I got a phone call two weeks ago from my middle daughter, Emma. Emma is doing some postgrad work at Cornell University and was writing an article for a magazine. Her area of study is incredibly complicated and I’d be lying if I told you I understood even 1% of it. What I understand are two things: One, it involves something called a “bacteriophage” and two, she is a lot smarter than me.
Emma was calling because she was stuck. She was wondering how much basic, background material to include in the piece. In short, she was asking, “How low do I go?”
I can relate. Giving a presentation—be it live or a video—I need to be inclusive and make no assumptions. Never, ever do I “dumb it down,” but I do make certain I have the entire audience in mind.
Salespeople are many things, including master communicators. Part of our job is to assess whom we are speaking to and then adjust our message so that it will be heard. Ego will prevent your customers from saying, “I don’t understand.” Instead, they will just choose a different option or perhaps a different vendor. As such, you need to work to deliver a message that hits the mark while explaining all details that got you there.
That last paragraph is the long way of saying,” Don’t assume they know.”
But then again, you probably already knew that…
