I Can’t Confirm Or Deny That

It’s easy to make too many assumptions.

It’s something I regularly fight off.

Often, the assumptions we make simply confirm what we already believe. This is the confirmation bias. According to Wikipedia, the confirmation bias is:

The tendency to search for, interpret, focus on and remember information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions.

When you sell, it’s your job to find information about your potential client. Maybe you can help them, maybe you can’t. But there’s no way to know unless you set out to be unbiasedin your approach.

And yet, we know for certain that we’re all susceptible to confirmation bias.

“I’ve seen this 100 times. I already know what the problem is.”

This is the kind of statement that leads us to confirmation bias and a predetermined opinion. Instead, think this:

“I’ve seen something similar 100 times. I think I know what the problem is, but I need to find out.”

It’s pretty close to the first statement, but it’s less likely to lead to errors.

So as you sell your services, have an open, unbiased approach and learn as much as you can. It’ll lead to better outcomes for you and your clients (and that’s not just my own confirmation bias).