Some 15 years ago, I was in retail sales. I managed a department in a suburban outpost of a large, national chain.

I was good at it, but I wasn't good at it all the time. When I read an Inc.com blog post by Geoffrey James this morning, I was reminded why. Like many salespeople, I too often overloaded customers with information they neither needed, nor wanted.

This is particularly relevant for solution providers, considering the breadth and depth of the products and services you're selling. As a salesperson, your head is full of stats. Product knowledge is key.

Still, the pace of the game has quickened, and the days of the truly big score may never come back. Now more than ever, your success may depend on knowing which customers want the full download, and which ones just want a quick, straightforward and uncomplicated transaction.

James says you can break the information overload habit by following two simple, old-school sales rules: never answer a question that the customer hasn't asked, and never provide information that the customer hasn't requested.

Read Geoffrey James' Inc.com blog here.

I sold guitars. One year just before Christmas, a man came into the store with three or four kids. Usually, this would be red meat for me. But the store had several guitars in his price range and I proceeded to give this guy a dissertation on the merits and weaknesses of each. I made the process unnecessarily complicated for him.

The truth is the guitars were all roughly the same. I should've said, "This one is the best for you, I'll go grab one from the back and I'll get you a case for it, too."

I knew I was in trouble when he turned to his kids and said, "Guys, what would Jesus do?"

Jesus didn't buy any guitars, and neither did this guy.