Do they need more choices or just the perception of choice?
When we’re trying to help our couples and customers make decisions, do they really need more choices, or just the perception that they have choices? That’s the paradox of choice. When we’re the customer, we want to know we have choices. However, when we see the myriad choices out there, we can’t decide. So, what do your customers need – more choices, or just to know that they have choices.
Listen to this new, 7-minute episode for some ideas on how to balance giving your customers choice and making it easy for them to choose you.
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– Did they need more choices or just the perception of choice? Listen to this episode. Find out what I’m talking about. Hi, it’s Alan Berg. Welcome back to another episode of the Wedding Business Solutions Podcast. Choice comes up a lot in my sales training and in my speaking and in my consulting with folks just like you and it’s just a human nature thing, the paradox of choice that I’ve spoken about many times before. Also the title of a great book by Barry Schwartz. And people want to know that they have choices, but the problem is that paradox of choices, the more choices that we give them, the harder it is for them to make a decision.
So, do we really need to give people more choices or just the perception that they have choice? So, there are a lot of things that they take for granted or that they assume when they hire a professional. They assume that you’re going to be high quality. They assume that your equipment or whatever you’re using to get to the end that they’re looking for, because they’re not looking for the means to the end, they’re looking for the end, they assume you have that taken care of. So, when it comes to things like if you’re a caterer or a venue that caters when it comes to food, do you really need to give them more and more and more choices, or just the perception that they have choice? This is always kind of a little pet peeve of mine because when it comes to catering at a wedding, the guests, the 50, 80, a hundred, 200, 300, 400, 700 guests that come to the wedding don’t know what they’re going to eat until they get there. Even if they, on the, you know, the RSVP, they were asked to chose their entree. They weren’t asked to choose how they wanted the fish prepared or what kind of fish it was, or how they wanted the steak prepared or what kind of cut of meat it was, or same with the chicken. They would just ask for a preference.
I was at a wedding recently, my niece’s wedding, and it was a wonderful wedding and the food was delicious, and they asked us, when we got there, the wait staff came to the table and asked did we want meat, fish, or chicken? Not how it was prepared. What did we want? So, why are we giving people so many choices up front as the couple for the wedding, let’s say? Or if you’re planning an event for a corporate event or whatever, you know, why does it matter how the chicken is prepared unless their are food allergies or restrictions or something like that? Why does it matter? Because the guests won’t know anyway. So, of choice, yes, you’re going to have many, many choices when it comes to your wedding. You’re going to have choices of where to take your pictures, but the photographer knows better. You’re going to have choices of music, but the DJ or the band knows better, right? So, you want them to know that they have choices, or at least have the perception that they do, but you don’t want to give them more choices, certainly not before the sale. The more choices you give them before the sale, the harder it is for them to make a decision.
And this starts right from when you’re trying to schedule an appointment with them. And I know I’ve spoken about this and written about this extensively, that we don’t want to ask for the call or the meeting right away if they didn’t ask for it. But when you’re scheduling a meeting with someone to say to them, oh, hey, great, so you want to come in and meet with us. When is good for you? That’s basically saying seven days a week, 24 hours a day, you choose. It’s too hard. You need to narrow them down to know that they have choices, but let them feel like they have that perception. So, the simplest way would be, were you looking to come in during the week or on the weekend? Were you looking to come during the day or in the evening? Were you looking to come in today or tomorrow? Were you looking to come in tomorrow at 2:00pm or Thursday at 4:00pm? They can still suggest the third option.
Just like if you say, so did you want for your entree, you know, beef, chicken, fish, pork, what did you want? And if they say, well we would like to have chicken, say, fantastic. Don’t say, how do you want that chicken prepared? Let the chef decide because with supply chain issues and with inflation the way it is, why don’t you let the chef decide how wonderful to prepare that? Because your chef is only going to do that, right? We don’t do poor, we only do amazing. So, if we do amazing, let’s let the chef decide because the guests don’t know anyway. I was doing sales training for one of my clients recently and I was looking at the menu they were sending out before the sale to the couples that were inquiring about weddings and there were eight or nine different chicken dishes. And I said, why? And they said, well, people like to, you know, have a choice. I said, they don’t need that. What if you only had five? Would they be okay choosing from five instead of nine? And they said yes. I said, what if you only had three? You think they’d be okay choosing from three? Yeah, because remember, we have the curse of knowledge knowing that we had nine and five, now we only have three. And I say, what if it was just chicken? And if they say, how is it going to be prepared? And you say, seasonally and deliciously, is that enough?
So, certain things, you want them to be able to decide. Certain things, you want them to have a choice. And then, certain things you actually know better, and unless they ask, make it happen and make it great, but don’t give them the choice. I’ve used this analogy before, but just in case you haven’t heard it. If we were going to go out for a meal do we first choose the dish we’re going to eat or the restaurant that we’re going to go to? And the answer is, in most cases, we choose the restaurant. Even if we know the dish that we want, we want that dish from that restaurant. And when we go there, if it’s unavailable, they’ve sold out that day or they say, hey, we have some specials, don’t you listen to them? And do you get up and walk out? No, you eat there anyway because you chose the restaurant.
Let them choose you as the officiant. Then work out the details. Let them choose you to do their invitations. Let them choose you to provide their dress and their fashion, to do their hair and their makeup, to provide their transportation, their video, whatever it is that you do, let them choose you and then work out the details. There are some things you’re going to need to work out right up front, but some of those other details, they either don’t need to decide until later or they may not need to decide at all. So, did they really need more choices or just the perception of choice? Which could make your job easier and easier to sell as well. I hope I gave you some food for thought. Thanks.
I’m Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you’d like to suggest other topics for “The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast” please let me know. My email is [email protected]. Look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.
Listen to this and all episodes on Apple Podcast, YouTube or your favorite app/site:
- Apple Podcast:
- YouTube: www.WeddingBusinessSolutionsPodcast.tv
- Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3sGsuB8
- Stitcher:
- Google Podcast:
- iHeart Radio: https://ihr.fm/31C9Mic
- Pandora:
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