You could have the best product or service on the market — reasonably priced and exactly what customers are looking for. Still, they say no. Why?

Almost three out of every five customers say they will not buy from salespeople who are “dishonest,” according to a recent survey. More than half also said they won’t buy from a salesperson who doesn’t appear to know the products or services or who’s unresponsive and doesn’t follow up.

Conversely, 71% said that a salesperson who “knows the product” would make them decide to buy.

The complete breakdown

Here’s the complete breakdown of the survey results:

Behaviors of salespeople that lead prospects to decide not to buy:

• Dishonest (59%)
• Does not know product (54%)
• No follow-up (48%)
• Pushy (44%)
• Does not listen (28%)
• Doesn’t understand my business (26%)
• Unfriendly (13%)
• No experience in my industry (11%)

Behaviors of salespeople that lead prospects to buy:

• Knows product (71%)
• Honest (55%)
• Responsive/follows-up (46%)
• Understands my business (46%)
• Experience in my industry (23%)
• Views sales as relationship (23%)
• Listens well (22%)
• Friendly (8%)
• Persistent (1%)

Adapted from Strategies that Win Sales (Dearborn Trade Publishing (Chicago, IL) by Mark Marone & Seleste Lunsford. Mr. Marone and Ms. Lunsford are senior managers for AchieveGlobal, a marketing and sales training company.