Avoid Complexity

Avoid complexity.

Avoid things that start to add too many details, too many options, too much activity.

Complexity starts to kill a deal.

It Hurts Both Sides

When I pile too many things onto a deal, extra options, extra details, extra activity, I make it harder for the customer to say yes.

A customer facing too many variables can't make a clear decision. And when they can't decide, they don't decide. The deal sits there. It costs them clarity. It costs me the sale.

I used to think more options meant more value. They don't. More options mean more ways for a deal to stall.

Where This Comes From

This comes from Lean Manufacturing: reducing variables, cutting out unnecessary steps, making the right action so clear it almost runs on its own. That's where the name Lean Sales Group comes from. I learned simplicity on the factory floor, and I've been applying it to selling ever since.

Fewer variables means fewer places to get stuck, whether you're running a production line or running a deal.

Before you add one more feature, one more tier, one more "while we're at it," ask whether it helps the customer decide or adds one more thing to get stuck on. The simpler I make the decision, the easier it is for them to make it.

Avoid the complexity, and you'll have a more pleasurable sales life.

Roy Waterhouse is the founder of Lean Sales Group, where he coaches salespeople on building trust and growing accounts.