I love nurturing and caring for people. Since I love to cook and bake, one way to satisfy this need is to cook and feed them.

I recently hosted a dinner for twenty people.

I checked in with my guests to see if there were any dietary needs. There were two vegetarians, one non-beef eater, and two gluten avoiders.

The menu covered all the bases. Everything was gluten free. I decided on a chicken, a beef and a vegetarian dish. Side dishes and appetizers would be gluten-free and vegetarian.

There would be plenty of food. Everyone could have a full serving of everything I made.

For dessert I decided to make a gluten-free chocolate cake and bake a cake. Since I had some leftover truffles and cookies from another party I hosted, I would serve those as well.

My guests have arrived. Everything was delicious and they ate a full dinner.

Then came dessert.

(Get naked with me… this has a lot to do with your sales in your business)

The desserts were beautiful and very tempting. My guests, who were already full, took bits of the various options as they didn’t want to be rude. They nibbled.

By the time they left, they were all very full, even uncomfortable.

As I was putting away the leftovers it occurred to me, this is what a lot of people do in sales conversations.

First, we contact our prospective client to see what their special needs are. This is what I did when I asked about dietary needs.

We then work to meet that need by sharing information, ideally related specifically to them, about our product or service. I made sure I had food they could eat.

So we oversell, we don’t know when to stop. We believe that if something is good, more has to be better.

I wanted to share it all. She wanted to play in the kitchen and yes, she wanted to impress them. I left them full, uncomfortable, overwhelmed and feeling guilty because they wanted to please me and try everything.

My guests and I would have been better served if I had prepared less of each course and simply offered some coffee or tea with a small dessert or two. They would still have been able to play, they would have been impressed, they would have been more comfortable and happy.

The same thing happens when we give potential customers too much information or too many options. They don’t know what to do with it. They can’t process everything. They come into the sales conversation excited about the possibility of a solution and end up stuffed and uncomfortable.

Giving them too much takes away their appetite to make a decision or take on more. It leaves them sprawled on the couch in a “sales conversation coma” saying, “I can’t eat another bite.”

Here is my suggestion for you.

Pay attention to how much you give during your sales conversations. Focus on what your prospect needs. It’s about them and not about you. Stop trying to impress them. And when your customer is enjoying what you’re serving, but before you’ve filled it, ASK for the sale.

Do you offer too many desserts during your sales conversations?