EXPLAIN, But Don't OVER EXPLAIN

Tips from Sales Engineer David Ledger on How to Explain, without Over-Explaining

One of the habits that many new (or even experienced) technical sales professionals struggle to break, is a tendency to over-explain. 

As experts in our field and on the products/ solutions we sell, the amount of information we could share with our customers is overwhelming. The challenge of our role then, and our mission (should we choose to accept it), is to demonstrate the value of our product and provide knowledge to our customers without over-explaining. 

The dangers of over-explaining are ones we’ve probably all encountered in an audience: they fidget, their eyes glaze over, they avoid looking directly at you, they lean back... you get the picture. All of these behaviors indicate that you’ve lost your customer’s interest, and probably, any hope of a sale.

Why? Because the customer has to understand you if they’re going to work with you. 

That’s where this ability to explain complex information in a succinct way becomes so critical. 

The customer wants the answer to their question, not a 10 minute monologue from a sales engineer.

This skill is especially critical for technical sellers since we are typically speaking with someone who may not have expertise in the area we’re discussing - but they still need to understand and digest the information you’re sharing with them (at least, if you want to make the sale). 

Ultimately, the goal is to take all the technical pieces of information you need to share with your customer, and distill them down into a few critical and coherent points. Learn to explain something technical and complex in a simple and concise way, so that the person on the other side of the table can easily grasp your intended message. 

And in the interest of not over-explaining our point, we’ll leave it at that. 

Happy selling. 

If you’re interested and want to learn more, feel free to check out the full CONVERSATION here.