Do Customers Want Creativity and Innovation?
This post is about impedance matching, applied to sales communications.
In electrical systems, impedance is the measure of resistance to electrical flow. If you’re not an electrical engineer, you may still have heard of impedance when setting up speakers with an amplifier. The goal of impedance matching is to allow maximum power to transfer from source to load.
In sales, think of impedance matching as describing what you’re offering in a way that will be well-received by your prospective buyer.
Let’s be clear—I’m not suggesting misrepresenting your product. I’m saying you need to understand where what you offer matches what the customer needs, and focus on that.
The Wrong Message to the Right Audience
For years, I worked with a web development company. It had incredibly bright (and kind) staff, and did terrific work for large clients—robust, elegant systems that worked.
One day, I reviewed a sales deck. The salesperson had emphasized the company’s creativity and innovation. That was true—but it missed the mark. What clients actually valued was:
Deep analysis of their needs
Clean, usable interfaces
Solid, reliable infrastructure for things like SKUs, inventory, pricing, and billing
I spent time helping the sales team see that “clever” wasn’t what customers were anxious to buy. What they wanted was ease of use, reliability, good conversion rates—results.
Say What They Need to Hear
Professor Michael Drout of Wheaton College, in his audiobook A Way With Words: Rhetoric, Writing, and the Art of Persuasion, explains that most of us make the mistake of saying what we want to say.
If you want to persuade someone, he says, you have to say what they want to hear.
That’s impedance matching.
Innovation Isn’t the Pitch
In places like Kendall Square near MIT, people love talking about creativity and innovation. They assume customers do too.
But customers want:
Tools that work
Solutions that make their lives easier
Cost-effective improvements
Better outcomes without more complexity
Innovation and creativity are often secondary—or irrelevant.
The Takeaway
When you pitch to a prospect, don’t focus on how clever you are. Focus on how well your solution fits what they need.
Say what they need to hear—not what you want to say.