That’s Too Much Information!

Credit: Tiffany Fox

How many pages of information are shared daily? Does anyone know? When you consider the web, X, print, social media and television, is it possible to calculate?

A quick google query tells me that more than 95 million images and videos are shared, daily, on Instagram alone. There are more than 500 million daily tweets (I guess it’s called X now). Google couldn’t guess on email messages, text messages and printed pages. I’ll bet it’s a bunch.

It’s safe to say there is more information available than we can consume. Access to information isn’t a problem. Wading through the noise and connecting to what matters is the important part. Prospects don’t need more data. They need to know how problems get solved.

I see this, often, in sales. One of the great benefits of being a sales coach is I get to watch other people work. Whether it’s a zoom call or a ride along in person, I get to watch. I get to see where things go wrong.

A year or so back I did some sales coaching with a really cool firm. Everyone I met was top shelf. These people understand their product and how to make it perform. They’re very smart folks.

Having said that, like lots of selling organizations, they were capable of missing buying signs. I watched them get so hung up in their presentations that they missed important signals from clients. Critical customer questions were fumbled in favor of the next power point slide. They had more data than their audience could process.

I happen to be a postmortem guy. After one of our zoom sessions I circled back to a customer question. I asked, “what is the simple answer to so and so’s question?” The lady leading the team indicated that she would prepare an additional power point that covered that topic.

That isn’t what the client needed. They needed an on the spot, here is how we deal with that answer. They were sharing a lack of grasp…a discomfort. They wanted a simple assurance not more data. The selling organization had more info than their audience could consume.

Here is what we tend to do as reps. When a client hesitates, we double down on what makes our offer valuable. We talk about features. We argue data points. We share benefits. We dump more info. This rarely influences decision makers.

Here is what we should do as reps. Hit pause. Say, “I can see you’re uncomfortable. What is it that concerns you?” Let the client share objectives with you. Let them share their concerns. Don’t double down on facts. Double down on listening.

There aren’t any magic words in sales but a very effective phrase is “what bothers you about moving forward?” When the prospect or client explains their concern ask, “what if I could fix that for you? If I could solve that problem would it help your business?”

I’m beating a dead horse and I know readers wonder if it’s the only song I know but, empathy sells more stuff than data. We don’t have a data, features or benefits shortage. We have a listening shortage.

This really makes it easier for reps. Keep your presentations short. Focus your talk track on problem solving not machines or technology. Listen to your clients when they push back and ask, “if I could fix that for you would it be valuable?”

The preceding content was provided by a contributor unaffiliated with Printing Impressions. The views expressed within may not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of Printing Impressions.