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Too Much To Choose From

Toothpaste. It's an everyday necessity (hopefully!!), something that everyone needs. And yet, I noticed myself in a grocery store recently confronted with what felt like a very daunting task--how to choose from the dozens of brands, flavors, sizes of toothpaste available. Why do we need so many flavors--cinnamon, spearmint, fennel, wintergreen, strawberry, bubblegum, berry?

My wife can pick out toothpaste in a few seconds. She knows what she wants--her criteria is that the toothpaste be natural. Some people buy products based on what their parents bought. Of course, when I was a kid, there weren't quite so many choices.

It's a minor, run of the mill decision, but one that illustrates just how very many choices we make every single day, from our toothpaste, to cell phone provider, to the brands we eat, wear and use.

Barry Schwartz, professor of Social Theory and Social Action at Swarthmore College, has written a book called, 'The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less-How The Culture of Abundance Robs us of Satisfaction'. It is a very interesting look at how the ever expanding amount of 'choice' we have in every dimension of our lives is eroding the simple pleasures that used to be omnipresent.

This is a very valid perspective as it relates to what we do in the world, what we buy, what we let define us. Are you special? Or are there a million other people just like you? How can your existence simplify the life of your prospect or client?

The goal of choice has been to liberate us, to give us a degree of control over our lives, to give us autonomy and distinction. However, as Mr. Schwartz suggests, '. . . (A)s the number of choices keeps growing, negative aspects of having a multitude of options begin to appear. As the number of choices grows further, the negatives escalate until we become overloaded.'

Because we sell products or services, we have to keep in the forefront of our minds that there are many, many similar products and services out there. What makes us special is that we have the key to reach into the core of our affluent prospects and clients to discover what they need through their values and criteria. We know how to establish rapport, elicit their criteria and core values, and establish ourselves as the answer to their needs.

Schwartz writes of the political philosopher Isaiah Berlin, who beautifully described the continuum of towards and away in his distinction between 'negative liberty' and 'positive liberty'. He says, "Negative liberty is 'freedom from'-freedom from constraint, freedom from being told what to do by others. Positive liberty is 'freedom to'-the availability of opportunities to be the author of your life and to make it meaningful and significant."

Wow! A better description of the 'towards/away' continuum doesn't exist. Do we see in our prospects the desire to be free from constraints? How can we show them that our product or service is the answer to this? Do we have a towards person who wants to take in all the amazing opportunities our products and services have to offer? In what ways to do you see the paradox of choice at play in your business life?

Article Source: http://www.uberarticles.com/articles

Kenrick Cleveland teaches techniques to earn the business of wealthy clients using persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in persuasion techniques. This article is available as a unique content article with free reprint rights.

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