You’ve probably heard the expression: Keep It Simple, Stupid!
This is known as the “KISS Method” of selling, but it’s not really a method, just a systematic way of doing something.
In a way, it is an anti-method. Methods tend to consist of technicalities, lots of do’s and don’ts, carefully implemented.
KISS warns us not to sell like robots, like techies, chitchatting on endless features and benefits that engineers might enjoy, but make everyday shoppers hit the snooze button.
KISS is very wise. You’ve heard similar expressions like “Don’t kid yourself” and “You may be too smart for your own good.”
Being overly complicated in our selling style is an occupational hazard that affects the seasoned professional far more than the novice.
When we have just finished training, we tend to stick to the essentials that we have been taught, which has been reduced to the basics. By being concise and direct, we begin to experience success, but then we add more and more detail to our presentations because we have more stories to tell.
And what was simplified, cheap and quite effective, becomes cumbersome and mysteriously, at least for us, our sales results fail.
There is a story about a harmonica salesman who had a phenomenal first day on the job, setting new records. He was so excited that he was blown away and had to find out more about his product, so he asked a veteran what he knew. The vet said, “All I can tell you that you don’t already know is that the harmonica can only play in one key.”
Legend has it that from that date on, the new guy never came close to breaking the record he set on his first day. This story warns us that we can have too much product knowledge, and this can actually dampen our fervor, our enthusiasm. Once we have such irrelevant details, for some strange reason we feel compelled to include them in every presentation we make.
The only problem with KISS is that it sounds insulting, especially to contemporary, well-educated salesmen and trainees.
Our education reveres details, small distinctions, and cognitive complexity. As one of my professors said, the life of an academic is about “learning more and more, about less and less.”
This allows you to earn a degree from a university, but shortens your tenure as a salesperson.
So, be smart and give yourself a big KISS.
“Simplify” your sales talk. It may be the smartest and most lucrative thing you’ve ever done.
Dr. Gary S. Goodman © 2005