the paradox of choice and the powers of mind control

Because it’s been a while since I’ve designed anything new, when I sat down to design my newest collection, I kind of went a little overboard. Lots of variations on the same theme – plenty of earrings and necklaces that take what I’ve been doing previously and expand on them.

Now, I love everything that I’ve been designing lately. But there’s also some cause for concern. One of my students voiced it best when she asked me, “Aren’t you worried about overwhelming people?”

And it’s a question I hear often from other crafters, “How many pieces is too many pieces in my line?”

One of the concerns when you have a lot of options is something called the paradox of choice. This is the idea that having more options actually makes someone less likely to buy at all, because it makes the decision making process too stressful.

Let’s say your current line consists of one necklace, one pair of earrings, and a bracelet. If someone decides they like your line, they only need to decide what type of jewelry they want. Now, let’s say your line includes thirty necklaces. Someone might like your line, but which necklace to buy? The long one? The short one? The big one? The small one? Too many choices can result in decision paralysis, and even though someone may like your line, they could end up not buying at all, because the stress of choosing is just too great.

But as I expand my line, I’m not worried about this. That’s because I’ve developed powers of mind control.

At my first two wholesale shows this year, I noticed I was selling a lot of pieces from the cosmos line. While I was excited to finally start to see the new line move, I started to wonder if this wasn’t happening by coincidence. I was wearing pieces from this line in the booth. I was talking about what got me excited in the line. Was I, without even realizing it, influencing the decisions of my buyers?

So for Buyer’s Market, I decided to run a little test. I went into that show hoping to sell more of the steel line, particularly the little black necklace. This wasn’t purely for social experiment however. With the cost of silver rapidly rising, the steel pieces have a higher profit margin. But this also wasn’t just motivated by profit – the stores that carry that line do well with it, and people respond positively, so I knew I could sell it with confidence.

At the show, I only wore pieces from that line. I altered my introductory pitch to draw people’s attention to the steel line. And, I made sure my sales pitch for that line was spot on. And it worked. I sold almost exclusively from that line at that show.

And the beauty was that no one felt pressured to buy, and I didn’t feel sleazy for doing it. What I was really doing was helping people make decisions. I was removing the decision angst and effectively combating the paradox of choice.

Whenever you sell your product, most buyers (whether it’s a wholesale buyer or a retail buyer) look to you as the expert of your line. Because you are. Most people know instinctively whether or not they like your product. But they don’t know WHICH of your products they want. In our contemporary society of too many choices, most people are actually worse at making decisions. And if you don’t step in and help them, you’re potentially loosing a sale.

Call it mind control. Call it helping. Call it good old fashioned selling. (After all, don’t the best sales people seem more like your friend helping you make a decision than a sales person?) The point is that the way to combat the paradox of choice is to help people make decisions.

In the comments of How Not to Suck at Sales, Kristin had this to say, “What I have a hard time with is when somebody obviously wants help with choosing colors, etc., and I’m terrible at that! (Must practice!) I think that’s where my reluctance to push my work at people really hurts me… I need to get over that!”

What’s important to keep in mind is that when you help people make decisions, you aren’t being pushy at all. You’re truly helping them. Which is ultimately your job as a seller, to help people make the best decision for them.

Which means the answer to the question of how many pieces in a line is too many varies depending on how confident you are in helping people make decisions as a sales person.

Having 300 necklaces isn’t a problem if you can help someone find the perfect one for them. If you can make sure they leave your booth (or your website) feeling like they’ve made the best choice, the number of pieces they originally had to choose from won’t matter.

For more concrete strategies on how to help customers find the product that’s right for them, read Five Ways to Help Buyers Navigate a Large Collection.