Every businessperson will be faced with a decision making process in their business.
Decision-making is the selection based on some criteria from two or more possible alternatives. – George R.Terry
The decision making process is an important step in every business. There are going to be several situations where you will have to make a decision. In direct selling also, you will have to make decisions, and these decisions will either make your direct selling business or break it.
Every decision making process has seven steps you must go through to make a successful decision. Every small or big decision needs to go through these steps to help you make a better decision. Be it a decision about expanding your network or which products to showcase to the customers at an event. Every decision is important and will lead the path of your business.
Let us take the example of the decision making process regarding which products to showcase at an event?
1. Identifying the decision
First and foremost, it is important that you identify the decision to be made. Identifying a problem is the first step of the decision making process. Only when you identify the problem can be decided what needs to be done.
In our example of showcasing products at an event, the problem is which products to be showcased?
2. Gather relevant information
Once the problem is known, the next step is to gather information relating to the problem. You can either gather information internally i,e., from past experience from your business, or externally i,e., from outside your business, it might be from other businesses or the internet.
Going back to our example, you can gather information regarding which products you have sold most in previously held events or the current trend of products in the market. If the sale of beauty products was more in the previous event, then the information gathered will be that the beauty products are more likely to be sold by you. However, you might notice that other direct sellers mostly sell health and wellness products due to the pandemic.
3. Identify the alternatives
Now that you have the required information in your hand, the next step in the decision making process is to choose alternative ways to deal with the problem. You can use your imagination and devise alternative scenarios to deal with the problem.
In this example, the alternatives can be as follows, a) showcase only beauty products, b) showcase only health and wellness products or c) showcase a mixture of beauty and wellness products.
4. Weigh the evidence
In this step of the decision making process, you will analyze all the alternatives you discovered in the previous step. This is where you will find the pro and cons of each alternative in detail.
In our example, the first alternative was to showcase beauty products. It has worked successfully in the past but not necessarily that it will work now because people’s priority now is health. The second alternative is showcasing only wellness products. You might not have seen many health products being sold by you, but it might be possible due to the pandemic scare. The third option is showcasing both. Here you can showcase products you are comfortable selling along with the current market trends.
5. Choose among alternatives
With the evidence of pros and cons derived in step 4 of the decision making process, choose an alternative that is going to be more advantageous.
Here the most advantageous alternative is the third alternative i,e. to showcase beauty and wellness products in a combination. It is the alternative in which you have seen success as well as the one which includes current trends.
6. Take action
Now that you have finalized the course of action implement it.
In our example, the implementation will involve buying wellness and beauty products that will be showcased at the event. The beauty product may be all or a selected few (to select which among the beauty products you need to choose can also be a decision-making process, and you can use the same steps of it). Even the wellness products may be all or only the ones that boost immunity.
7. Review your decision making process
In this step, you must reflect on whether the action taken solved the initial problem you identified in the first step. If your decision was a success, take note of the process for future reference. If not, repeat the required steps and make a decision.
In our example, the review is based purely on sales. If both beauty and wellness products were sold in a mixture, then your decision was a success. However, if only beauty or only wellness products get sold, then you will have to change your decision accordingly.
The decision making process can either lead to the success or failure of your business. The decision making process can only be mastered with practice. Don’t let the failures stop you from making bold decisions. Trust in yourself and the lessons you have learned in the past.
Learn more about strategy for an effective QNET Direct Selling business.
