360 Don’t Drown The Buyer In Detail When Selling

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">If we have done a professional job in selling we will have understood what the buyer is attempting to achieve and we will have concluded if we have a solution that matchs or not.  Following that we need to explain the solution to the buyer and convince them that this is what they need.  Japan presents a danger at this point.  There is a ravenous hunger in Japan for data and detail.  Buyers are super risk averse in this country so the antidote for risk is information and the more the better.  They will suck us dry of the detail at every opportunity.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">If we the seller are not in control of the sales conversation, the solution presentation component of the sale cycle will descend into a very long winded expose on all the nitty gritty details about the product or service.  What is wrong with that you might be asking?  Doesn’t the buyer need all of that information so that they can make an informed decision?  Yes and no.  They need a certain amount of information, but they need other things as well.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">They need to know what is the benefit related to the nitty gritty detail.  The deep dive into the detail is the buyer’s attempt to short circuit the risk component, but that in itself won’t get the deal done.  The most effective risk reduction strategy is to do nothing and that doesn’t help us.  We need to balance out the risk reduction with the upside of purchasing our solution so the balance of the presentation has to include these aspects.  What can easily happen though is the buyer keeps trying to extract more and more information out of us and there is no time left in the meeting to talk about the benefits of the solution. The buyer is happy because they dealt with the risk reduction part of the meeting.  The seller is not happy because they never got to the why they should buy component of the talk.</span></p> <p class="MsoNorma