Have you ever been in a situation where you wanted to buy something, but after the interaction you had with the salesperson, you felt more confused than before?  I believe that most of us have been involved in circumstances like this, especially when we buy something “technical”, mainly due to the complex terminology used by the seller.

This situation though is not something that happens only in business to consumer (B2C) cases but is frequently encountered in business to business (B2B) environments as well.  According to a relevant research, buyers say that only 54% of the salespeople that they come across, can explain in a clear way how their solution can impact the purchaser’s business.  

In other words, one out of two times, the buyer is not able to understand the value of the solution that is offered by the seller, meaning how it is going to affect key performance indicators such as revenue increase, cost reduction, operations standardisation etc.  These are things that matter most to C-level personnel, that are the main decision makers when it comes to B2B purchases.  Therefore, it comes as no surprise when buyers report that nearly two out of three salespeople cannot hold an effective conversation with senior executives.    

“If you can't explain it to a six-year-old, you don't understand it yourself”, is a famous quote that is attributed to Albert Einstein, and is a phrase that we always need to have in mind as Sales professionals.  So, we constantly need to remind ourselves that we sell solutions and not just product/service features, therefore our message should be crafted accordingly.  In Sales, it is critical to be able to communicate with others in a language that they can understand, but this is something that as salespeople we tend to forget. 

In order to give the customers a different experience, we need to stop acting like talking brochures and start thinking how the message that we want to convey is going to be explained in a way that it will make sense to them.  Therefore, it is extremely important that organisations invest in the training of their sales representatives through seminars and role plays, instead of letting things to chance.  Moreover, tools like storytelling and metaphors can prove to be powerful in the hands of a trained salesperson.

From the statistics mentioned earlier in this article regarding the effectiveness of sellers in communicating, it is evident that clear communication can prove to be a competitive advantage for those that can master it, since it can become the mean for establishing ourselves as knowledgeable and credible professionals in the eyes and ears of the customer, with deep understanding of the buyer’s needs.  So, with the above in mind, when was the last time that you explained something to a six-year-old?