I have been somewhat fixated on the cost of inaction lately. What is the cost of inaction? It is how much not making a decision will cost you.
The best example that I can think of is if you have a hole in your gas tank that is leaking $10 of fuel per day. You get several quotes to fix it, but the lowest cost is $140 so you take some time to think about it. Two weeks later, you still haven’t decided what to do, but you are already out of pocket the $140 it would have cost to fix the hole. And this number will continue to increase as long as the inaction exists.
Inaction exists a lot in my own sales world. A demo will go extremely well, the prospective customer will acknowledge the value of what I am offering, but then it takes weeks, months or even years to make a decision. I understand that decisions involve various approvals, looking at competitors, finding the right fiscal time to purchase and so on. But math is math.
Why do people take so long to decide? Is it because “it has always been done this way” and they have “been getting by”?
This makes me think of my dad and his loyalty to an old Nokia flip phone. He didn’t think he needed a smart phone because his flip phone had gotten him by for many years. He had no idea what a smart phone was capable of — that it is not simply a device to make phone calls in the event of an emergency.
In this example, the cost of inaction isn’t financial, but time, convenience and it even familial relationships (he missed out on some great group chats in “Zelek’s Rule!”)
The financial cost of inaction is often the most impactful, but let’s not forget about time.
Picking on my poor dad again, if he wanted a weather update, he would turn on the television and put on the Weather Network. This isn’t the most time-consuming task in the world, but having the Weather Network app on your phone sure is faster, more in-depth and available any time you need it.
The price of standing still is expensive, no matter how you measure it. This doesn’t mean you need to rush into decision making. Spending some extra time to make sure you are making the right decision should save you time and money in the end.
If after two days of leaking gas you find someone that can fix the leak for $75, you came out ahead. However, if you find that $75 deal after 10 days of waiting, your inaction cost you money.
Do some research, give it some thought and then make the smartest decision for you or your business.
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