In his book, The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz comes to an interesting conclusion involving human choice.
"People choose not on the basis of what’s most important, but on what’s easiest to evaluate.”
Common sense would dictate that if you were given a list of choices, you would choose the one that is most important to you, when in reality humans usually choose the one that is easiest for them to understand and evaluate. Very often we do so because we don’t have the time to put in the research necessary to make an informed decision. Politicians are rarely elected based on the majority of people doing research on their background and the policies they support. They are elected for the fact that people can relate to the message they are spreading and because we have heard of them before.
Seems to make sense to me. This is one reason why the vehicle manufacturers combine options into option packages. Also why it may NOT be a good idea to walk the inventory with the customer looking to find the vehicle the customer may be interested in. It is much better to have a needs and wants conversation with the customer in the showroom and then bring the oldest vehicle from the inventory that most matches their needs and wants to them.
Do this and you may find you sell more because it is easier for the customer to decide.
What Do You Think? How does this apply to selling cars?
Great blog, Ernie!
I was watching a show with my daughter the other day, Beverly Hills Bride and it basically shows 3 different brides going to purhase their bridal gown. The consultant ask them what style they are looking for, if they have any definite “Nots” and what is their budget. She then pulls 5 or 6 gowns for them to choose from. They do not allow the bride to sift through the racks!!! As I was watching this, I thought about the car business. Sometimes at the dealership, if we had an elderly client, or disabled, we would do the same… Perhaps this is a practice that should be followed for many case scenarios!
Hi Nancy, thanks for commenting. Funny, my daughter watches Say Yes to the Dress! Thing is, they do the same type of thing, converse with the customer and then bring ONE dress out at a time, they NEVER allow the bride to “walk the inventory”. They seem to sell a lot dresses. It isn’t that the consultant is mean spirited or anything, they are trying to make it easy to say yes to a dress the bride will love without all the confusion a myriad of choices is sure to produce. Auto salespeople surely could learn from this and do the same as few dealerships have the exact vehicle each and every customer is looking for within their physical inventory.
I sure do believe that people either do a knee jerk decision with their purchase or they do some homework. If sales people help them with their homework with out lot walking, the decision makes since. It is like going to a restaurant with an extensive menu. I can never decide what to order, however when I walk in and notice a couple of meals at other tables that is usually what I order.