I have a particular fondness for dark chocolate covered almonds. I’m not naming any names and my wife goes to Trader Joe’s frequently and there may be some connection there. Whichever snack food company used the slogan, “You can’t eat just one“, that would be true for me. Eating one turns into eating three, turns into eating nine, turns into eating fifteen. Sometimes I’ve had as many as 20 in a day. At 27 calories apiece, that’s a good chunk of the day‘s calorie intake; it’s also half the sugar target and two-thirds of the recommended limit on saturated fat. Not so good.

While I listened carefully to a doctor friend who said, “Nick, it’s dark chocolate and almonds, what could be better?” and, as much as I crave them, I’ve been intending for some time to reduce my intake or eliminate them from my diet, completely.

I’ve tried a number of substitutes, mostly fresh fruit – apple chunks, blueberries, raspberries. Small handfuls of granola. Small servings of cheddar or provolone cheese. Raw almonds. Raw walnuts. Pita chips. Greek yogurt. All wonderful and none of them quite the same as the chocolate covered almonds.

So, a few days ago, while I was browsing in my favorite local source for Greek food specialties, I spotted their olive bar. Particularly the vat of pitted Kalamata olives. And I thought, “You know, those look just about like the chocolate covered almonds. They’re about the same size. They’re roughly the same color (at least, dark). Maybe I could try those as a substitute for the chocolate covered almonds.” I purchased a two-cup container of olives.

That evening, I enjoyed a half-dozen olives….. followed by fifteen chocolate covered almonds (starting, of course, with “just one”).

All of which reminded me that, when we are selling products or services that require our clients to stop familiar patterns and to adopt new behaviors: No matter how “good for them” our product or service may be, our sale and their implementation will probably fail if we don’t somehow assist clients to establish new thought and behavior patterns.

In my experience, many clients think they don’t need and are generally unwilling to pay for the coaching and support needed to come around that corner.  The hardest part of those sales can be selling them on the value of the support services rather than selling them on the value of the product or service, itself.

And, sometimes, disabling the old behaviors can be a good start.

In my case, that means: Cutting off the supply and removing the remaining inventory so that it’s not accessible for consumption. Almonds out; olives in. Wheeee!

Nick Miller is President of Clarity Advantage based in Concord, MA. He assists banks and credit unions to generate more and more profitable relationships, faster, with business clients, their owners, and their employees through better sales strategies and execution. Additional articles on Clarity’s web site.