Focusing on reality just doesn’t matter.   All that matters is what your customer thinks.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve won JD Power customer service award 10 years in a row.  If your customer thinks it’s terrible, it is.  It doesn’t matter if your product has more features than your competition, if the prospect doesn’t think so, it doesn’t.   It doesn’t matter if you implemented the project one week early, if the client felt it was late, it was.

In sales, what you think doesn’t matter.  It’s what the customer thinks.

In sales there are two choices.  Sell to perception or accept your customer is wrong and walk away.

What you can’t do is convince them they are wrong.   That’s a fools errand.

In sales perception is reality.   Address the customers perception, regardless of how different it is from yours.

When your food sucks it doesn’t change your mind to hear Wolfgang Puck prepared it with fresh seafood, flown in today, using the best cutlery forged by hand.

All you know is your food sucked.

Addressing the fact your customer thinks their  food sucked will get you somewhere.  Addressing why it doesn’t will get you somewhere too, just not the sale.