Declutter Your Sales Strategy: Insights from Gartner’s Research

Did you know that on average, humans send 361.6 billion emails per day? This staggering number keeps rising, making it increasingly difficult for your emails to stand out. To put it into perspective, if you placed a quarter for every email sent, it would circle the circumference of the Earth over 218 times!

The rise of AI has exponentially increased the amount of information at our fingertips. While AI can enhance decision-making and streamline processes, it can also lead to an overwhelming influx of data. A while back, I had the honor of attending Gartner’s Sales & Marketing Thought Leader Roundtable, led by Brent Adamson , where they revealed new research on how buyers navigate in an age of information overload.

Upon returning home, my mind was buzzing with new insights. That weekend, I did what I often do when I need to assimilate new information: I began cleaning out my kitchen junk drawer.

It got me thinking…

How had I accumulated notepads, taco sauce packets, and broken door handles from my great aunt’s apartment? Why did I feel the need to hoard five pairs of scissors, three hammers, and two extra dog collars?

Did I strategically plan to stockpile various tape brands in the kitchen or use Thomas Goetz’s decision-making tree to decide to place the NyQuil next to the wrench? (I think not).

Then, it occurred to me that our junk drawers provide a perfect metaphor for our sales process. Like a junk drawer, your sales process undergoes a natural sort of entropy. We clutter it with ideas, metrics, and white papers; we pile on more information and clutter our slide decks and emails. We assume if one taco sauce is good, fifty must be better.

The problem?

Just as too much taco sauce causes indigestion, too much information causes indecision.

Potential customers would rather make no decision, than make the wrong decision. For them, trying to figure out what they need to know and what they can ignore is exhausting.

So how do sellers cut through the clutter and guide buyers to a decision?

According to this stunning research, we can divide selling behaviors into three selling behaviors:

1. Givers of Information – These sellers operate under the “more is better” premise. The problem: If you confuse them, you lose them.
2. Tellers of Information – These sellers share their perspectives based on their experience rather than empathizing with the needs of the customer.
3. Sense-Making – These sellers refrain from piling on more information. Instead, they make sense of the information the customer already has. They help the customer filter, assimilate, and apply information to make an informed choice. These sellers don’t merely focus on what to say; they assist the customer in understanding what they need to do to win the political support of other decision-makers and help them identify questions they didn’t even know to ask.

80% of sellers who use the sense-making approach close high-quality, low-regret deals.

This is because the sense-making approach secures a commercial advantage through a series of unique information-related behaviors.

Every so often, take time out and ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I really need to hold on to this 50-slide PowerPoint, white paper, or case study? Does it provide clarity? Does it differentiate my offering? Is it easy to understand?
• Are my communications direct? Do my emails and conversations identify exactly what’s in it for the customer and what action I’d like them to take?
• Am I providing context to the content my customers consume to help them refine their thinking?
• How might I reduce the complexity of the information environment by filtering and processing information for customers?
• How might I streamline demos? Our sales conversations get cluttered as well. We add a little of Tom, a bit of Sally, and that extra white paper, article, and statistic from the marketing department.

As humans, we fall prey to old habits. We must consciously look at areas of our lives that need cleaning up and then methodically and proactively do so. And then keep doing it.

The key to embracing change is having faith that when we get rid of the junk and clutter, something or someone even more powerful will take its place.