I’m always pushing my clients and readers (and myself) to shorten the gap between actually doing stuff (important business activity)… and just thinking about it.

As entrepreneurs, it’s a psychological game that we struggle with. The more “intellectual” our background, the more we tend to “plan” and over-analyse things before taking action.

Here’s a new angle you might not have considered: This Thinking-Action Gap affects our customers too!

When we try and sell someone on an idea, product or service… they have to think things over before saying yes. As entrepreneurs (or sales people) we’re always looking for our prospects to take action with a quick decision.

So how do we shorten the Thinking-Action Gap?

Increase trust: Provide social proof that your solution works, present “real life” statistics or make sure the prospect knows you’ve been (successfully) in the game since the year dot.

Make the required action smaller: By asking for less, you make the decision easier. Be careful though – it’s easy to fall into the trap of “just emailing an overview” and extending the sales cycle out far too long. Ideally, ask for a small decision that opens the door for you to show huge value – then ask for the big decision straight away.

Offer true risk reversal: It becomes a no-brainer when you take all the danger out of the deal… but this trick has been around a while, so “just mail it back for a full refund” isn’t going to cut the mustard anymore. “Free” is special kind of zero-risk (just ask Google) but there are other approaches too.

Interestingly enough, all three of these approaches also works in the context of personal (psychological) development. Next time you’re procrastinating (because of lizard-brain fear) check to see if:

• You trust your plans will actually deliver
• You’re not being overwhelmed by unnecessarily huge steps
• You’ve protected yourself from every risk you can

Hmmm… what do you think?