Got called out by my boss for over-explaining in a client meeting - here's what I learned

So I was in a quarterly review with a client in Denver last month, and I got into this deep dive about our data pipeline architecture. My manager pulled me aside after and said something that stuck with me: "You lost them at 'normalization,' man. They just want to know if their numbers are going up." That hit hard because I always thought more detail showed expertise, you know? But she was right. The client literally checked their phone 3 times during my spiel. So now I use a trick where I ask myself "can this wait for a follow-up email?" before I dive into technical stuff in meetings. It's helped me keep things at a high level (which is what clients actually pay for). Has anyone else had to dial back their technical explanations to get better results with clients?

2 comments

2 Comments

richardfox29d ago

Took me three years to learn that lesson. Now I just ask "you want the short version or the whole thing?

black.margaret29d ago

Yeah that's exactly what I do now too? Took me way too long to figure that out. Asking if they want the short or long version saves everyone time and headache. Some people just want the quick answer and others want to hear the whole story. I had a coworker who would give me these long explanations when I just needed a yes or no. Drove me nuts until I started doing the same thing back to her. Now I just give people exactly what they ask for and nobody gets frustrated.