Seth Godin in his book Tribes says ‘the largest enemy of change isn’t a “No.” It’s a “Not yet.” He says “Not yet” forestalls change. “Not yet” maintains the status quo. “Not yet” kicks the can down the road and puts off the inevitable for a little while longer.
When I was developing the Jones And Co. sales process, one of my mentors explained a very similar thing to me. In selling, he told me, the most frustrating result you can get is a ‘maybe.’ Yes is fine. No is fine. Both of those are decisions. But ‘maybe’ is no decision at all.
When a client has sat with your dispensing optician for 45 minutes and says “Great. Well, let me go away and think about it” i.e. ‘maybe’ what that really tells you is that they have unanswered questions in their head. Questions like: It this worth it? It this the right place for me or should I go elsewhere? Is this the right product for me? Will I find it significantly cheaper elsewhere? Do I need to do anything at all or can I just ignore it? Do I really need to do this now? and so on. I tell my team all the time, it’s our job to help our clients ’think about it’ while they are with us – we need to help them ask and answer all the questions and make a decision. Yes is fine. No is fine. Maybe is not.
As the leader of your practice, you need to be acutely aware of what you are saying ‘Not yet’ to. And you need to recognise what it really means. Ask yourself where are you saying ‘not yet’ in your business to avoid making a real YES/NO decision.
Unlike the client who tells your team, “I’ll think about it” to avoid being put on the spot, you need to get skilled at willingly putting yourself on the spot and making clear decisions. Don’t kid yourself into thinking procrastinating on important strategic decisions is smart. It rarely is.
Unsuccessful business owners make decisions very s-l-o-w-l-y and then change their minds frequently and quickly after the fact. The most successful business owners make decisions relatively quickly and then change their minds very slowly if at all, because they have enough confidence in their decisions to stick with it. There is a reason for this.
The secret of the successful owner lies in how he or she makes decisions. They gather all the information available about a particular problem. They do their research. And given the information they have they act. They decide one way or the other.
There is a skill to this because in business often you have to make decisions with incomplete information or when there is conflicting information and opinions. In these situations, you need to make your best judgement based on principles and what you know, because making no decision is too costly and hurts you far more in the long run.
It takes courage to put yourself on the spot and make a decision. Nobody else will do that for you. You need to start building your decision-making muscles. Ultimately even your wrong decisions are valuable because you learn and it makes you better. Otherwise you risk going through life putting off all the important decisions, until it is too late. That is a path of frustration, fear and staying small. People are so afraid of being wrong that it paralyses them. I’ve been wrong a lot. I’ve failed a lot. And I still do it on a regular basis. I try stuff that doesn’t work. But I’m always learning and always getting smarter. That’s the real reason for Jones And Co’s turn around and growth. A willingness to put myself on the spot and try things with no guarantees that any of it will work.
When I’m working with practice owners in OSA the ones who are the most impressive to me are the ones who are excellent at making decisions and doing stuff. Scale Up Mastermind members will often report on three, four, five or more significant decisions made and acted on in a month. All the while, ‘out there’ in our industry, the average practice owner doesn’t make even one significant decision in a month. They keep telling themselves, “Not yet.” Here in OSA, you are in the right place. You’re among decision-makers. Set yourself a goal of making more decisions in the next month, than you have in the first 11 months of the year. And let me know how much progress you’ve made by the time December 31st rolls around.