then, when you present pricing, they flinch and say, 'I need to figure out where to pull it from.' That's the budget lie. They don't have it allocated. They were hoping your solution would be cheap enough to sneak under the radar. The best way to catch this early is to ask, 'Is this line item already in your fiscal year budget, or would you need to request incremental funding?' Most people with real budget will say yes, it's in the budget. The liars will say, 'We can make it work.' Vague. Luna: And the timeline lie. 'We're looking to move within the quarter.' But they have no real deadline. Lucas: That one's almost always about keeping you warm while they either do nothing or evaluate competitors. The tell: when you ask about the trigger event, they can't name one. 'We've been thinking about this for a while' is a classic non-answer. A real buyer has a reason to buy now — a new initiative, a problem that got worse, a mandate from above. If they can't describe the catalyst, the timeline is a lie. Luna: So we've identified the lies. What do you do when you catch one? You can't just say, 'I think you're lying.' Lucas: No, but you can say something close to it, if you do it right. I learned a counterintuitive tactic from a sales trainer I respect. When a prospect says something that sounds like a lie, you thank them for their honesty. Literally: 'I appreciate you being upfront about that, thank you.' Here's why it works — people who are lying expect pushback. They're braced for a challenge. But when you thank them, they relax. And in that relaxed state, if they were lying, they often feel guilty and self-correct. I've seen reps use this and have the prospect say, 'Actually, I should be honest — I don't have final sign-off, but I can get you to the person who does.' Luna: That's really clever. Disarming, not attacking. The prospect corrects themselves, so you don't have to. Lucas: Right. But there are times when you have to be more direct. If the lie is about budget or authority and it's blocking the deal, you can say, 'I want to make sure I'm not wasting your time. Can we both be straight with each other? Do you actually have the authority to sign this?' I've said that before. And the key is tone — you say it with genuine curiosity, not accusation. Most people, when asked that way, will tell the truth. Luna: What about the prospect who lies repeatedly? At what point do you walk away? Lucas: Great question. I think there's a rule of thumb: if you catch a prospect in a lie, give them one chance to correct it. If they double down, you walk. Because what they're really telling you is they don't respect you enough to be honest. And that deal will never close — or if it does, it will be a nightmare on the back end. I've seen reps chase a deal for six months only to find out the prospect lied about everything. It's not worth it. Luna: So let's talk about that three hundred and forty thousand dollar deal I mentioned at the top. The rep didn't detect the lie until it was too late. But he learned. He told me he now uses a simple qualification question in his very first call: 'What does your approval process look like from start to finish? Who touches this decision?' If the prospect can't answer that in less than thirty seconds, he flags it. Lucas: That's a good habit. And I'd add one more thing: after they describe the process, ask, 'And you're the person who will make the final decision?' If they say yes, say, 'Great, so if we agree on terms today, you can sign?' That's the last mile test. If they hesitate, you know. Luna: I want to bring in another angle — the lie of omission. Sometimes a prospect doesn't say something false, but they leave out critical information. Like they don't tell you they're already in an active pilot with a competitor. Lucas: That's actually the hardest lie to catch, because there's no verbal cue. The only way to surface it is to ask better discovery questions. 'Who else are you evaluating right now?' 'Are you currently working with any other vendor on this problem?' 'What's the timeline for making a decision?' If they deflect or say 'we're just looking,' that's a red flag. A transparent prospect will tell you they're comparing options. Luna: And if they say they're not evaluating anyone else, but you know the industry and you know they've been talking to your competitor, then you have to decide whether to call it out. Lucas: Right. And I think that's a judgment call. If you have solid intel — like someone in the company told you — you can say, 'I understand you might be looking at other solutions, and that's totally fair. I just want to make sure we're both clear on where we stand so I can help you make the best decision.' That keeps it collaborative. Luna: One more thing I want to touch on — the lie that a prospect tells themselves. They genuinely believe they'll have the budget next quarter, or they genuinely believe they can make the decision alone. It's not malicious, but it's still a lie. Lucas: Yeah, that's the hardest to navigate because you're essentially telling someone they're wrong about their own situation. But you have to do it. You have to say, 'I want to be respectful here. From my experience with other companies in your industry, this kind of decision usually requires at least two stakeholders. Is it possible someone else might need to be involved?' You're not calling them a liar — you're offering a pattern match. Most people will then open up. Luna: Honestly, if today's conversation has moved your work forward in some small way, if it saves you from chasing a deal built on a lie, that's exactly why we do this show. And if it was worth a coffee to you, buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo — that's the link. Keeps us ad-free and focused on real sales craft. Lucas: Yeah, listener support genuinely lets us do these deep dives without a sponsor breathing down our neck. So if you've gotten value, we appreciate it. Luna: Alright, back to the topic. One final tactic I want to share — the 'broken record' technique. If a prospect keeps giving you a vague answer, repeat your question back to them using the same language they used. It forces them to either elaborate or reveal the inconsistency. Lucas: Can you give me an example? Say a prospect says, 'We'll move when the timing is right.' You say, 'Help me understand — what specifically would make the timing right? Is there a milestone or a date you're targeting?' If they say 'just need to get through this quarter,' you say, 'Okay, so after this quarter ends, what happens?' You keep asking the next logical question until the lie breaks. Luna: Exactly. And if they still can't give you a straight answer, you have your answer. Lucas: Let's bring it all together. The three common lies: fake authority, budget lies, timeline lies. The detection tools: overspecificity, pronoun shift, inability to describe the approval process or trigger event. And the response toolkit: thank them for their honesty, ask direct but curious questions, and give one chance to self-correct before walking away. Luna: And remember, the goal isn't to catch people in a lie and humiliate them. It's to get to the truth so you can either close a real deal or stop wasting time on a fake one. Lucas: Exactly. Because a deal built on a lie is not a deal — it's a time bomb. Better to find out now than after you've already booked the revenue.