Tweet

Noise Reduction part 2: Is too much information making you miserable and losing you sales?

Guest post by: Sue Barrett

Article Overview: With information comes choice and without proper guidelines and filters in place, too much information and too many choices can lead to indecision. Indecision can then lead to paralysis making us unhappy, unproductive, and at worst, ineffective. In sales careers, or any role for that matter, too much information and the subsequent indecision is a real killer – in fact, making no decision is far worse than making the wrong decision.

Noise Reduction part 2: Is too much information making you miserable and losing you sales?

With information comes choice and without proper guidelines and filters in place, too much information and too many choices can lead to indecision. Indecision can then lead to paralysis making us unhappy, unproductive, and at worst, ineffective. In sales careers, or any role for that matter, too much information and the subsequent indecision is a real killer – in fact, making no decision is far worse than making the wrong decision.

Barry Schwartz, professor of social theory at Swarthmore College in the US and author of The Paradox of Choice states “too much choice is paralysing us and making us miserable”. I can’t help but agree. At times I feel I am drowning in a tsunami of information and feel increasingly confused as I try to work out what to focus on and what to discard. I am not alone in these feelings; many people I speak to are also reporting feeling overwhelmed and anxious by all the ‘noise’. Some are even checking out of mainstream information and news sources and choosing to dramatically reduce their diet of information.

In our haste to keep up, be on top of things, be seen as the one with all the answers, and be ahead of the pack, are we inadvertently creating a climate of confusion, indecision, and unnecessary distress by exposing ourselves and our teams to too much information? I suggest the answer is ‘Yes’.

For instance, there is a learned behavioural syndrome called ‘Overpreparer’ which can account for 40%+ drop in sales productivity for sales people with Overpreparer tendencies. It is often caused by organisations placing undue importance on the need to be overly prepared and knowledgeable. Being prepared takes precedence over getting out and selling. For instance, in banking and finance where compliance is important, Overpreparing is often systemic creating a culture of indecision and paralysis by analysis where sales people use it as an excuse to not prospect and sell.

Despite feeling out of control we can regain control over how we process, use and manage information. Having a clear head and removing clutter from our lives is critical if we want to be productive and effective. As promised in Noise Reduction part 1, here we will explore some strategies that may help us reduce the ‘noise’ and recalibrate our signal-to-ratio (SNR). So in the spirit of less is more, here are some simple principles we can follow as a guide to effective noise reduction and decision making:

Step 1: Set clear goals

* Clear goals help you determine what to focus on and what information you need to have at hand to help you achieve your goals.

* Clear goals help you prioritise your thinking and actions, assisting you in planning each step of the way.

Step 2: Determine what you need to know

* Put in place filters that will help you determine what information you want to focus on: Does this information help you get closer to the goals that are important to you?

* Work out what is ‘essential’, ‘desirable’ and ‘nice-to-have’, and prioritise in that order.

* Cultivate a scientific mindset – scientists begin by defining a hypothesis then look specifically for data or information that either corroborates or refutes that hypothesis.

* Determine what information and networks your business and your sales people need to be aware of in order to make good decisions (i.e. market trends, competitors, product innovations, changes in legislation, etc.)

* Find out what your clients are interested in reading and hearing.

* Find sites and networks that keep you up to date with the latest trends and are quick and easy to read.

* Make sure your CRM is collecting useful client and market information that is aligned to your goals and can be applied in a meaningful manner (i.e. creating client buying patterns report, etc.), then ignore the rest.

Step 3: Determine effectiveness

* What information (blogs/references/forums/publications/social media sites/networks, etc.) are proving to be useful to you (your customers, your business and your communities)? Why?

* Check why you originally chose this information or network sources and ask if they are still relevant.

* Determine how often you use these information sources.

* Check how you apply these information sources in your job or in your communication with each other and clients/suppliers (tangible outcomes, practical solutions, etc.)

* Verify what is ‘fact’ and what is not. Is it evidenced based? Is it supplied by a reputable source that can be validated and checked?

* Check how quickly it takes you to gain a quick and concise understanding of the content.

Step 4: Prioritise and don’t be afraid to limit your options

* Count how many subscriptions you currently have or networks you belong to; check for duplications (i.e. similar blogs, sites or networks offering the same information) and irrelevant sites or networks (not aligned to your goals) then cull.

* Reduce your ‘daily’ alerts to ‘weekly’ alerts.

* Don’t check your emails every time they arrive, make time to check every 15-30 minutes or so.

* Create a new email address exclusively for your subscriptions so your working email is not cluttered up with low priority data.

* Synchronise your bookmarks.

* Create a filing system that allows you to reference your information quickly and easily.

* Link new information to what you already know. Drawing concept maps is one such way that helps you to build knowledge over time and draw links between ideas and knowledge sources.

* Allocate specific time twice or three times per week to review your subscription information sources rather than being constantly interrupted by incoming alerts.

* If you need to surf the web, make time to do so when it doesn’t interfere with your work priorities.

Step 5: Find some quiet time

* Allow your mind and your senses to rest and switch off. Being overly anxious narrows your focus and limits your ability to sort through and process information effectively.

* As strange and boring as this may sound, find time to do mundane tasks that do not require you to process complex information.

* Do some regular exercise like yoga or go for a run to get in touch with your body, breath, heart and nature.

* Meditation requires effort to achieve single pointed focus, however the daily practice of meditation quiets the busy mind and gives you the space you need to recharge and recover from information overload.

As you can see, even discussing reducing noise creates noise, and the signal-to-ratio spiral continues… Without running away to live in a cave, my best suggestion is to take on board a couple of things; stop reading about reducing noise and get out there and sell. By staying focused on a few keys things and taking action we might just find that the noise fades into a faint, background murmur and we are happier and more productive as a result.

Remember, everybody lives by selling something.

Related Articles
  Noise Reduction part 1
  Sales Training – Four Poor Sales Skills Not to Ignore!
  How Much Noise Is In Your Head?
  Podcast Marketing – How to Promote Your Business Using Podcasts
  Yelling is exhausting
  Five Instant Ways to Reduce Environmental Stress - Part 2
  Why You should Never, Never, discount your prices - Unless You Know The Following!
  Sales Tips From Man’s Best Friend
  Are You Aware Of The Noise In Your Business
  An Uncertain Trumpet Makes Only Noise and Will Not Deliver Your Business Results
  Perspective.
  Trying to Control Makes Us Miserable
  Sales Training – Introvert Salespeople Celebrate Speed Reduction Day to Rev Up Sales!
  2011 Business Growth Strategies #2: Be Distinct & Compelling
  Recommendations for future research - Factors Impeding the Poverty Reduction Capacity of Micro-credit: Some Field Observations from Malawi and Ethiopia
  Telling Aint Selling
  What Losing Weight Can Teach You About Marketing
  The White Noise Phenomenon
  Handling Price Objections Should Not Mean Price Reduction
  Leadership

Article Tags: choices, indecision, noise reduction, proper guidelines, sales, sales careers, selling



Related Forum Posts
Re: Sales Letters: Do they work? - I agree Louis. There are so many out there now that they are losing their credibility fast. Used to be, they hooked you in and spoonfed you what you wanted to hear until you handed over your credit card. I've gotten to the point now that if I am interested in picking up a new information product, etc. I just scroll down to see the price and if I think its reasonable I purchase. For example, I started horseback riding lessons a few weeks ago and wanted to get some more background information. So I found a website that sells an eBook on the subject, I noted the topics covered, scrolled down saw that it was $20 and decided to buy it. Its actually great. I spend lots of money at Chapters so it was a reasonable amount for the topic I wanted covered. The author hit all my credibility flags so I went for it. Information marketers are trying desperately to reach us, information overwhelmed group.....so the sales letter is being over used and over manipulated to push us into pain, and then profess to have the light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully people can start checking in with their own Bull S@#$ meters before buying. J
Re: Favorite Christmas movies - [quote="OmnivoreInk":1rxsgr0t]I do have to say I've never liked[i:1rxsgr0t] It's A Wonderful Life[/i:1rxsgr0t]. He spends all his life having his hopes and dreams shattered, feeling miserable, and its only at the end of his life that he can look back and realize how many friends he has, etc. But that doesn't change the fact that up until that point he was miserable![/quote:1rxsgr0t] I love the sentimentality around watching that movie with your Mom! Chtistmas is made up of all those sentimental things. "It's A Wonderful Life" is all about perspective, much in the same way that Scrooge is 'realigned' in Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" - which I listen to on CD every year (sometimes twice!) Happy Christmas Everyone! Regards Martin
Favorite Christmas movies - Back when us kids were young (my parents had 3), my mom, sister and I would watch White Christmas every Christmas. (My dad and brother were never interested.) Now the rest of the family is scattered, and only I live close to my parents. We got away from the tradition, but now my mom and I watch [i:1h8kfk2v]White Christmas[/i:1h8kfk2v] again. (Just as every Halloween we watch Arsenic and Old Lace.) I also like the 1970 musical [i:1h8kfk2v]Scrooge[/i:1h8kfk2v], starring Albert Finney, much better than any version done since! I do have to say I've never liked[i:1h8kfk2v] It's A Wonderful Life[/i:1h8kfk2v]. He spends all his life having his hopes and dreams shattered, feeling miserable, and its only at the end of his life that he can look back and realize how many friends he has, etc. But that doesn't change the fact that up until that point he was miserable!
How to protect my trade mark? - Generally speaking, no, your sales volume (your use in commerce volume, if you will) is not relevant. To maintain your trademark rights, though, you must take some affirmative action. If you don't you greatly risk losing your mark.
Dealing with Sales Reps - I've dealt with a wide variety of sales reps over the years and the vast majority take time to get back in touch. Its not usually a situation that a retailer calls for some information and they get an answer that day. In addition, most of the sales reps I had also deal with a couple of hundred other accounts. That's a lot of people to kep straight and to answer all their questions in a timely manner. This was really an issue in roofing because we were usually offering the newest products and at that point the rep had limited info, little or no sales material and usually no samples. This made the rep look bad and we had to explain to the homeowner that we were working to get what they needed, but there were about 5-8 links in the chain of information that all had to do their job. In these cases, I was being truthful when I told the customer or client that I was working on it and the sales rep was working on it. It just takes time to make things happen - usually longer than the consumer wants to realize or understand. Shri


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Death by Micromanagement

Ten Steps to Go from Idea to E-book for Sale

Fighting the Saw-Tooth Affect

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.