Dishonest people make better salespeople

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I was just listening to this highly informative and relevant Freakonomics podcast in which we are told that according to scientific research dishonest people make better salespeople.

What do you think to this finding and why do you think this is the case?

Here is the podcast http://http://freakonomics.com/2015/02/26/the-maddest-men-of-all-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/
#offline marketing #dishonest #make #people #salespeople

  • Personally I can't stand dishonest sales people! They give others a poor reputation by their actions. Sure, you can increase conversions by lying and taking advantage of people, but it's a dead end if you're trying to build long term relationships with customers - which we should be.

    I have no use for dishonest people.
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    • I am of the same opinion! I sell cyber security solutions to the worlds biggest companies where the sales cycle can last a few years so if I lie that's me over and done with!

      I was actually talking about this very topic with my friend today who agreed with the Freakonomics podcast that you have to be deceptive in sales BUT he was in very low end B2C "hit and run" type situation. I think in those types of situations you have to be dishonest if you want to meet and exceed (so you can earn comission). It's not like you'll ever encounter your "victims" again.
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  • the page no 404's. LOL I wonder why!

    I'm brutally honest and I've enjoyed an awesome sales career.
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    • I am assuming that 'better salespeople" means that dishonest people are willing to lie they're willing to tell prospects whatever the prospects want to hear to make the decision to buy. So, yes, from that point, dishonest people got a sale.

      But, what happens when delivery time comes around?

      Returns and refunds. And the cost of those in terms of immediate money and long term money (loss of income due to reputation and the fact that the buyer who bought based on a lie isn't coming back to buy again).

      So, the question is:
      If an honest salesperson can get 100 people to buy and has 2 returns (with associated costs)

      how many more sales does the dishonest person have to produce to match long term results?
      150? 130? 200?

      Is that better?

      Happened to me, with insurance. I bought insurance from a lady who lied about something. 8 months later, I found out about the lie and cancelled.

      The company she sold for wanted her commission back. They wanted me to buy directly from them, no lies involved. And there were no lies involved.

      I did not buy.

      Worst, when people asked me about that kind of insurance, I didn't mention the company the lying agent worked for. By the way, I recommend 5-7 times over a 1 year or so period.
  • It depends on how you define "Dishonest".

    A pathological liar, won't last long in anyone's employ. And they won't get repeat sales.

    Dishonest people may make better con men. But salespeople? I don't think so.
  • No. I think the majority of consumers and business customers are too tired of crap and see
    right through non-sense. Or, at least if they think someone is trying to pull something
    over on them, they act accordingly.
  • It's common sense, there's no need to do any scientific research..

    Meet 20 new people.. tell half of them that your an I.T professional or a doctor and other half that your a sales man and see the difference.
  • I don't think it's dishonesty (or honesty for that matter) per say.

    I would not be surprised if businessmen had a higher incidence of sociopathy in general.IIRC, sociopathy is a sliding scale and lowers emotional responses to fear./risk/etc.
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    • Yup. About 1% of the population scores as a psychopath. Most of these people have huge impulse control problems, and are in prison, or in institutions. But there are highly functional psychopaths. And of the CEOs that took the test, 25% were considered psychopaths.

      They aren't dishonest, they're predators.
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  • Based on my experiences, I think a lot of people in sales use the definition 'grey area'.
    Salesperson: "I am not lying. It's a grey area".

    I also think what salespeople call 'grey area' is lying to a lot of other people.
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    Dishonest people make better salespeople

    I was just listening to this highly informative and relevant Freakonomics podcast in which we are told that according to scientific research dishonest people make better salespeople. What do you think to this finding and why do you think this is the case?