Selling products that need explaining: customers do not buy what they cannot pass on

The short answer

You do not sell a product that needs explaining with more explanation, but with the right one. The customer has to understand three things: what their problem costs in euros, what concretely changes after signing and what happens in the first three months. And they must be able to pass it on, because with energy, payments and software the person sitting in the meeting almost never decides alone. If you explain the product only well enough for the customer to nod, but not well enough for them to repeat it to their business partner, their bookkeeper or their boss in two sentences, you do not have the deal yet.

How to recognise a product that needs explaining

I have built sales organisations in energy, payments and services. The products differ; the sales problem is the same. It has four features:

1. The price is made up of components the customer cannot offset against each other.
2. The benefit comes later than the signature — often months later.
3. The customer bears the risk of a wrong decision, and they know it.
4. Several people decide, and only one of them has spoken to the salesperson.

Because the customer cannot compare the whole, they compare what is visible. That is exactly where you lose if you let it happen:

Industry	What the customer compares	What actually decides
Energy and heat	Unit price per kWh	Standing charge, term, price adjustment clauses, maintenance, who bears the risk of breakdown
Payments	Percentage “from 0.X%”	Fixed per-transaction fee, card mix, terminal rental, term — see the cost components of card payments
Software	Licence price per user	Implementation effort, training, interfaces, notice period, data export

The right-hand column is the actual product. The left-hand column is what the competitor with the lowest entry price talks about.

The customer’s figures first, then the product

The most common mistake I see among new salespeople in these industries: they explain the product before the customer has put a figure on their problem. Then the customer hears a product presentation and thinks about the price.

The order has to be reversed. The first meeting consists first of questions whose answers end in euros:

• Energy: “What did you pay for heat last year, and how much of that was standing charge?”
• Payments: “What is your average ticket size, and how many card payments do you take a month?”
• Software: “How many hours a week does this process take today, and who does it?”

Most customers do not know these figures precisely. That is not an obstacle but the way in: “Let’s look at your last statement together.” Whoever reads the customer’s own bill with them is no longer a sales rep but the first person who has explained the customer’s business to them. How this works in payments is described in Selling payments to small businesses.

An explanation the customer can pass on

The person you are talking to will present the offer internally — without the salesperson. That is why every product that needs explaining needs a two-sentence explanation the customer can repeat word for word. For example:

• “We are not paying for a heating system but a fixed price for heat. If the system breaks down, that is the provider’s problem, not ours.”
• “We pay a fixed amount per card payment plus a small percentage. With our small tickets the fixed amount is the bigger item, so that is what we negotiated on.”

I test these sentences at the end of the conversation with one question: “How would you explain this to your partner?” What the customer says then is what arrives internally. If it is wrong or incomplete, you correct it now — not after the rejection. Add a single sheet with the customer’s own figures, not the glossy brochure.

The calculation the customer does not do themselves

For products that need explaining, a total-cost calculation over the term belongs in every offer. An example calculation with freely chosen figures, not customer data and not a real offer, term 24 months in each case:

Item	Offer A	Offer B
Monthly price	€39	€49
Set-up and training	€900	€0
Monthly price × 24	€936	€1,176
Total over 24 months	€1,836	€1,176

Offer A is the “cheaper” one if you only look at the monthly price, and €660 more expensive over the term. Customers rarely do this calculation themselves. Whoever puts it in front of them — even when their own offer is not ahead on every line — earns trust that no discount can buy. If you are behind overall, you must be able to justify it with performance; how to run that comparison in the conversation is covered under the “too expensive” objection.

The first 90 days belong in the sales conversation

Customers of complex products rarely cancel because of price. They cancel after a surprise: the first statement looks different from what they expected, the first fault meets an unknown contact person, the software costs more time than it saves in the first weeks. If I announce this beforehand, it is no longer a surprise but a promise kept.

One sentence that belongs in every closing conversation: “Your first statement will look like this — let’s look at it now so that you are not alarmed in four weeks.”

Training salespeople for these products

Salespeople for products that need explaining need less specialist knowledge than people think, but a different kind. They do not have to be able to answer every technical question. They must know the three most common misunderstandings about their product, be able to read the customer’s bill and know when to say: “My colleague from the technical team will clarify that at the next meeting.” A technical expert in the first meeting too often turns the conversation into a product demonstration. In onboarding, a simple exercise works well: explain the product in 60 seconds to a colleague from outside the field, who then has to repeat the two sentences.

Action list

1. Write your own table: what does the customer compare, what actually decides?
2. Define three opening questions whose answers end in euros.
3. Work with the customer’s bill in the conversation, not with the presentation.
4. Formulate a two-sentence explanation the customer can repeat word for word internally.
5. Ask at the end: “How would you explain this to your partner?” and correct it.
6. Attach a total-cost calculation over the term to every offer.
7. Explain the first real contact with the product in advance: first statement, first fault, first month.
8. Bring technical experts into the second meeting, not the first.
9. Measure new salespeople by the 60-second explanation, not by how many product details they can recite.