To foster the Sense Making approach in your sales organization, implement these three steps:

1) Clarify information complexity. Reduce complexity of the information environment by filtering and processing information for customers.

• Proactively provide information about issues customers are likely to face in buying process

• Deliberate about sharing information not already made available to customer through company’s website

2) Help customers work through purchase decisions by sharing tools that enable buying.

• Connect to relevant resources

• Diagnose customers’ information needs and provide curated sources/tools, helping them feel that they know all the relevant information

• Connect customers to information they are unlikely to encounter on their own.

• Default to data and evidence when interacting with customers (as opposed to stories and opinions)

• Admit knowledge limits, and connect to answer

3) Collaborate in customer learning. Help customers evaluate quality of information and arrive at their own understanding about difficult issues.

• Help customers identify questions they didn’t think to ask

• When faced with difficult considerations, help customers arrive at their own understanding

• Encourage customers to independently verify information provided by sellers