A Confused Mind Says “No”

As you know, I want my role in your life to be to help you get more clients saying “Yes Please!” to working with you. This doesn’t only mean doing the things you need to do to guide them naturally to a Yes.   It also means NOT doing those things that you might unwittingly do to cause them to say “No” even when what you have to offer is absolutely the best thing for them.

One certain barrier to your client making a decision to work with you is to give them too many options to choose from.

You can probably relate to this yourself. Have you ever gone into a shop or supermarket intending to buy a new item that you don’t normally buy but then been so overwhelmed by the sheer choice of different versions of the same product that you end up walking out empty handed?

The Paradox of Choice
In his book “The Paradox of Choice” Barry Schwartz talks about how too much choice is detrimental to human psychology and leads to states of anxiety and decision paralysis. What this means to you is that if you give your client too many options to choose between they are more likely to make no decision at all even if they know they want to work with you.

So if you’ve established that you and your client are a good fit, and you want to bring them to a decision there and then during your conversation, keep it simple and don’t give them too many choices.

What this means is that if you offer a number of different programmes or packages, don’t be tempted to outline the different benefits of each and expect your client to make a choice – they won’t be able to and you will walk away with an “I have to think about it” rather than a“Yes Please!”.

So instead do them a favour and make it easy for them.

Make the Choice for Them
If you have fully understood your clients problem and situation then it’s your job as the expert/professional/consultant to select the option that you believe is most suitable for them. Then you can recommend that programme or package to them and explain why you have done so. For example
“From everything we’ve discussed Sandra, I think the “Get Fit and Fabulous 6 week programme” will be perfect for you. This is because, etc…”

This works the same when offering them an appointment.  We can get started next Thursday at 3.00pm or Friday at 10.00am is more likely to result in a “Yes” than “I can fit you in any day, what suits you best?”  (yes, I know this is counter-intuitive but just try it and you’ll see what I mean).

So start following this general guideline – the less choices you give them the more likely they are to commit to working with you there and then.

Try it and let me know in the comments below what difference you notice in the number of people saying “Yes please!” to working with you!.

Learn The 7 Steps to ‘Yes!’ for Authentic Sales 

If you’d like to learn a sales process that feels much more comfortable for both you and your future potential clients, sign up for my 7 Steps to Yes! FREE video training.  In less than 35 minutes, you’ll learn a 7 step structure for your sales conversation, and the sort of questions to ask to guide your clients to an excited ‘Yes please!’

Sign up for the 7 Steps to Yes! Free training here