When I
was employed as a salesman at a car dealership, I learned that you can get
someone to believe a lie without ever telling him or her a lie. It’s possible
to get someone to believe a lie simply by asking the right question. For
example, after I closed one profitable deal on a pickup truck, the customer
said, “Dan, as much as I paid for that truck, you ought to throw in a set of
mats.”
I acted
as if I was taken aback. “Mr. Jones, we haggled quite a bit over this deal. Do
you seriously think I have enough profit left to just throw in a set of mats?”
I didn’t tell him a lie. I asked him a question. If I had just buckled and
given him the mats, he would have wondered if he had gotten a decent deal or
not.
