Reducing Choice

Description

Reduce the choices that the other person has to a limited number -- two or three is often good. Four or five may be ok but can be too much. Ten is way too many.

In offering choices, you can of course provide biased choice, making the things you want the best or only things that they choose.

Avoid offering too many choices at once. Too many options will either lead to confusion or happy mulling over all the options (but no decision).

You can get through many options by revealing new choices or descending a hierarchical tree of choices.

Example

We can visit your family next week or the week after -- I'm away for a while then. (limited choice)

Do you want fries with that?...and salad?...green or mixed? ...what dressing would you like?... (revealing choice)

Do you want a large or small car?...is is for family or just you?...how many doors?... (hierarchical choice)

Discussion

When you reduce choice in negotiations, you can eliminate those things that you do not want and focus on the things you do want.

If you give a person no choice, they will feel as if you are controlling them. If you give them too much choice, they will be confused. Judging vs. perceiving preferences will affect choice, as perceivers prefer more options (so give them more).

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Site Menu

Quick links

Disciplines

Techniques

Principles

Explanations

Theories

And