It sounds almost paradoxical, but it is true. The more offers you present to a client, the greater the likelihood that they will choose none. In psychology, this phenomenon is called the „paradox of choice“. The ability to choose from many options may sound appealing, but in reality it leads to frustration, paralysis, information overload, and dissatisfaction. Here are several tips related to myths about the amount of information and offers provided by sales professionals.
Clients subconsciously don't want to have to decide
A blog post by HubSpot notes that today’s fast paced world forces people to constantly make quick decisions, act and think. One of the main tasks of a sales professional is to make the sales process as simple as possible, avoid overwhelming the customer with information, and ease decision making as much as possible. How can this be achieved? First of all, it is necessary not to offer more than one, at most two solutions. However, it should be noted that when you only offer one solution, it should be the one that truly suits the customer best. That's why your task as a sales consultant is to uncover the customer’s needs, understand their entire situation, and tailor the best possible solution using the tools available to you.
The 80-20 rule
Here comes one important piece of advice. Too many sales professionals talk a lot but ask too little. Interaction with the client should consist of 20 percent speaking on your side and 80 percent customer expression. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a system to quickly and efficiently identify the client’s basic parameters and offer the best possible solution.
The fake offer
If you want the offer you present to make decision making easier for the client, you can use a so-called decoy offer. Suppose that based on a meeting with the client you identify the ideal parameters of the product and prepare the best possible offer that you know the client would certainly accept. To speed up their decision, you can present one additional offer that is intentionally unsuitable for some reason, for example too expensive or too cheap and not meeting the parameters. You present these two options and the customer will logically choose the realistic one. By giving the client a false sense of choice, you allow them to believe they are deciding. At the same time, they ultimately receive the best possible offer. Everyone wins.
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