Are You Selling to Humans - or To a Spreadsheet?
- Daphne Nkosi
- Dec 24, 2025
- 4 min read
You have built a strong offer. Your pricing is competitive. Your product or service works. Yet somehow, deals slip through your fingers, often to competitors who seem less impressive on paper. You have followed all the “rules”, matched features to features, checked prices, and listed credentials, but the spreadsheet isn’t delivering. Here is the uncomfortable truth: the buyer isn’t a spreadsheet. They are a human being with fears, preferences, and emotions that no table of numbers can capture. And if your sales approach ignores that, you are already starting at a disadvantage.
Businesses run by founders, particularly small teams with two to thirty employees, frequently believe that features, logic, and good numbers will seal the deal. In actuality, the human being making the purchase, overwhelmed, cautious, and attempting to reduce risk, makes choices based on alignment, trust, and understanding rather than impartial comparison. Although selling to a spreadsheet might seem secure and quantifiable, it rarely results in deep, lasting client relationships.
Why Does an Inferior Offer Outbid the Best Offer on Paper?
The human emotions, motivations, and subconscious judgements that ultimately determine whether a buyer says yes are ignored when sales are viewed as purely rational. Buyers choose based on trust, safety, alignment, and feeling understood, not numerical comparisons.
The Human Behind the Decision
Most business owners believe that a qualified buyer acts rationally: the lower price wins, the better offer wins, the strongest credentials win. Experience and research show this isn’t the case. Buyers regularly choose “inferior” options because they connect emotionally, feel understood, or trust one provider over another.
Think of it this way: the spreadsheet evaluates only the quantifiable. But humans make decisions influenced by confidence, perceived risk, relationships, and even previous experiences. They are asking questions like:
Do I trust this person?
Do they understand my situation?
Will I enjoy working with them over the next six months?
What happens if this goes wrong?
These are human questions, and spreadsheets can’t answer them.
Observe: Watch the Human Behaviour Behind the Metrics
Effective selling begins with observing human behaviour rather than interpreting numerical output. Behaviour-led selling tracks emotional cues, patterns, and decision triggers to reveal what buyers actually care about beyond the surface metrics.
What to Observe
Behaviour patterns: How do emails, content, and touchpoints affect the prospect's behaviour? Do they click through once or repeatedly?
Emotional cues: Are they cautious, enthusiastic, or sceptical? Even the smallest clues, like the type of question, the speed at which they respond, or the tone of their voice, can reveal what matters most to them.
Decision triggers: Find out what motivates people to take action, such as peer recommendations, urgency, or trustworthy content.
Understand the Buyer’s Emotional Landscape
The Emotional Journey
Prospects don’t make decisions purely rationally. Their journey is deeply human:
Anxiety: What if I'm wrong?
Hope: Could this solution finally solve my problem?
Scepticism: Will they fulfil their promises?
Relief: Can I rely on this individual to lead me in a safe manner?
Recognising these emotions enables you to address the true causes of hesitation, which are frequently hidden in spreadsheets or analytics.
Change Your Approach Based on Human Insight
How to Adapt
Tailor conversations: Make use of observational insights to formulate pertinent, customised enquiries.
Adjust messaging: Use language that speaks to particular fears, hopes, and motivations in place of generalisations.
Flexible processes: While some buyers would rather make a quick online reservation, others would rather have several discussions. Adjust to their degree of comfort.
Mini-case examples: Illustrate relatable anecdotes from comparable clients to demonstrate solutions.
Match Your Offer With Human Needs
Alignment Principles
Show understanding: Adapt your solution to the difficulties faced by the prospect.
Reduce perceived risk: Utilise references, case studies, and testimonies.
Clarify next steps: Make it simple for them to act without fear.
Reinforce partnership: Make your collaboration seem like a team effort to accomplish shared goals.
Four Practical Steps to Shift From Spreadsheets to Humans
Start With Genuine Curiosity: To learn about obstacles, anxieties, and objectives, ask questions. Pay more attention than you talk.
Acknowledge Their Situation: Before offering solutions, confirm their experience. Show respect and understanding.
Be Honest About Fit: Willingness to say no builds trust. Explore together whether your solution truly fits.
Make Relationship the Differentiator: Frame your solution in context of their unique situation. Focus on partnership over persuasion.
Waggle Dance helps founder-led teams move from spreadsheet-focused selling to human-led sales. We:
Observe buyer behaviour and emotional cues
Empathise with real challenges and fears
Adapt messaging, approach, and process
Align offers with practical and emotional needs
Our behaviour-led approach builds sales processes that feel authentic, enjoyable, and commercially effective.
FAQs
Q: Won’t focusing on humans slow down sales?
A: No. Investing in understanding prospects upfront often shortens cycles by reducing objections and buyer’s remorse downstream.
Q: Can small teams implement this approach?
A: Yes. Behaviour-led selling is scalable and works for solo founders or small teams.
Q: What if my prospects still ask for a spreadsheet comparison?
A: Let them. Next, contextualise it using human insights, such as how you will collaborate, control risk, and produce results.
Q: How can I tell if I’m relating to people rather than just numbers?
A: Pay attention to their queries and worries. Are they asking about outcomes, support, and partnership? Or just features and price?
Q: How long before I see results?
A: Quick wins appear in weeks; deeper, sustained improvements in 2–3 months as trust, empathy, and alignment become embedded.
Ready to Start Selling to Humans?
If your best offers keep losing to “weaker” competitors, chances are, the problem isn’t your value, but rather how you show up. Book a Clarity Call with Waggle Dance. We’ll help you observe, empathise, adapt, and align, turning spreadsheet metrics into human connections, stronger deals, and sustainable growth.
