You will be able to set out two or three options whose differences the buyer can follow.
Go back to Priya and Joel. Priya sells bookkeeping services, and Joel, who owns two cafes, is a prospective client. Her proposal will set out three ways to work with her and say which one she thinks he should choose.
Most people have been shown a menu designed to push them one way. A gym cuts its basic plan back until nobody would sign up for it. A phone contract comes in three tiers, and the cheapest one leaves out the one thing you went into the shop for. Buyers can tell when two of the choices are decoys put there to make the third look reasonable, and once they notice, they trust everything on the menu less.
Real options each solve the buyer's problem, so the buyer is choosing how to buy, with whether to buy already settled. If you put one proposal in front of someone, they ask, "Should I do this?" If you put two or three good options in front of them, they ask, "Which of these suits us?" Both are fair questions, but the second is closer to a decision. It also lets the buyer help shape what they get, where a single proposal only lets them accept or reject yours.
Every option you offer has to solve the core problem: the problem the buyer confirmed with you in discovery. An option that leaves it out is a decoy option. It gives the buyer no real choice, and its only job is to make one of the others look good.
Joel confirmed his core problem in discovery. Doing the books takes up his Sundays, and he doesn't trust the numbers coming from his two cafes. So each of Priya's options has to take the bookkeeping off his hands and give him figures he can rely on. An option that only tidied up last year's records for his accountant would not qualify, because he would still lose his Sundays.
All three options include monthly books for both outlets. They differ in how quickly a problem gets caught and how much support Joel gets.
Option one, S$350 a month (an invented price): monthly books for both outlets, with the tills checked against sales once a month. Joel gets his Sundays back, but a gap in a till could go unnoticed for up to a month. Option two, S$450 a month: the monthly books, plus a weekly till reconciliation for each outlet, with any gap flagged by Monday. If a till is short, Joel finds out within a week. Option three, S$550 a month: everything in option two, plus a meeting every quarter to go through cash flow and plan the next quarter. This gives Joel more support and suits an owner who wants to think ahead.
Bringing last year's records up to date for the accountant is a one-off S$600. Priya charges the same for it in every option, because Joel needs it whichever one he picks. If your buyer needs something whatever they choose, price it the same way across all your options.
Buyers compare options on what matters to them, and your internal package names mean nothing to a cafe owner. Describe each difference as one of four things: speed, scope, support or risk. Use whichever one the buyer would notice in an ordinary week, and finish each option's description by saying what changes for them.
Write the difference as an outcome the buyer will see, for example "you find out within a week, not a month". A feature name such as "weekly reconciliation module" tells them nothing about their week.
Offer two or three. With one option, the buyer's only choice is yes or no. With four or more, they have to work too hard, and some put off deciding altogether. A buyer who never decides is the outcome to fear most, and Sales foundations lesson 1.3, "Why no decision beats every competitor", explains why.
Setting out the options and then saying "it's up to you" can feel neutral. In practice it leaves the buyer to work out alone something you are better placed to judge. Choose one, and give your reason in one sentence that refers to something the buyer told you.
Priya recommends option two, and her reason uses Joel's own words. What worries him most is not knowing whether a short till is a mistake or something worse, and weekly checks answer that within days.
The option you recommend doesn't have to be the most expensive. Suppose Joel had told Priya that cash was tight this year and the till worry was minor. Then option one would have been the honest recommendation, and she should have told him so. When the recommendation always lands on the top tier, buyers notice and stop trusting it. If the buyer's situation points to a cheaper option, recommend that one and tell them plainly.
The same applies when you're selling to an individual. A financial adviser setting out choices for a client should base the recommendation on that client's needs and budget, and explain the reasoning. The course "Selling financial advice in Singapore: needs-based and compliant" covers in detail what this means for advisers.
Read through your options once more and check for three common faults. The first is a difference the buyer can't see, such as two internal processes that give the same result. The second is a set of options built so that only one makes sense, which buyers spot and resent. The third is an option the buyer never asked for, added because it earns you more.
Before you write the options in the activity below, list the four or five things the buyer said mattered most. Pick one or two of them. Those are where your options will differ.
Pick one live opportunity and set out two or three options for it. Then write one sentence saying which you recommend and why.
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