There’s nothing like keeping it simple when it comes to raising awareness at the early stages of the sales cycle. Every time we talk to buyers, we hear their need for the information that will clarify a proposition’s relevance to them (they have personal positions as experts to defend in their organisations, after all).

So there’s a real opportunity to be the supplier who clarifies things for a market and stakes a claim to be first port of call in any potential deal.

I’ve picked out a couple examples of extreme clarity to illustrate how even complex propositions can be made simple. Both examples make a virtue of simplicity – emphasising it not just in the content, but also in the presentation.

First, we have an explanation of cloud computing – a ‘hand-made’ presentation that belies the painstaking planning that must have gone into its creation:

And second, an overview of on-demand CRM – there’s something I find very compelling in this ‘no-gimmicks’ style of delivery:

Of course there’s a time and a place for complexity – talking to a well-educated buyer in the later stages of a bid, for example. But even this example isn’t black and white (the immediate audience for your proposal may be well educated, but what about the other influencers in the deal?).

Perhaps this is just making simplicity too complicated – there’s a quote from Jason Fried that our creative director is very fond of and which could probably stand instead of all the above:

“You don’t need to outdo the competition. It’s expensive and defensive. Underdo your competition. We need more simplicity and clarity.”