Make It Easy for Me
Last week, I tried, to buy a shirt online. I was directed to one page after another on a web site I’ll call “ShirtsToYou.” It took me almost five minutes to find the shirt I wanted. Then I was trapped on the site trying to complete my purchase. When the checkout page refused to take my credit card for the third time, I gave up.
Then I tried Amazon, and bought the same shirt in less than a minute. One reason Amazon sold me a shirt and “ShirtsToYou” didn’t is because Amazon makes purchasing easy.
I know a real estate broker, Dan, who moved to Hawaii a number of years ago. I recently visited him and admired his home. It was beautifully furnished.
“It’s a funny thing,” he said. “My wife Meg wanted us to retire to a warm climate. I liked Seattle and wanted to stay there. But on a vacation to Maui, Meg arranged for a local real estate broker to show us a few houses.
“I was in a bad mood that day and really wanted to be on the golf course. But I’d made a commitment to Meg, so we looked at houses. The first two were terrible. But the third one, this house you’re sitting in, I loved. It didn’t hurt that there’s a great view of the ocean and the house is on the ninth hole of my favorite golf course. But what really sold me was that the house came fully furnished. I suddenly realized I didn’t mind moving, but I didn’t want to pack and ship everything. And I certainly didn’t want to decorate another house. Meg and I almost got a divorce arguing over sofas when we furnished our Seattle house.”
“I understand,” I said. “Until recently I hadn’t moved in forty years.”
By including the furniture the seller made it easy for Dan and Meg to say “yes” and move into a Maui home with everything, including art on the walls and dishes on the kitchen shelves. “They even left their tool box and cooking spices,” Dan added. “And we sold our home in Seattle the same way. It was only on the market a week.”
A dear friend of mine, Jane, lives in Chicago. Her brother Ben wanted her to attend his daughter’s wedding. The only snag was that Jane does not fly and the ceremony was in Boston.
“I sent a car and driver to bring Jane to the wedding,” Ben told me. “She loved everything — the attention, the ride, and the wedding.”
There is an important lesson here. If you want someone to do something, whether it’s buying a book, your house, or attending your daughter’s wedding, make it easy for them.
Speaking of making it easy, you can buy any of my three People Tools books or my children’s book Benji and the 24 Pound Banana Squash, quite simply. Just look me up at Alancfox.com. My new children’s book, Benji and the Giant Kite, will be released in August and is available now for preorder.
Many thanks.
Alan