Decision Fatigue

A selling hurdle that won't budge

Decision Fatigue is a modern epidemic. You can't make a decision after decision without depleting your brain energy. Your prospects are mentally tired from dealing with mounds of information that move faster and create the need for more choices.

"The more choices you make in a day, the harder each one becomes for your brain, and eventually it looks for shortcuts," says John Tierney, in a New York Times Magazine article. Those shortcuts come in one of two different ways. Either a reckless decision or the "ultimate energy saver: do nothing."

He goes on to say that decision fatigue is different from ordinary physical fatigue. "You're not consciously aware of being tired - but you're low on mental energy."

Research from Kathy Sierra, an award-winning author and speaker, confirms that "Will-power and focus and concentration and working on problem-solving are all coming from the same pool of cognitive resources" being zapped by decision making.

Don't Judge

A study from Ben Gurion University in Israel found that judges paroled 65% of prisoners at the beginning of a hearing session and a rapid decline at the end.

As time passed, and more decisions were made, the percentage of people paroled continued to drop to almost zero before the end of each session. The same patterned showed up each time a parole session started and ended.

If important decisions about a person's freedom are affected by fatigue, what does that say about your prospect's ability to choose you?

Doing more with less is good. Right?

Technology is helping your prospects get more done in a day with less. Not many can argue that this is fantastic news. The downside is that more decisions are required to keep up with the increased speed of information.

Your prospects are weary and losing focus as their day goes on. Decisions use the important mental energy needed to focus on your message. How will you reach a prospect with low mental energy?

You cannot ignore this new hurdle to sales. It is critical to explore better ways to deliver your prospecting message in this environment. Breaking through to tired minds takes a deeper consideration of the prospect's condition.

Your message is competing with more than your competition. There is no second place trophy for today's race. Your prospecting message can only win or lose.