Sales training ideas – Using eye contact to determine whether or not someone is telling you the truth.

Last night I was watching the baseball game and an ad came on for a new television show: Lie to Me. They showed a clip from the show in which one of the actors said to the main character, “I hear people don’t make eye contact when they lie.” To which the main character replied, “Actually, they make more eye contact when they lie.”

I knew I had to address this because, if you’ve ever heard me speak about eye contact, I mention that most people in fact DO NOT make eye contact during a lie. They will either glance away or blink during certain key words while lying.

So, which is true? Do people make more eye contact during a lie, or less? Actually, they are both true, but for the most part, you only need to pay attention to people looking away while giving you an answer. Here’s why:

The main character on the show was referring to pathological liars. On the show he deals with criminals and other people trying to deceive others. The point is: if someone is really good at lying, that person will tend to overcompensate by making more direct eye contact during a lie, not less. Kind of like the loud, obnoxious guy who is overcompensating for a lack of self esteem.

The good news is: most of your prospects and customers do not spend the majority of their lives lying and deceiving people thus, they aren’t very good at it. As a result, your prospects and customers fall into the 99.9% of the population that does not make direct eye contact during a lie, as opposed to the .1% of people who make either the right amount or too much.

The bottom line: Pay very close attention to the eyes after asking an important question. If the prospect says she doesn’t like the location of the property, but won’t look at you when she says it, it probably means something else such as: she doesn’t think she can afford it.

John Chapin – co-author of Sales Encyclopedia    www.completeselling.com