The world is decision impaired. If you don’t believe me take a few minutes to observe what goes on around you during an average day. The person in front of you at Starbucks faced with dozens of choices for a single cup of coffee struggles with the decision in spite of the fact that they’ve waited in line behind a half dozen people. The grocery shopper at the local Safeway who is blocking your aisle access as they ponder their choices of barbeque sauces and contemplate whether the Hickory or Mesquite flavored sauce will make their steak extra special. The guy moving from cooler to cooler in the liquor store trying to figure out which six-pack of beer will go best with the nachos he’ll be enjoying while watching the football game later in the day. The world is inundated with too many choices and people are ill prepared to make a decision on their own.
Why, has the world become decision impaired and what can be done to resolve this growing dilemma? There are two major reasons why the world is decision impaired, the first starting in childhood when impatient parents made a decision for their child rather than waiting for the child to go through the decision making process on their own and second, the growing number of selections in any good or service as manufacturers and businesses compete to differentiate themselves. Neither cause of decision impairment can readily be corrected as parental, manufacturer and business behavior is unlikely to change. Acknowledging the lack of ability to control the causes of decision impairment the only feasible solution is to help people in making choices with the reintroduction of customer service and sales personnel.
While not a new concept, customer service and sales personnel was the layer of overhead that was eliminated in the last twenty years as management tried to wring more profit from their businesses. Managers rationalized this decision by stating that customers like to be left alone as they shopped and that by allowing them to do so without the interruption of sales personnel, shoppers would linger longer and purchase more. Shoppers have lingered longer but only because they’ve struggled with decisions and in some cases left the business establishment without purchases in hand.
Business owners, you have a great opportunity! By reintroducing customer service and sales personnel, as a leading edge company you will capture a large segment of the market consisting of decision impaired shoppers, people that need to be told what they need and why they need it. The art of selling will once again become a noble profession and customers will walk away feeling happy with their decision.
Edward Boyle
CEO
Katchen Company
Katchen Company, founded in 1962, is an integrated real estate company with its corporate headquarters in Lakewood, Colorado. The company offers real estate development, redevelopment, property management, brokerage, consulting services, construction oversight and maintenance services to individual and institutional real estate investors throughout the greater Denver metropolitan area in Denver with satellite offices in Chicago, Las Vegas and Miami market areas.
