Decision Making: Are Your Marketing Decisions Right Or Wrong?

By the time you read this introduction, you will have made up your mind whether to read on or not. But what was your decision making process? What are the criteria that you used? Do you follow your head or your heart? Is it an impulsive decision or a cold calculation?  What might you lose by not reading on?

Now you’re wondering what’s wrong with me.  I may have my own idiosyncrasies, but surely not this.

I’m talking about the latest scientific research about having all those decision making options. Research tells us that the more options you have to weigh up, the less you should think about them.

I know that sounds like a paradox but it may prove to be the key to intelligent decision-making.

As an Internet marketer, you end up decision making all day. Some may be right some may backfire. Why does this happen and how are you supposed to take your marketing decisions? Read this to understand the decision making process better.

The Heart-Warming Story Of The Moro Tribe 

A small tribe of the Sahel region, whose lives had for generations revolved around leading their cows from watering hole to watering hole and occasionally growing millet, was now facing starvation. The herds were infected with the bovine sleeping-sickness; the harvests were destroyed with droughts. Infant mortality rate has risen so high that it was frightening. Out of all those who managed to survived, very few managed to cross the age of 50.

In this sad state of affairs where there was nobody to help them and they were left to die, one group of aid workers decided to help. They created wells to provide water to the cattle, reduced the fly population that caused the bovine illness and established a basic health service, swiftly improving living conditions for the Moro.

Fast forward 20 years, the situation was worse than ever before. Reason?

The size of the herds initially increased because the fly problem was taken care of and there were pastures created from man-made irrigation systems. But with no illness killing the cattle, their population grew and the grazing land was not enough for the growing livestock. Soon, the cattle drank the wells dry and grazed the grass to its roots.

Because the mortality rate had fallen dramatically, there were also more Moro who needed water.

The result: A famine that was worse than ever before.

People were ready to point out that this happened because of wrong decision making.

It’s really sad that their good intention backfired on them. Can we blame them? Each one of makes errors in judgment once in a while, just as the aid workers did.

But let me give you the good news.  I can already see the smile crossing your face as it did mine when I read about it.

The Moro tribe is nothing but the figment of imagination – of some researchers who delve into the topic of decision making.

The Institute of Theoretical Psychology at the University of Bamberg in Germany is the originator of this story who created it as a computer simulation. Here, researchers have, for the last 30 years, been testing the decision making ability of managers, management consultants and students, using problems such as the ‘Moroland scenario.’

I read about this institute and their Moroland story in a magazine a few years ago and was thoroughly impressed with the work that’s going on and the extent of depth they are going to, in their attempt to create good managers.

These visual challenges prompt participants to choose from several possibilities and then watch as their program fast-forwards to reveal their long-term consequences.  According to their Research Head Dietrich Dorner, there are “often devastating” repercussions.

Real Life Decisions = Real Consequences 

The Moro tribe is lucky in its non-existence. However, the decision making we take in real life have real consequences that affect us. Our ancestors were fortunate. They had narrow tracks to make their way through life, but we have in front of us hundreds of trajectories and deciding which one to choose can be a scary prospect.

We’re forced into decision making – with increasing regularity and some have far-reaching consequences.

We could go to the gym today or decide to complete the pending work; we could take the risk and start our journey as entrepreneurs, or opt to continue in the 8-5 job; we could get married today or wait to see if we can find someone better.

The thing about decision-making is that we have no choice but to face the consequences of our decision making at some point in the future.

It’s this essentiality and the unpredictability of the consequences that makes psychologists and cognitive scientists so passionately interested in the process of decision making.

100,000 Decisions A Day On Auto-Pilot 

We’re tuned in such a way that every decision we take is based on our life’s experiences, and we take decisions in split-seconds.

And do you know the number of decisions an individual takes on a daily basis?  Around 100,000.

Everything from waking up to sleeping is decision making. We eat, drive and eat without pondering over the next mouthful.

Research shows that only 0.1 percent of the decisions are taken consciously. The fact that we go through life dealing with the remaining 99.99 percent without coming to any harm may be considered a miracle in itself.

Successful Decision Making  

As marketers, we spend time evaluating our every move. Every step we take towards fulfilling our goal is well-planned. But researchers talk about the underrated abilities of the unconscious mind.

They say that our mind knows a lot and we should learn to rely on it.  While weighing the pros and cons is a good idea, it’s also important to listen to the whispers from the unconscious processing activities.

Follow your inner voice and the louder it is, the quicker you should heed it – is a winner for Internet and network marketers.  Success is said to come to those who take decisions without wasting too much time to think.

This might seem paradoxical, but researchers say it explains the limits of our consciousness and that intuition is the best guide in situations when there are a large number of criteria to be considered.

The golden rule: The more pros and cons there are, the less you should mull – let alone agonize – over them.

What About The Consequences? 

This decision making process seems even scarier as it involves our future life, lives of our loved ones who depend on us.

In making plans for our future, we stumble along like short-sighted soldiers firing at fast-moving targets – yet we’re constantly amazed at how rarely we hit the mark. You only need to take a look at the failure rates in online marketers.

Even those who are absolutely convinced about something – usually have second thoughts sooner or later.  We’ve all experienced that feeling of insecurity when dealing with the different aspects of growing our businesses as entrepreneurs.

That’s the reason the one rule that is stressed upon time and again when new marketers seek advice is “focus on one thing.” Distractions happen because people are not convinced they’ve taken the right decision.

That nagging feeling of having actually made the wrong decision is always there.  Even if that’s the best decision, the thought that you could have done better always plagues you, leading to dissatisfaction.

Seducing Customers  

It is this quagmire that we marketers take advantage of when marketing. While decision making is difficult for us, we understand that it’s the same with our prospects too.

We introduce “secret seduces” in our marketing in the form of incentives and rewards to attract people. They are simple manipulators that are meant to appeal to the taste of people and perhaps trigger off very specific buying pangs.

We’ve been reading about relationship marketing. Forming relationships is also meant to create a “good feeling” about our brand in people’s mind, to ensure their decision making is advantageous to us.

This works and it has been proven scientifically. Dopamine is a messenger-drug that gets secreted in the “reward” center of our brain. It’s this attraction that makes people decide to buy your product or service.

My Take? 

I believe that strong decision making is important. The more indecisive we are in taking business decisions, the more confused and unsure we get. Taking decisions again and again, making mistakes, learning from them helps us graduate to better judgments.

A person who enjoys choosing without worrying also learns to make better choices in the long run.

On the other hand, I do admit from experience that it’s the most crucial choices and decisions that fail us and leave us feeling that we have made the wrong decision. But there is also a glimmer of hope for the future – at least we’re not taking the most dangerous path – that of not doing anything.

Decide and stick to that decision with a single minded focus. If that doesn’t work, only then look at your second option. This is the only path to success.

Are you good at decision making?