For a long time, I didn't have a television in my home by choice. So I listened to a lot of radio shows. Click and Clack was one of my favorites on Saturday mornings.

If you don’t know, the show features two brothers, Tom and Ray Magliozzi. As Click and Clack, they take calls from people who are having car problems and are looking for advice on what might be causing the issue and what they should do about it. The hosts start off with lots of simple questions about them and the problem. Despite the fact that both are MIT graduates, their show is real world. There is a lot of humor- so it’s fun! But with the humor comes the expert information. I grew up in my uncle’s garage, so I know a little bit about cars. THe hosts ability to diagnose a problem without ever seeing the car amazes me!

Image credit: NY Daily News

They also don’t back down on what they think, and aren’t afraid to be wrong. The great part is that the caller ends up telling them their personal stories and why it relates to the issue with their car.

The show reminded me of some of my best sales calls.

One show that aired that really stuck with me featured a man named Fred. Fred told his friend that his new car was nice looking, but the truth was that he actually hated the car. The wife heard him say that he liked the car, and bought him one as a surprise present. So now Fred is either caught in a lie, or stuck with a car he hates. So he asks Click and Clack; should he tell his wife he lied and fess up and thereby make her angry? Or does he or suck it up and keep the car, never saying anything? Either way, he is not going to be happy with the result.

They told him he is trying to cover a lie with a lie, and as a result, he is gonna be stuck with a car he hates 'til it dies at 150k miles. They also tell him that he is calling them to figure out how he can do what he wants, and that they can tell him how to do it best.

I got some slack for my recent post “Buyers are liars.” Here is what Click and Clack have to say about that...

“You get yourself in trouble for not telling the truth. It’s not that you are telling a lie, but sometimes you just just say something to be polite. It wasn’t the whole truth. Eventually, you in over your head.”

What have you faked lately, or even straight up lied about? How has that come back to bite you in stalling business growth? Did you take on a client that you secretly hated because you didn’t say no when you should have? Or maybe it’s your fault that they became a PITA because you didn’t say no and mean it? 

Have you ever pretended to look for the 'no' as a sales person in order to get them to say 'yes?' Do you want growth, but want someone to rubber stamp what you are doing and give you quick tricks to get what you are doing now to work, or work better?