Peter Smith is an industry consultant, speaker, sales trainer, and author. He can be reached via email at TheRetailSmiths@gmail.com.
I was listening to a psychology podcast while the dog, Sophie, was walking me this morning.
It’s quite a sight, I can tell you—an 8-pound Malshi (a cross between a Maltese and Shih Tzu) dragging me all over the town like she owns the place while I trail behind holding onto her pink leash (yeah, my wife’s idea of humor) and pretending I’m in charge.
In any case, the podcast introduced me to the principle of the arrival fallacy, a psychological concept that speaks to why so many of us believe that if only something specific were to happen, it would definitively and forever fix a big problem we have.
Examples of the arrival fallacy in jewelry retail could be hiring a million-dollar sales writer to finally get the business on track.
It might be an exciting new brand that will magically propel the business to new heights.
It could be a significant injection of cash to steady a rocky boat.
It might be an executive hire to take your business to untold heights.
It could even be someone knocking on your door and offering to buy your business so that you can do all that travel you’ve been dreaming about.
The boss of the Smith household and human walker Sophie Smith
Of course, if aged inventory was worth the dollar you paid for it five years ago, and potential buyers had more money than sense, such an occurrence might just be possible.
To a large extent, the arrival fallacy could be any one of a thousand different things that you believe would fundamentally change the game for you, personally or professionally, if it were to happen.
The problem, of course, is that it’s impossible to arrive at any destination without taking the necessary first step in that direction.
We can’t get anywhere unless we are willing to make the commitment to do what is necessary, one step at a time, one decision at a time.
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If you need that million-dollar salesperson, quit imagining what it would be like and take the necessary action to put a plan in place.
If you are craving a particular brand, start the budgeting process to pay for it, assess your environment to best position the brand for success, and lay out a framework for a launch strategy.
If you feel like you need a cash injection in your business, have a cash flow and financial analysis done to first ensure that you are not bleeding money unnecessarily right now. There are people and companies that can help you with that. Make the call.
Likewise, if your ambition is to sell your business, get help in understanding how you can best position for that and put the wheels in motion.
And if you need an executive hire to drive your business forward, write down exactly what that would look like, what it might cost, and make the necessary calls to get help identifying who that person might be.
“We all have our own ideas about what a lottery win might feel like, but you can’t win without buying a ticket.” — Peter Smith
Seeing the final outcome as both the answer to your problems (the arrival fallacy) and an insurmountable obstacle to be kicked down the road for another day stymies progress and innovation.
It ends up being nothing more than an unfulfilling pipe dream, a self-defeating paradox of its own making.
Sketch out the bones of your idea and whether internally (a permanent hire) or externally (a consulting company), get the necessary help to execute your goal.
We all have our own ideas about what a lottery win might feel like, but you can’t win without buying a ticket.
Peter Smithis a principal partner at The Retail Smiths, a consultancy for jewelry vendors and retailers. He is the author of four books, including the recently released “Essentially Human, On Sales and Salespeople,” and he teaches sales behavior master classes. He can be reached at theretailsmiths@gmail.com.
