Page 60 - Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing - PDFDrive.com

I lost, of course. That loss reminded me of a basic fact in human decision
making. People do not look to make the superior choice; they want to avoid
making a bad choice.

Experts on decision making call this Looking for Good Enough. It happens
day after day, in decision after decision. It happened, in fact, the day I wrote this
section.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune featured that event in a headline: “Breyer Was
Third Choice.” Bill Clinton had to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court left by
the retirement of Harry Blackmun. Clinton wanted Bruce Babbitt, his Secretary
of Interior. But that would have created a cabinet vacancy and might have
produced an embarrassing confirmation fight. Babbitt was risky.

Clinton also liked appellate judge Richard Arnold. But Arnold had health
problems and a record that might have aroused opposition from women.

So Clinton chose Stephen Breyer, despite Breyer’s limited judicial
experience. As Clinton’s Special Counsel Lloyd Cutler told the press, “Breyer
had the fewest problems.”

Clinton, like millions of other people every day, did not choose the most
qualified candidate, the jurist with the best chance of achieving greatness.
Clinton looked for “good enough,” and chose the man with the fewest minuses.

Looking for Good Enough happens repeatedly in business, too. So whenever
you make your pitch, ask yourself, “What risks might a prospect see in hiring
us?” Then, without reminding the prospects of those risks—which will only
remind your prospects of their fears—eliminate the prospect’s fears, one by one.

In my case, I needed to eliminate two fears. Because I was an expert, they
feared I would be prohibitively expensive and uncompromising. And because I
had worked for larger clients on larger projects, they feared I would not consider
their project important.

But I never addressed those fears. I got so carried away telling them I was a
superior choice that I forgot to assure them I would be a good choice.

Forget looking like the superior choice. Make yourself an excellent choice.
Then eliminate a nything that might make you a bad choice.

The Anchoring Principle

Joan Davis, unwittingly, enters Smithers & Company as a secretary.
For months she tries to convince her boss that she belongs in management.

Joan’s boss finally relents and persuades his boss to give Joan a try. She tries.