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Up and at 'em
early this Monday morning...
I'm
ready to help you line your business
and pockets
with some thick, green cash.
Today, I'm going to try to keep it
real simple for you in Marketing
101 class, amigo... seeing, of
course, that it's
so early in the AM.
So I've entitled this edition of Rants
"The Force That Drives Buying
Decisions."
Let's crack the books and
start our
lesson shall we, courtesy of
Professor Daryl and my first
question to you:
Q: What do people make a decision to buy?
Yes,
you heard right: I
asked what do people make a
decision to buy?
Not why do they buy --- but
what do they buy, I say
again, slooooooooowly.... for the
third time? Raise you're hand when you
think you know the answer. I'll
wait. I've got the time.
Got An Answer Yet? Good.
Bzzzzz. You're frickin' wrong!
So wrong, I oughta make you stay
after class and clean my three sets
of
chalkboard erasers.
People don't buy wonderful websites (like this one).
Or peckerheard proposals.
Or
techno-tweaked Powerpoint
presentations with stupid mooing cow
sounds in them. Or
nonsense like that.
No!
They buy solutions and
visions.
Which leads me to my next question
freshman, so you can redeem yourself
and save your hind from the
embarrassment of a failing grade:
"So How Do
You Find Out Your
Prospective Customer's Visions?"
Got an answer yet?
I'm waiting...
Good. I knew you would. After all,
that question was fairly easy.
And your
answer, of course, needs to be, "You ask
people questions, Daryl"... or else your
flabby butt is headed to the
Dean's office after I smack
your knuckles with this wooden
ruler. (Sorry. Forgot! Can't do that anymore.)
If you spend most of your time asking questions of
your prospective customers, you'll have the
opportunity to find out if they are
pursuing a solution or vision in their
dream-filled lives.
Because
The Last Time I Checked...
That's All People Really
Want.
They want very badly to spend
their money. Write a check. Slap
down the Gold AMEX. Even pay using
old fashioned American green to buy
solutions to the current problems
living in
their chaotic lives.
Some
problems are little. Some are not so
little.
That's because deep down in their
deprived, pain-avoiding souls, they
aren't buying some television
commercial, or XL2000 air
conditioner, or second mortgage, or
full Day-Spa makeover, or personal
publicity program for their self-conscience-selves.
No. They're buying visions.
Said another way, they want clear-cut solutions,
to problems.
And herein
lies the problem with why your
pockets aren't overflowing with
green fungolas:
You ain't selling
them that vision right
now.
Brace
Yourself For This Revelation...
It Could Chafe You.
This is for
you dinky-flunk Led Zeppelin stoners
in the back of the class. Lift up your hippy heads and
pay attention as I scribble it
on the chalkboard:
-
People buy solutions to problems.
In other words, they have pains
or
fears about something that could
happen. It might not be real
to you, but boy-oh-boy, is it
EVER real to them.
-
People buy visions that
represent the means of getting
to where they want to go.
-
And people make purchase
decisions to be happy. Every
decision we make in life -- no
matter how small or routine,
like stopping at 711 this
afternoon for that Diet Coke
-- is to feed our
craving soul a small piece of
happiness.
And one of my 57 Indisputable
Marketing Truths is this:
People will instantly spend
their hard-earned money FIRST
to solve or avoid a
potential problem... rather than
fork over their hard-earned dough on
something they think is okay, now.
That's why they do ignorant,
unintelligent things.
Like spend a
week researching a new cell phone
because the Caller ID doesn't show
up when calls get
transferred from their answering
service.
"That could be a problem," they think to themselves.
"How am I gonna know
who is trying to get in touch with
me?! That's no good," they
silently justify to themselves, over
and over again.
So they go out and drop 300 bucks on a stupid cell with the
OMAP architecture, ushering
hardware-based 3D
intelli-chip when they could
have easily gone out and bought a
phone for $69.95 (or even gotten one
from Mohammed at the Mall kiosk for
FREE).
You have behaved this way. So have I. We've all done it when we spend our cash.
Take
For Example, This Sickly Insane
Statistic...
Got any idea how many people in the
United States claim to dislike or
even hate their jobs?
Answer:
A whole frickin' boatload.
The last I
heard, it was something sick... like 57
percent of Americans.
Yet anyone can go out and get a new job or start a new
career. It's really not that
hard.
I mean, it ain't like trying to land
the Mars Rover Probe inside
of the Gustav Crater, 26 million
miles away, with 3 billion dollars
and your ENTIRE personal and
professional reputation on the line,
right?
But most people won't
actively look for a new job
today after their done griping
about it at lunch with a
co-worker.
Why??
Because they're freaked out about treading "unknown" waters, or losing a
secure paycheck, or forfeiting that window office,
or fat 401k account, or... (insert their
excuse here).
And that's a more
painful vision to them (even
though it hasn't even occurred and
probably never will) than having to
endure whatever frustration they
believe they have now in that sucky job
they're complaining about.
I called this newsletter "The
Force That Drives Buying Decisions."
I should have called it the
"Forces," as in plural... because some prospects
are just...
A
Frickin' Walking Pain Statement.
And they're all
in pain, motivated by
forces.
They'll
even serve you their
problems right up on a silver
platter and reach right out to you
and ask you to solve them.
But
most never do.
So remember
A+ marketing student, as your
favorite marketing teacher has just
taught you:
-
First, not all people (or
businesses) perceive that they
need to change. Most don't
because they are ignorant and
brainwashed like hypnotized
lambs heading to the daily
slaughterhouse. They're weekday
zombies, rushing through crazed
schedules where their days turn
into weeks... turn into YEARS!
And they ain't gonna
rock the boat!
-
Second, not all buyers are aware of the
problems, pitfalls, or
opportunities lurking. If you
are in business to earn a profit
for yourself this is what you do for a
living: you point out to people
and explain where those problems, pitfalls
and opportunities live! Capeche?
-
And thirdly, and most important,
remember
this:
People are motivated to be
happy. Every decision they make today and every day,
every SINGLE DAY OF THEIR
LIVES, they make
motivated by an inner desire to be
happy. Yes, even the tiniest
of decisions, like buying that
spearmint pack of
Dentyne Ice at the cash
register.
These are the most important
principles you can learn to becoming
more persuasive in your sales and
marketing.
They are
indeed the force
that drives buying decisions.
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