Have you ever been confused by someone who knows so much about what they do that when they’re explaining it, it completely bamboozles you?  

So the other day, I’m at Games World because sadly, a friend of mine has got cancer around the throat area.  

And he’s undergoing radiation therapy at the moment.  

So rather than sending flowers or chocolates or alcohol, which of course is not appropriate, I wanted to send a game and I wanted a game that he could play with his family.   

So he’s got a young daughter, and that they could play together.  

And it had to be a game where you don’t need your vocals, right? 

So you don’t want a game of Pictionary, where you’ve got to get up and shout out an answer.  

And it certainly didn’t need to be any sort of boozy. adult drinking game.  

So I go in there, and this gorgeous sales assistant, so friendly and bubbly, comes over and asks what I was looking for, and did I need a hand?  

And I said, “yes” and I explained just what I explained to you, and exactly what it needed to look like, what the conditions had to be or the criteria.  

She was like, “I completely get it and I’ve got the perfect game.” 

She leads me down this really, really narrow aisle and gets me to this game.  

And it’s beautiful, it’s colourful, it looks amazing.  

And she said, you know, “you don’t need your voice for it, you can play it with kids over the age of eight, (which satisfies the family part of it), and you don’t need your voice.”  

Done, right.   

So I’m at the position where I literally am about to reach out to grab it to take it over to the counter and buy it, and it’s not cheap at $80 for a board game.  

But I’m ready and raring. 

Then she goes into the detail of how to play the game.  

“So you can have two to four players, and these are the rules, and you do this and you do that, and if they do this…” 

Three to four minutes of detail about how to play this game. 

Now here’s the thing, I’m not going to be playing the game, he’s going to be playing it, my friend who’s going through this treatment, he’s going to be playing it with his family.  

So telling me the rules is absolutely a waste of space.  

And I literally, my eyes glazed over after the first couple of seconds. 

It was information I didn’t need, I didn’t need it in that level of detail.   

The only benefit was she was so excited when she was sharing how to play this game that I thought you really do know your stuff.

But… I didn’t buy the game. 

I ended up saying “yeh, thank you.” 

I was so confused.  

And I walked over and bought a card game.  

So I spent a lot less on the card game than I would have spent on this game.  

And the really sad part of this is she’s so good at what she does, she could explain it inside out. 

But she missed being very aware of where I was at, the level of understanding I had and the level of detail I needed.   

She could have seen my glazed over eyes, and very easily said, “you know what, you don’t need to know the rules, but it absolutely satisfies everything else you needed.”  

Done, dusted the sale would have taken place.  

Where do you do that in your life?  

The technical term is the expert’s curse.  

And it’s just where you know so much about what you know, that you almost forget what it’s like not to know that much.  

Or to not to want to know that much information.  

Where do you do that in your work? 

And where could you catch yourself doing it and pull back and go, you know what, I don’t need to share this much right now.  

All I need is the basics to get them going or to get them moving, the detail can come afterwards.  

And if you’re not sure, ask them. 

If she hadn’t said, “hey, do you want me to walk you through how we play it?”  

I could have said yes, or I could have said no, (which I would have said no).  

Anyway, missed opportunity.  

So where can you think about your explanations?  

Where can you peel them back so that you’re hitting the client or the person you’re talking to at the level of understanding where they are and what they want.  

Can make a world of difference to having a relationship that continues on, not only do they continue to sign up, but they continue on into the future.  

Because after all, You are Valuable