Answered when salesman told porkies (7)
I believe the answer is:
replied
'answered' is the definition.
('reply' can be a synonym of 'answer')
'salesman told porkies' is the wordplay.
'salesman' becomes 'rep' (sales rep).
'told porkies' becomes 'lied' (porky pie is Cockney rhyming slang for lie).
'rep'+'lied'='REPLIED'
'when' is the link.
(Other definitions for replied that I've seen before include "Made some response" , "Wrote back" , "came back" , "Answered back" , "Responded" .)