Never Fudge the Truth When Prospecting

Never Fudge the Truth When Prospecting:
Today Colleen Francis, CEO of Engage Selling, shares a story about a call she recently received from a sales guy who was hoping she'd turn into a hot prospect for his services. Unfortunately, he made a fatal mistake that was impossible to recover from.

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One day while I was working on a sales presentation, I got a call at the office from a company sales rep trying to sell me an updated web site.
I asked the sales rep how he had gotten my name and number. He told me that he had spoken personally with the president of the association I belonged to. Then he told me he'd been given the company permission to call all the members to see if they wanted to upgrade.
Sounds convincing, right? There was just one problem: I happened to have the honor of serving as president of the association that year. And, I had never even heard of this company, let alone given them permission to contact our membership.
My guess is, they had simply gotten our member profiles off of the association web site, and were using this lie to try to sell us their service. A shame that, while they were online, they hadn’t taken the time to note down the president’s name—or gender!
If you fudge the truth when you're prospecting, you lose the opportunity. And, you don't get a second chance.
To learn more about Colleen Francis' sales training programs, visit EngageSelling.com.

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Your Turn: Have you ever stretched the truth yourself? What happened? How about being on the receiving end of the lie? Share your thoughts in the comments section of my blog.