Selling isn’t about slick presentations or pushy pitches—it’s about clarity.
If you're not clear ... why would anyone want to use your idea?
That’s where Clarke’s Selling Grit comes in:
- a simple 4x4 matrix that,
- helps you unpack your idea, and,
- tailor it to the people who need it most.
Let’s break it down:
The Matrix will look something like this (but yours will look 10x better!):
ONE - Draw a 4x4 table with these column headings:
- Customer: Who are the key players this idea impacts?
- Now/Before: What’s their current problem or pain?
- The Idea!: What’s the solution you’re selling?
- Then/After: What does success look like for them?
TWO - Add the customers - 1 per row - in the left column
Name names if you can, or roles. Or groups of similar people.
The people in each row will suffer from distinctly different problems the other rows. Or, they will benefit in different ways. They will definitely speak different languages at work (e.g. programmers talk the language of code, CFOs talk the langauge or money).
(You can have more than 3 rows, but start with 3)
THREE- Pick one of the customers
Focus on their row - doesn't matter which one, you've got to start somewhere.
Type your big idea into the Idea cell using words that will make sense to them.
(There’s not a lot of room in the box ... so do your best to succinctly describe the gist of the idea, not the whole idea! Don't you dare try to get it right first time.)
Four, Quickly fill out the row.
- Ask yourself, "what sucks in their current world?" and add a list in the Before cell.
- Ask what will be better AFTER they use your idea and list those out in the After cell.
Trust me: Rush through this - if you try to get it right 🤯 and 💤 and 🤢.
Five - have a rest, then repeat.
The above should take you 3 minutes, provided you don’t try too hard to get it perfect. Don't expect to get it right. Just get started.
I'll continue this tomorrow.
Feel free to email me your first stab, if you think it will help. Happy to give you suggestions and nudges.
If you're like me you'll find this a lot harder than I'm letting on!
Clarke
p.s. Thank you so much for all the preorders! You're all so cool and generous. Over 100 of you have preordered so far. It genuinely helps me help others. ❤️