by jsawvel » Fri Jan 16, 2009 7:48 pm
I just got done with Harry Browne´s book and he says that people buy things that will improve their situation or make them happier.
His idea is that PEOPLE already know what they want. Sure, they may want things for EMOTIONAL reasons.
Maybe I want a new "crop of hair" or a nice green front lawn. I want them for emotional reasons, but having these things really does make me happier and improves my state of mind and happiness.
If someone shows me how I truly can have a new crop of hair or a green lawn, then I have found a way to solve my worry or my problem and make myself happier.
And ultimately, probably, the problem I am trying to solve is not my hair or the lawn, but how other people percieve me (hair) and what my neighbors or friends think of my yard.
But, if someone can show me HOW to improve my image, then that IS the problem I am trying to solve. I want to solve it for emotional reasons, but there is a clear problem that I have in my mind that I am motivated to find a solution to.
So, it seems like the idea is not to MOTIVATE the person to buy, but to understand the motivation they already have and show them how you can solve their problem. To do this, I think you need to know what frustration your product is going to solve for the person you are selling to. Or, what pleasure or happiness it will add to their life and WHAT makes them happy.
The Harry Browne book basically stated that the Rockefellers and the very rich men in the world have just made a lot of people happy. I think this is a great way of thinking about sales.
"How is my product going to make my prospect happier or their life easier?"
It makes a lot of sense why movie makers and music artists are so rich, because they provide lots of people with lots of pleasure. And there aren´t very many people that can make products that give people pleasure or actually make their life easier or make them happier.