Are You Overwhelming Your Customer?

Yesterday I spent the bulk of the day flying from Toronto to Puerto Vallarta so I can deliver a speech at a conference on Friday.

After making my way through customs I was quickly greeted by an employee of the company hosting the conference. He then introduced me to five other people in rapid-fire procession and everyone welcomed me to Mexico and asked about my flight. Then we were ushered out of the airport to our transportation.

While I appreciated the hospitality, I admit that I felt somewhat overwhelmed.

I had expected a single person to greet and drive me to the hotel so I wasn’t quite prepared for the flurry of introductions and subsequent conversations. As a result, my brain went into overload and I felt uncomfortable.

This is a frequent occurrence with many customers and prospects, too. And it happens for a variety of reasons.

The sales person offers too many options.

Some people belief that more is better so they always make sure to present several options to their customers and prospects. There is nothing wrong with a “good”, “better”, “best” approach but you need to be careful not to overwhelm people with too many choices; otherwise, they may back away from the buying decision altogether.

The seller races through his “pitch”.

Your customer likely doesn’t know your product(s) as well as you do and when you deliver a fast-paced presentation with little breathing room, you don’t give the other person time to process the information.

The sales rep uses unfamiliar terminology or jargon.

Let’s face it…every industry has their acronyms and terminology including SKU numbers. However, too many sales people use language that is unfamiliar to the other person. I discovered this a few weeks ago when my blog was hacked and few people were trying to help solve the issue. They all spoke a foreign language that left me bewildered.

The sales person does a data dump.

Okay, this is directed at you analytical individuals. Telling your prospect EVERYTHING there is to know about your solution is NOT effective, unless of course you are selling to another critical thinker. Once again, too much information overwhelms most people.

Overwhelming people with too much info, too quickly, complicates the issues and makes it more difficult for people to make that final buying decision.

Do yourself AND your customers and prospects a favour…look for ways to simplify the buying process for them. IT sounds easy but you may find it more challenging than you think.

Could your team use some improvement with this concept? Give me a call and we can discuss the best approach to take. 905-633-7750 or Kelley@Fearless-Selling.ca