Today I read an interesting story about a highly successful salesman in the technology industry and how he discovered an unlikely answer to a common question always seemed to delight his customers.
This guy had been in the telecoms game for so long that he was selling phones during the switchover from analog to digital. He had so much experience that he was in the room when the very first text message was sent. He was such an OG that immediately after Alexander Graham Bell invented the very first phone, the phone range, it was Roger, and he sold him an upgrade.
Upon hearing of the amazing new technologies his customers would often ask “how does it work?”, to which he would try reply with detailed explanations in a bid to dazzle them with his deep knowledge of his product. The problem was that he would typically be greeted by blank faces staring back at him. He realised that his responsibility was not to give them ‘the’ answer, it was just to give them ‘an’ answer.
This beautifully simple answer will surprise most customers because they will be bracing themselves for a brick wall of confusing jargon, most of which they won’t understand or give a fuck about. But this answer is so effortlessly positive that it’s hard not to love.
It’s interesting that sometimes the right answer involves giving far less detail than what might be expected.