Surreal Selling by Zouhair Mahmoud
The Power of Saying Less in Sales—Why Silence Sells
In Surreal Selling, the customer is not a puzzle to be solved—but a reality to be understood in layers.
What happens inside the customer’s mind is not something you can decode completely.
You can only approximate it.
That’s why, in certain moments, complex words fail, and simplicity wins.
Sometimes, showing less knowledge creates more impact.
Sometimes, an incomplete answer triggers the customer’s imagination more than a perfect one.
Sometimes, the most profound insight is letting the customer complete the thought themselves.
The Customer’s Ever-Shifting Reality
The customer is not a fixed entity.
Every moment, their thoughts, emotions, values, and beliefs fluctuate.
Some days, logic dominates—on other days, emotions take control.
What was “important” yesterday may seem irrelevant today.
This is why Surreal Selling is about relativity, not causality.
What makes sense to you does not necessarily make sense to them.
What seems like a clear reason to buy may not resonate in their world.
That’s why, sometimes, a simple, vague statement is more powerful than a detailed explanation.
Because it allows the customer to project their own internal reasoning onto your words.
The Art of “Incompleteness” in Surreal Selling
A common mistake in sales is giving a complete answer too soon.
Why?
Because when you give a finished explanation, the customer no longer needs to process it internally.
But when you leave room for imagination, they fill in the gaps themselves.
And what they conclude on their own is always more convincing than what you tell them.
This is why the best sellers don’t explain everything—they create spaces for the customer to think.
A Practical Example of Simplicity in Selling
Imagine a customer asks:
“Why is this product better than the others?”
A traditional seller would respond with detailed features, benefits, and comparisons.
A surreal seller, instead, might say:
“It depends—what does ‘better’ mean to you?”
This does two things:
It shifts the focus back to the customer’s internal logic, rather than your prepared sales pitch.
It forces the customer to clarify their own thoughts, bringing their personal logic into the decision.
The power of Surreal Selling is not in providing all the answers—it’s in triggering the right questions.
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The Surreal Selling Takeaway
Customers don’t think in fixed patterns—they shift between logic and emotion constantly.
The best sellers don’t impose logic—they allow the customer to find their own.
Sometimes, saying less creates more impact.
Surreal Selling is not about “making sense” to the customer—it’s about creating a space where they make sense to themselves.
Are you ready to speak less and let the customer think more?
Uniqueness, lies in being different despite our similarities, and similar despite our differences
Zouhair Mahmoud
Creator of the Surreal Selling Theory
Redefining how professionals approach sales through creativity and psychology.
