Business proposals

Sales & Your “Short Game”

Sales & Your “Short Game”


“I’m sorry for the long letter, my dear, but I did not have time to make it short.”

– Winston Churchill

 

This quote is catchy… because it’s paradoxical.  It’s counter-intuitive, yet so true.

And it applies to sales in a big-time way.

 

Firstly, we’re often so eager to tell our prospect everything that we just spew information like a volcano spews lava… during a sales call, while putting together a presentation, or in handling a question.

 

Secondly, we can be lazy.  As we build a pitch document, a PowerPoint presentation, a proposal, we just let it flow.  Then we fall in love with our own material, and we can’t imagine cutting anything out.

Editors, however, know that it takes discipline to be short, concise and snappy… that it actually takes time to keep things short, or to shorten them.  And they know that the end product is always better for the reader, listener, viewer.

The best sales people know this, too, especially early in the sales cycle.  Short and snappy is almost always better for the prospect than long and detailed.

 

So take the time to edit down, to select the real valuable and compelling information.  Chances are, you’ll then write/speak/present it in a more compelling way.

 

Photo, Wikipedia