Scale Rank Importance

I was reminded of my 90s flirtations with what’s recently been re-termed the dater’s Drake Formula conundrum.

Namely that – just like the probability of life elsewhere in the universe and in Sales a deal coming home – too many funnelling stipulations for anything and chances drop with each one, hurtling towards a soul-crushing zero.

Unaccustomed as I am to internet dating options, I was tickled by provider eHarmony announcing how they treat preferences.

Firstly, they have drastically chopped the ranking required. From 1-10 to 1-7 and now simply a three-point scale.

Any seller that’s tried to get a prospect to rank various decision criteria should appreciate this pattern.

I fondly remember employing the traffic light system. Just asking for a red, amber or green.

I also like the labels.

not important, somewhat important, very (very) important

Echoes of traffic lights. Yet this goes further. Anything except ‘very’ gets ignored.

Must-haves, nice-to-haves, won’t have.

A commonplace lens through which to view requirements. (Who knew there was a documented method like this called Moscow?)

Anything else and your deal management will likely be weighed down by a dense algorithm which would see salespeople unnecessarily – as eHarmony Chief Scientist Dr Steve Carter remarked – “kick themselves in the nuts”.