Don’t Overdo It

1 Samuel 29: 1 – 11

Don’t overdo it

29 Then the Philistines gathered together all their armies at Aphek, and the Israelites encamped by a fountain which is in Jezreel. 2 And the lords of the Philistines passed in review by hundreds and by thousands, but David and his men passed in review at the rear with Achish. 3 Then the princes of the Philistines said, “What are these Hebrews doing here?” And Achish said to the princes of the Philistines, “Is this not David, the servant of Saul king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or these years? And to this day I have found no fault in him since he defected to me.” 4 But the princes of the Philistines were angry with him; so the princes of the Philistines said to him, “Make this fellow return, that he may go back to the place which you have appointed for him, and do not let him go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become our adversary. For with what could he reconcile himself to his master, if not with the heads of these men? 5 Is this not David, of whom they sang to one another in dances, saying: ‘Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands’?” 6 Then Achish called David and said to him, “Surely, as the LORD lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army is good in my sight. For to this day I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me. Nevertheless the lords do not favor you. 7 Therefore return now, and go in peace, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines.” 8 So David said to Achish, “But what have I done? And to this day what have you found in your servant as long as I have been with you, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?” 9 Then Achish answered and said to David, “I know that you are as good in my sight as an angel of God; nevertheless the princes of the Philistines have said, ‘He shall not go up with us to the battle.’ 10 Now therefore, rise early in the morning with your master’s servants who have come with you. And as soon as you are up early in the morning and have light, depart.” 11 So David and his men rose early to depart in the morning, to return to the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

Don't Overdo It! Avoid the trap of overselling.

It's every salesperson's nightmare: the sale that unravels just before the deal has been closed. It happens more often than it should, and overselling is quite often the cause. As sales professionals, it's important to recognize that this is a trap that we all can inadvertently set for ourselves. With a little forethought, however, we can learn to avoid making this costly mistake.

In a sales process you explain to the customer your products features and benefits through questions. Having witnessed the customer agree and accept every point you made you review for them everything covered. The finality of a sale is its ‘close’. This means that you take the step to ask the customer to buy your product. If the customer agrees and signs the contract or purchases directly your product you have succeeded. The question I would throw before you then is this, ‘At this point would you ever want to bring up anymore additional features or benefits of your product?’ The answer is a no brainer. Of course, you wouldn’t bring up any more conversations on the product because you might then un-sell the customer by allowing the customer to possibly think that he or she was to quick in making a decision or that they might want to do more research. In most cases you just lost your sale.

Overselling also happens when we promise a customer that they will get more than what they need when they don't need it—even though they didn't specify it and may not ever use it. It creates problems rather than solutions. It raises doubts in the mind of a buyer and does so right at moment when they're looking for reassurance that they're making the right choice.

So, while you might think what you're doing is reinforcing the benefits of the product or service you're selling, what it often does is gives a buyer a reason to pause and ask themselves: maybe I'm paying too much, or maybe this is more than what I need? Even if the buyer doesn't back-peddle in an oversell situation, you risk creating false expectations that you can never meet, in which case you could be damaging your credibility as a trusted salesperson.