Chapter 11
Simplify Everything—People Deliberate on the General and Act on the Specific

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

—LEONARDO DA VINCI

KATHLEEN, A CAREER coach, was wrapping up an excellent presentation. The audience had responded beautifully throughout—asking questions and showing interest. She knew that she had to include some sort of call to action so that people would follow up with her or hire her. So she said, “If you’d like to learn more, you can get my free report, ‘Shifting Career Gears,’ on my Web site, or $50 off my career tune-up session, or a full career overhaul package, discounted by 20 percent for those who’ve attended this session.” People were enthralled with her for 60 minutes, but she lost the opportunity to get people to take action at the end. Do you know why?

It’s simple: the choices she offered were not simple.

People had to think about what they might want. They had to make a choice. “But,” you may be thinking, “isn’t choice a good thing?” Choice empowers. Choice gives options. Choice gives control. Choice gives freedom. “And what if I give only one option but people don’t want that one? Wouldn’t I lose the person?” I hear that one a lot. These things are true. Choice can, however, lead to another thing: paralysis.

When Kathleen came to me for marketing strategy and speech coaching, she told me about the situation I just described. One hundred qualified prospects attended her talk. Most seemed interested. Almost all gave her stellar ratings on her feedback form. Yet she did not enroll any new clients. The reason, as you now know, was the choices she gave. People didn’t take action.

Choice can be a good thing or a bad thing. Decades of psychological research support the benefits of choice. Choice increases the perception of control, which enhances mood, motivation, and performance. As helpful as choice can be, there are times when it hinders rather than helps your marketing efforts. Let’s explore what works and what doesn’t work in giving people choices about your service offerings. We’ll also explore how people choose—to ensure that they choose you over other service providers.