If you want to be successful in sales today, you need to simplify things for your prospects. This is critical because your prospects are so crazy busy. They don’t have time to process tons of information or handle all sorts of new ideas. Complexity of any sort overwhelms them, driving potential decisions to a screeching halt.
That’s exactly what happened to me recently when we did a major home renovation. We’d knocked the walls down between rooms, replaced all the woodwork, re-did the entryway and much more.
Our builder, whose name was Bob, kept bringing me these stacks of catalogs filled with all the options available too me. I had a foot high pile just for front doors alone.
And Bob would say, “Why don’t you page through these and find a front door you like.”
Now I’m busy and to me all those doors looked pretty much the same. So I did nothing. A week later, Bob asked, “Jill, have you picked out your doors yet?”
I said, “Bob, I don’t even know where to start. There’s so many doors there I can’t figure it out.” His response? “I’ll give you a little more time.”
He came back a week later and said, “We need to get the door ordered if we want to get this project done on schedule.”
In frustration, I blurted out, “Bob, I’m so overwhelmed. Here’s the deal is. I hired you because of your expertise. You’re a builder. You know what goes well with the style of our house. You know I like good value. I can’t make this decision.
“Tomorrow I want you to come in and only show me three doors. I want you to say ‘Jill, here are your 3 best options.’ I’ll pick one of them.
Bob did that. He came back the next day and said, “Based on your house and financial considerations, I recommend these three doors. Which one do you like?”
I pointed to a door. Done. The decision was made. Then I said to him,
“Bob, this works for me, so that’s how we’re going to operate from now on. We’re going to use the Rule of Three.
When you need me to make decision, just bring me three options. Three. No more. If we’re looking at door handles, show me three samples. Tell me what you recommend. Make things simple for me.”
Bob started using the Rule of Three. We got along so well after that. And I was one happy buyer.
Your own customers are like that too. When you start simplifying things for them, use your expertise. Use your knowledge. They’re bringing you in because you’ve got brains. And you’ve worked on problems like theirs before.
When you simplify things for your prospects, you will be one beloved seller.
