Pursuing a career in sales and sales as a process is indeed complicated. Sometimes the fundamentals are exactly what the doctor prescribed.

Consider thinking beyond the box. Outthink and outsmart. Overpower and outfox.

There is quite some pressure to outdo oneself in our quest to outdo the competitors. You’ll have a competitive advantage if you can find the magic bullet or discover the hidden tips and tricks, right? Maybe. Maybe not.

The expression “thinking outside the box” is considered to have emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, when management consultancies began employing the 9-dots problem to encourage corporate executives to apply logical thinking.

The puzzle’s task is to link all nine dots by creating four straight, continuous lines over each dot without raising the pencil from the page. It appears to be unattainable. And it is if you do not allow yourself to think outside the square area—visually indicated by the nine dots. To solve the challenge, let your thoughts and pen extend the lines “outside the box.”

For almost 40 years, we’ve been pressed to achieve unusual goals by employing unusual methods. That is all well and good. However, there is a place and time for thinking outside the box, and that time and place is when you’re exhausted by the fundamental ways.

Let’s look at another, possibly more prevalent technique for problem-solving: Occam’s razor. Occam’s razor is a strategy based on the multiplicity and proportionality concepts. In layman’s terms, this suggests that the simplest explanation or approach is typically correct. Doctors employ Occam’s razor to determine if symptoms of body pains, fever, and congestion are caused by the flu or a rare tropical illness.

You use Occam’s razor to rule out (or rule out entirely) the idea that the knock from the front door is from an extraterrestrial instead of your neighbor. Occam’s razor is a method for avoiding overthinking.

That brings me to why and when creative thinking may limit revenue: when it becomes over-thinking.

There is a distinction between the two states. Overthinking is excessive. It’s when your concept is over-engineered rather than innovative. And there are three reasons why it is detrimental to productivity.

1. You may overlook a more straightforward, more correct method, resulting in a longer or stalled sales cycle.
2. You might overlook the fundamentals in favor of the exotic, resulting in lost sales volume and unnecessary complications.
3. You can complicate things too much and end up with inadequate representatives or territory.

I asked members of my LinkedIn group for instances when salespeople and managers overthink, and here are a few responses:

“Sales incentives may become so convoluted or overthought that they lose meaning and are counter-productive.”

“A typical example I’ve seen is salesmen overthinking what will happen during a customer encounter before it happens.” I’ve seen it grow so severe that people go into analysis paralysis and are unable to function at all. They want to say all the right things and have the appropriate response so hard that they lose their capacity to communicate entirely. It’s upsetting to see, but it’s treatable.”

“When a salesman interprets a prospect’s actions or words incorrectly.” For example, it’s very feasible that the prospect’s intention is not to disregard your email. They might be swamped.”

Sales as a career and as a business are already difficult. If you’re looking for a creative, out-of-the-box method to moving the prospect along, advancing the sale, getting in the door, and having your call answered. Quite often, the easiest route is the greatest. As sometimes, the fundamentals are exactly what the doctor prescribed.