Can You Sell Without Lying?

Yes I can.

More than lying, I am worried about the commitment. Sales people tend ot OVER COMMIT and OVER DELIVER just to get that order to complete the target and thats where things go haywire. Lying is subjective. It may get you some success but not all the time. Lying is not mandatory!!

it doesnt depend on product, category or even the vertical, it depends purely on the situation that a sales guy finds him / her in and nned of the hour is to get out of it... Thats when the mind does an overdrive!! Very nice though provoking article, wonder how I missed it... 

there will be a catch somewhere, awareness can only help, the more agressive marketing, more u need to b careful 

I would say it would depend on the product. If your product is the one of the best in the market and if you know well about your product, I don't think there is any need for lying  to sell the product. But on the other hand, the product is still in the nascent stage and if the order is really necessary for the company, we can see the sales manager claiming that the product does and supports things which are not at all possible. It is a different thing that if they get that order then, it would be very difficult to satisfy the client as they would have to develop and test features which they have claimed are present.

We can usually see the sales managers lying when they have to close a deal which is really important, either it being a big ticket deal or it being extremely necessary to meet their target. 

And yes, it is not ethical, but as long as the company benefits from this, I don't think there are many company bosses who will mind it.

As far as the sales person has good knowledge about his product then there is no need to lie to sell is product.

So long as the Sales staff has enough knowledge about their domain and products they are selling, no need of lying. Proper selling strategies are important for every sales person. When we say strategy means, discuss only whatever is necessary. Hiding something doesn't mean lying but it is a strategy.

I believe successful sales man will have better studies the client before he approach them. So no need to lie any where except highlighting on the issues of interest to the client.

Dramatization and hype are the key aspects of marketing/selling which is basically synonymous. 
Unless your product is over hyped, and pitched a meter beyond its capabilities, you are sure
to loose out on competition.
Do you really believe that the bar of soap can turn your clothes squeaky clean, or for that matter,
the mosquito repellent, work to the tee as expected?
That's selling with lying with a straight face :) 

it is sometime important to lie becoz there are so many people who are not ready to accept the truth or fact,,,,, normally these people expect something big for a low prise,,, due to this mental block of people some salesman take undue benefit,,, we know nothing in this world is free...still we always keep searching for such things...
but, if we understand the product value n money value than we may possibly get a better deal n even its very difficult for sales person to fool with a intellegent customer... 
to customer a sales person says " u r the king" but in his mind he is always the king....this vary from people to people.... but normally it goes this way....

Selling is necessarily about creating needs,matching needs of customers not necessarily you need lying.Infact it is very short term objective.If above criterias are not match customer may not consider your product from long term perspective.The likly chances of him doing bad by mounth publicity than good once he realised that he is conned will damage all potential prospects of product.Hence not advisable.

Charles has put it right. Salesmen are the representatives of the Company and they talk for and on behalf of the Company. Transparency assumes much importance in selling!  

can you make egg bhurji without frying ................

With so much competition around and information available , you will be able to sell your products by lying only few times but you are not going to get repeat orders , because there is a fair chance that your lie will get exposed over a period of time.

Hence if you want repeat orders and loyal customers then Honesty is the best policy.

It depends on the quality of the product and your selling skills. If the product quality is good and the consumer is really in need of it. We need not lie. Also, if we have good selling skills and good convincing powers, lying is not necessary. We lie only when we want to hide something. In sales, we lie when we want to hide the negative parts of the product....

you may use lie to sell initially but then you will never be able to sustain it...so its always recommended that you build your base on truth.No wonder why the top companies take utmost care and spend millions to ensure ethics in their practices!!!

Selling without lying is good because in this you are not cheating any one and the person have trust on you.

Selling without lying is good for business in long run because even though the sales is less than the competitor who sells by lying, people will have bad experience with the products sold by lying sales person and eventually shift to the product who is not lying. 

Marketing can't be fully ethical. Even if i know my product is good still i have to be aggressive & a bit unethical because there is a lot of competition in the market & all brands being equally good. So in the initial stages i don't consider aggressive marketing to be a bad ploy.  

If the product is of value and a good product , your approach is straight.the product will sell.All you need is the perseverence and persuavasive gift in you to convince the person of the need to buy the product.

Lying will sell first then customer feedback /advt will close the company next

This is not ethical, but the marketing business ethics might list this. Still, ''You can sell without lying!!"

Thought provoking article, thanks for the referral. I do, however believe that it may be possible to sell without lying. 

It is really difficult for a material selling. You can do this only in education sector by teaching others, where no chance of lying.