Extrapolating is always dangerous. In math to extrapolate is to extend a curve beyond the known datapoints. When you get outside of the known data points you run the risk of the curve having changed shape and any inference you may have made from the extrapolation is thus invalid. Many experienced salespeople who have been on hundreds of sales calls with similar clients start to believe that all the problems sound the same. The problems of company A sound pretty much the same as the problems of company B. So, when they hear the beginning strains of the problem, they stop listening thinking they know where this is going. What they have inadvertently done is to extrapolate to what they think the pain is without hearing it from the prospect directly. They think they know what the pain of the prospect must be without actually knowing it. In fact, even though the problem may be the same, how the prospect feels about it (Pain) can vary dramatically. The solution to this problem is simple. Don’t jump to conclusions. Keep asking questions until you get to the real pain.
