After any amount of time in dealing with salespeople, you're bound to come across some overzealous characters — those people who treat a prospect more like a rabid predator than a professional. Nobody wants to deal with a salesperson who is obviously waiting to pounce, so you do the only thing you can do to shake them off the scent of a sale — you lie.
Lying is the oldest defense mechanism in the book when it comes to sales. People lie to simply get out of a conversation, they lie because they don't feel like even assessing their business and they lie to avoid salespeople altogether. All of the typical sales training and sales seminars in the world can't change the fact that you have to work with what the prospect gives you. So how do you work with the potential situation where what they've told you is a lie?
With anything in sales, asking more questions is never a bad strategy. Watch as Sandler trainer Josh Seibert explains Sandler Rule #37, you always have the opportunity to bring hidden issues to the foreground by putting them in the form of an honest, harmless question. Even if they give you a signal that you like with their answer to your question, try not to pounce on every positive response you get. Otherwise, you're back at square one — a defensive prospect, an overzealous salesperson, and a possible lie.
Be wary of your prospect's defenses, understand the motivation behind their possible lies and move forward in an unthreatening, inquisitive manner. The truth will come out sooner than you think.