There was an episode of Friends in which one character would ask the other a series of rapid-fire questions with instructions to answer as quickly as possible without thinking.
e.g. Joey can’t decide whether he wants Chinese or Italian for dinner.
Phoebe: Do you prefer cats or dogs?
Joey: Dogs.
P: Chunky or creamy peanut butter?
J: Chunky.
P: Blondes or Brunettes?
J: Blondes.
P: Chinese or Italian?
J: Italian… Hey, it worked!
Okay, I don’t know how effective this method would be in real life… just thought I’d share.
As I learned in the Progress and Advice Room, the most effective cure for this sort of dilemma are the Principles of Sinistrality, Antecedence, and Alphabetical Priority.
If the objects can be arranged in space, choose the one on the left. If they can be arranged in time, choose the earlier. If they can be given names, choose the one that comes earliest in the alphabet.
Similar to flipping a coin, my husband and I make most minor marital/ life decisions via paper, rock scissors - rather than do the endless “I don’t care, what do you want to do?” thing, we’ll narrow it down to a couple of choices (Chinese or Mexican, estaurant A or restaurant B), assign one to each of us, and then 1-2-3-shoot, we get an answer. Half the time what happens is we get an answer and both of us go, “eh, I’d prefer the other one.” But at least we know.
(of course, sometimes we have to do this a million times, as my husband will say he doesn’t care, then I’ll use a random number generator to select the restaurant from a list (yeah, I’m that nerdy), then he’ll say he’s not in the mood. Repeat until we hit upon the restaurant he was secretly hoping for the entire time.)
Then there was the time Phoebe pretended that Rachel wasn’t pregnant, so she could figure out if she wanted the baby or not (she actually was pregnant). Yeah, I’ve watched far too much “Friends.”
That really works? I guess it explains why my boyfriend tries that with me when I can’t decide: he worked retail for years. I always thought he was just being a smart-ass, because seriously… If I did know, I wouldn’t be sitting here trying to decide.
I’ve found that when I’m stuck like that, I won’t be totally satisfied with any of the choices. No matter what it is I’ll still think that the other options sounded really good, too. I sometimes assign each choice a number and ask my guy to pick a number, because I can’t decide. Flipping a coin works if I’m alone.
Yeah, it works, Not a Platypus. I used to do the same thing in a different way. I would arbitrarily choose one of the options for the customer.
Them: I don’t know, I can’t decide.
Me: Here, take the red one.
Them: But I want the blue one!
Me: There ya go.
And if the red one was the one they really wanted, they’d walk away happy. If they truly didn’t have a preference, then they’d take the red one and walk away happy. See, happy happy happy!
One of the most important sales skills is the ability to facilitate a decision.
I agree, especially for more complex issues.
As an example, some months ago, my mom was considering moving into the city and wanted to know whether I thought it was a good idea or not. I had very mixed feelings. So I started a list of pros and cons (in a point/counterpoint format). I quickly discovered that I was inadvertently arguing FOR the move. So I was able to tell her with full confidence that I thought it was a great idea.
I have this problem frequently, being an indecisive sort. I’ll have to give some of these a try!
I’ve started using a method stolen from some friends. Start with large categories (American, Italian, Indian, Chinese, Mexican, etc.). If he can’t pick one, have him eliminate one. Then you pick/eliminate one. Continue until you’re down to one. Then start on the list of restaurants for that category. It usually works pretty well!
