#6: So Many Choices

SOMETIMES, MAKING A DECISION IS SO HARD. Like which of these amazing flavors of gelato to get. Or the quandary of “Yes!” to the gelato or “No, I’d better not...”

Or even “Yes” to your offering, or “Yes” to a competitor’s, or maybe just “Screw it. Let’s stick with what we’ve got.”

The people you’re trying to influence are weighing their alternatives all the time, even if the key alternative is maintaining the status quo.

Nothing surprising there, right? So why do we tend to show only one choice — our offering — when trying to sell to or influence others?

Is it because we’re afraid our prospect or audience will choose one of the alternatives instead? Or is it because we don’t want to acknowledge that any other legitimate option exists? Whatever the reason, it’s easy for someone to check out the alternatives; in fact, they probably have already.

So you have a choice, then:

[1] Make your prospect’s or audience’s decision process easier, by preemptively addressing their alternatives (which makes your case stronger).

[2] Make your prospect’s or audience’s decision process harder — and your case weaker — by leaving that discovery and evaluation effort solely in their hands.

I’m not talking about trashing your competition, by the way. That doesn’t help your case at all. In fact, this has been a hot topic in the blogosphere lately, including Garr Reynolds’ “Love Thy Competitor!” post on Presentation Zen.

What I’m suggesting is a balanced and, if possible, generic look at the pluses and minuses of the key alternatives your prospect or audience might be facing. When I say “generic”, I mean your offering or idea, too. Just make sure you talk about what it can do or what it’s about, not how it’s named. If you jump right into a sales pitch, you’ll weaken your case.

There’s time enough, after discussing alternatives, to mention your product or idea by name, to discuss features (within the context of your audience’s needs), and so on. And drilling into your offering or idea will carry much more weight if you’ve preceded it by reviewing your audience’s alternatives.

So here are your tasks for this, item #6 in the series of 10 exercises to help you be more compelling and effective with your presentations:

[1] High-End
What’s the biggest, most involved, and (likely) most expensive path they can take? How close would this get them to their objective? And what would be the impact on the organization of trying to implement such a grand scheme? You need to stay within the boundaries of reality, but you don’t need to limit yourself to something they can actually do or afford.

[2] Do Nothing
What’s the impact of not making any changes? How would that affect their long-term goals? (This is also a great chance to highlight any potential urgency that does or could exist.)

[3] Middle Ground
This is presumably where your offering or idea would reside, as well as some of your competitors. What are the key attributes or factors? And what are the limitations or trade-offs? This last question is particularly important, because it suggests some sense of impartiality (especially if you haven’t yet raised the name of your offering).

Discussing alternatives is the perfect set-up for talking about your offering. It establishes a context in which your prospect or audience can better evaluate your offering. And that will lead to a more favorable reception, a more memorable pitch, and, very likely, a much better result for you.

<note>
To see the other parts of this series, find the heading EXERCISES in right column of The YouBlog. It’s between “Recent Posts” and “Categories”. You can do them in any order you like.