Do You Understand that Simplicity is the Business of Selling?

People – your prospects and customers – are quite literally overwhelmed by complexity.

The frustrations you’re experiencing selling today is ALL related to complexity.

Gatekeepers and Voice Mail keeping you OUT
Easily deleted emails
Appointments being harder to get and fewer in number
Busy Busy Busy – everyone is too busy

That’s actually very good news…

Because there is a solution: do you know what business you’re in?

Reducing Complexity.

The salesperson who can make things simple, who can remove complexity from their customer’s and prospect’s lives will prosper. So few are doing this.

Think on this…

Most businesses are a collection of things (people, products, technology, services, processes) that used to work but don’t anymore!

Ever wonder why so much seems to go wrong today in business? Why is it so difficult to get an order processed accurately or to have the service department communicate with the customer in a way that makes them satisfied? Why is marketing not able to get the messaging right or produce good leads for sales? Why are salespeople spending more and more time putting out fires instead of selling?

You have your answer.

Most businesses are a collection of things (people, products, technology, services, processes) that used to work but don’t anymore!

Something starts out simple but layer upon layer of new processes, technology, and information gets built up. We had a problem three years ago and added a new step to the system. Is that step relevant today? Oh, no-one knows. Just keep it then.

We have websites, Facebook, Twitter. We have new CRM software, new Fulfillment Processes. Just add it on. Soon you have a complex system that no-one really understands and in many cases doesn’t work.

95% of industries are trapped in this complexity. Your prospects are desperate for help, for solutions that clarify, simplify and declutter their lives.

Apple figured this out

The solution is often taking away, not adding to.

What was Apple’s great “innovation” that rocketed them to stardom? Taking away, not adding to. iPods, for example, removed all the controls and put in one easy to operate wheel mouse. Their marketing was short and simple “ten thousand songs in your pocket.” Apple wasn’t the first MP3 player in the market but remains king. Why? They took a complex and confusing process of listening to music simple. From the device itself to getting the music digitally downloaded. Simple. Simple. Simple.

And they busted every possible sales result!

I know, you’re not Apple…

So what can a salesperson do to reduce complexity? Turns out quite a bit.

First, get your messaging right. Unless you’re selling in a very specific market and to innovators:

Stop selling innovation and trying to beat your competitors in a feature/bell & whistle war
Sell to the pain and frustration, not the gadget or solution
Streamline every presentation and touch point you have – talk less, listen more
Talk about advantages instead of features and even benefits – advantages are what your solutions do that are relevant to the goals of your customers

Second, do everything possible to make the buying experience painless and easy. Perhaps even enjoyable.

If the company’s quotes are hard to understand, write a summary presentation
Help the customer use your solution even if that means assisting your applications and installation people
Follow-up with customers after they buy (only 18% of salespeople do this)
Shield your prospects from your company’s internal friction points and dysfunction
Under promise and over deliver – set the correct and deliverable expectations

Wow, this sounds like work

Mark Twain once wrote a friend and started by apologizing for the length of the letter. He said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t have time to write a short message.”

In other words – this is going to take work. It always takes work to think through what makes sense and how something can be made as simple as possible. It is easy to follow the path that everyone else does or to follow a system no matter out crazy or convoluted it is.

But your sales will explode.

Your customers will love you – meaning loyalty and referrals

It’s not hard – it just requires thinking and then doing.