You Don’t Need Product Knowledge To Sell

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Good Morning! The Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte is officially back on the menu this morning, but don’t worry…. Fall doesn’t officially start for another month. Which means 4 more weeks of summer Fridays, warm weather, and blaming our missed quota on our prospects being on vacation. 😁 

In today’s Follow Up:

• Knowing too much to sell 👀 

• Quick tip to run a demo call 🗣️ 

• IBM sales rep is owed $1M 💰️ 

• Sales jobs, LinkedIn & a meme 😂

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Why You Don’t Need More Product Knowledge

I’ll always remember what my sales manager said to me the day I made my first cold call…

‘You just need to know enough to be dangerous.’

At the time, I felt like a fraud. I was cold calling HR leaders and pitching them on why they should buy software that I had never even used myself.

What if they ask me a question I don’t know or use a term I’ve never heard? These were the questions running through my mind as I nervously dialed that first number. But it turns out, none of it mattered.

I knew the value that the software provided to HR departments and how it could save them hours of research. That’s what mattered. Sure, at some point they’d need to be walked through the software by a real product expert, but that wasn’t my job. I just needed to get the sales cycle started

As salespeople, it’s easy to think that the more we know about our product or service, the better we’ll be able to sell it. However, it’s usually the opposite.

The Curse of Knowledge…

A 1989 study about the Curse of Knowledge found that when salespeople have too much information about a product or service, they often perform worse.

They tend to overestimate the importance of that information or assume everyone else has the same level of knowledge.

Let’s take a look at how this can hurt your sales.

Talking Over a Customer's Head

Have you ever been caught in a conversation with an obsessive sports fan who assumes you know everything about the team they follow? I’ve been stuck in this situation more times than I can count, and usually just shake my head to agree and act like I know what they’re talking about.

When you know your product inside and out, it’s easy to put your customer in the same situation.

Sales reps who know everything about a product can tend to overestimate the baseline knowledge their customers have.

It’s ok to know a lot about your product, but you need to remember what it was like before you knew everything about it. Make a conscious effort to understand your prospect’s product or industry knowledge before you dive into the details.

Forgetting the "Why"

With deep product knowledge, it’s easy to want to jump straight to features and specs. But customers first need to understand why it matters to them.

Examples:

• This iPhone has 1TB of storage. → Store more than 250,000 photos in your pocket!

• These headphones have the latest wireless technology. → No more dealing with tangled cords or adapters!

Always start with "why” your customer would use your product. Focus on benefits, not the features.

Over Assuming Objections

When you know everything about a product, it means you know the downside of it too. This can cause you to form pre-conceived objections that your prospects might not care about.

In the study, researchers give the example of a lemon salesman who notices a slight defect in one of his lemons and decides to lower prices. In reality, he’s the only person who notices or cares about the slight defect, and customers would gladly pay full price, without any objections. But because he knows what a perfect lemon looks like, he’s lowered his total potential revenue before the day even started.

And this scenario happens more than you’d think.

Approach each pitch without bias, but be prepared for common objections.

Don’t make up objections that don’t exist.

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Sales Around The Web 🗞️

🧑‍⚖️ A federal judge in Texas shut down the ban on non-competes. The ban would get rid of the agreements restricting employees from joining or starting a competing business.

👀 Autodesk continued to use a controversial sales strategy after promising investors they would stop offering discounts to customers willing to pay for multi-year contracts upfront.

🗣️ A sales rep reminds everyone that it’s okay to turn down a job mid-interview.

💰️ A former IBM sales specialist says the company unfairly denied him nearly $1 million by capping his sales commissions.

Checking In On The Job Market

Recruiter loses interview notes → asks applicant to re-write them. 😂 

Sales Meme of the Day