
Consider the Way You Frame Decision Making Conversations If the company had to make a new choice, what would they do? This can help avoid a quick-fire status quo decision.ģ.
#1. the anchoring trap software
In many cases this could be true, such as a piece of software or hardware having support discontinued. One great workshop activity you can do with a customer, is to imagine that the status quo is not an option. It’s just as dangerous to be pessimistic and stall innovation as it is to be optimistic and rush in too quickly. If we’re honest however, most of us recognize that we get used to change pretty quickly. It’s easy to exaggerate when it comes to the costs and hassle that goes into making a change. Make sure to be realistic about the effort.If one solution has too many negative points, open the conversation to find new tools and techniques that may suit you better. Many companies feel that they have only two options – the new innovative technology or keeping things the same way as they have always been. Why did you start these conversations about a new revenue stream or solution? Does maintaining the status quo get you closer to where you ultimately want to be? Think about your goals for the business.Here are some of the ways you can encourage your colleagues and your clients to think about the status quo, only opting for keeping things the same if it is really the right choice. However, in this era of “disrupt or be disrupted”, making change is important. Integrating a new product, trialing a new solution, or on-boarding a new piece of software can seem like too much hard work, especially if there is uncertain gain at the end of it, or the rest of your team is cautious or pessimistic around change. In many business situations, it can feel easiest to just keep things as they are. Think Carefully About Choosing to Maintain the Status Quo Listen carefully to your customers to hear what their challenges are, to avoid Anchoring them into mirroring your own thoughts on their specific challenges.Ģ.This strengthens the best-practice industry expertise that you are providing and ensures that they are not anchored into the first idea they hear, widening their frame of reference. Advise your customers to read widely around a topic and get advice from additional places.Start conversations with “What if?” queries which can broaden their starting point to include new ideas. Ask questions which look at the problem from a new direction.Instead – ask the client what they have been considering, and then use that to advise and direct. Don’t put an idea in their head to begin with. Encourage customers to come up with a starting gambit.HBR suggests four tactics for lessening the impact of Anchoring, all of which you can put into practice when you talk to your own customers. For example, you might look at a client’s previous sales in order to project the next months revenue, when in reality – this data is not predictive.
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This could come in many forms, from a simple comment a colleague makes, to a statistic or a fact that springboards a discussion. Don’t Make the Mistake of Anchoring Your QuestionsĪnchoring involves putting disproportionate weight onto the facts or information that we hear first.

Here are three of the most common stumbling blocks for making smart decisions, and how you can improve your strategic processes, and encourage your customers to do the same.ġ. In fact, there are certain psychological traps that we all fall into, and encourage others to fall into, which can confuse seemingly straightforward decisions and lead us astray.

But research from Harvard Business Review has shown that we might not be making as many clear decisions as we think we are. Any customer-facing business needs to think about both their own decision-making processes, and the mindset of their clients.
