NEEDS versus WANTS

[wade1mil]

There have been a few posts about how to identify needs and some poor attempts at recognizing them recently (myself included). So, I searched the forum for threads with the keywords "NEED" and "WANT" in the title and found zero results. That seemed odd, so I guess I'll start one..

What examples do you have of needs vs wants?

 

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[healthstatus]

Want is the result, need is the thing that fulfills the best to my definition.

I want a movie theater experience, I need a big screen TV

I want my popcorn in 2 minutes, I need a microwave

I want to spend extra money for less compatibility and features, I need a Mac

 

[The-J]

I read something that clarified this... there's 'nice to haves' and 'pain points'. Addressing pain points makes the real money, whereas 'nice to haves' make really good money but are less predictable.

I wouldn't say that addressing nice to haves is 'chasing money', because people are fickle and they may feel that they need something that won't really add any true value to their lives.

But value is subjective, too. Just focus on the feedback you get.

 

[wade1mil]

I probably could have worded it differently, but the point was to look at it from the angle of someone looking to find a need. Just because someone wants/needs a big screen TV doesn't mean there is a need in terms of a business opportunity.

 

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[911Carrera]

You can make plenty of money providing wants to people. People have egos that need to be fed. You help them do that effectively, you will be a wealthy man. Apple doesn't provide anything that anyone needs, but they are I believe the wealthiest/most valuable company in the world right now.

 

[Ivan]

I think for business purposes, the two terms are interchangeable. A "want" is perceived as a "need" for most people.

ie. "But Dad! I NEED an iPhone!" - 14-year-olds everywhere

I'd go as far as to say that people will often forgo their true "needs" so they can pay for their "wants".

ie. That same 14-year-old saving lunch money to buy an iPhone...

 

[Jake]

I want to spend extra money for less compatibility and features, I need a Mac

 

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[NaPal]

I want to spend extra money for less compatibility and features, I need a Mac

What i've began to realize is that the everyday average person wants a product that's easy to use and works every time they pick it up. This is why i believe apple is successful. They may not appeal to tech gurus, but they appeal to the average citizen and that's where the moneys at.

This same concept can be illustrated with the ps3, xbox360, and wii. Gamers will not touch a wii, however its the best family system, fullfills the need, and appeals to the largest audience.

 

[theag]

I recently read an interview with Mike Geary (Truth about Abs) on 4HWW. He says his customers WANT abs excercises, but what they NEED is a complete full body training and the right nutritional plan to achieve what they want (six pack abs). I think thats a good example and his success speaks for itself.

 

[hatterasguy]

Need:
Food
Clothing
water
shelter

Want, V12 Mercedes, 55 Hattares, and a Raymarine E series electronics package for said boat. But I don't know its a need! Its really nice!!!!

 

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[Kak]

Need my bills paid, food, gas, phone, car ins, car maintain, internet.

Want luxury watches, Bentley or Rolls, custom suits, a jet card, homes abroad, 60+ foot sailing cat, 40ish foot sportfishing yacht, private club memberships, time to enjoy these things, people to enjoy these things with.

 

[Ãœbertreffen]

It really depends on the context of each where they will show such differences in different situations.

A need, more specifically a basic need is the bare minimum a human must have to survive. As it's been mentioned you need the following:

• Food
• Water
• Shelter
• Clothing
• Oxygen

Once you have these basic needs they do nothing for motivation. However, if you were on a conference call and all of a sudden you couldn't breathe, at this point you could really careless about hearing what the other individual(s) had/have to say. All you would care about is getting some oxygen which would be an only case where you would have motivation for the basic need.



If we go a bit further, the needs can still continue. Let's say you're stranded on an island by yourself for 30 days with no chance of rescue in site. You happen to be on an island that you were fortunate enough to carry your basic needs to survive. However, you're alone. Your cell phone has no chance of working so you're shut out from all communication. The lack of communication with the outside world creates a chemical imbalance to your brain and as the days go on you keep hoping someone will find you. Before you know it day by day you're need to just communicate with someone else is eating at you. Days turn to weeks, weeks to months and before you know it you start to go insane. In this case, you lack the psychological need.

Again, when you have this need you really don't think about it. Once you're satisfied there is no desire to have it. Take it away and the desire is there.



However, let's move away from the individual needs and move into a business level.

Let's say you have a very large and important business deal coming up. You look for your suit but you find out it doesn't fit as well as it used to or it is starting to show its age. This is an unsatisfied need which came into play as soon as you found out the suit wasn't going to work. Your need now surrounds around the fact that you don't have a suit and one should be acquired. This would be known as need recognition. Now you wanted the $5,000+ suit but the $200 suit covered your need.

A better example would be the people who stand at the food court giving out samples. You decide to try the sample and as soon as the food hits your taste buds it spikes your appetite. You're now going back to your basic need and at the same time you are creating need recognition to stimulate the buying process.

We can go further on this but there are sometimes needs that motivate. The suit you bought accomplished a specific task and would be a utilitarian need. If you go shopping for pleasure or you drag race down the race track for the adrenaline rush alone you are after the hedonic need.

Ever wonder why there's music in certain stores or certain scents in places you go? These stores are trying to satisfy the hedonic need.



a want is typically something you don't need and is something you would like to have. You need a car to get from A to B but you don't need the top of the line car. When you purchase your dream car, you are satisfying your want cycle.

A want is a perspective that can differentiate from one person to another.



Now there are times where a need/want can fall very similar. Let's say you enjoy eating chocolate. While you need food to survive that doesn't mean that you need chocolate. Sure, depending on the type of chocolate we can go into detail about the positives and negatives but that is way off topic here. If you like chocolate you are satisfying a want.





- Devin

 

[miked_d]

Need my bills paid, food, gas, phone, car ins, car maintain, internet.

Want luxury watches, Bentley or Rolls, custom suits, a jet card, homes abroad, 60+ foot sailing cat, 40ish foot sportfishing yacht, private club memberships, time to enjoy these things, people to enjoy these things with.

This is what came to my mind. Rather than think of others, I thought of myself and saving money. I need a place to live but don't need a 2000+ sq ft condo. I need fast internet, but don't need FIOS. etc

 

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[Hairy Maclary]

I just searched for need vs. want and found a thread 7 days old, woot

There is a big difference between need vs. want and i believe is something that holds back "propper" needs being met, vs. "superficial" wants being delivered.

Maslows hierarchy of needs has them all there. Yet it amazes me how full of crap all the consumer markets are.

The guys before had it right:
Mac vs PC
Mortgaged ferrari vs ford focus
KFC vs light salad

I think perhaps we have hit a peak and the market has leveled out at Maslows "Aesthetics" row as this is the easiest to wrap up and sell on. It also probably has something to do with emotions and impulse desires.

Anyway I badly "need" a smoke, thanks for the insight

 

[leon]

I call it "painkillers vs. candy".

For software it's like games are candy whereas a CRM is a painkiller. Candies are mostly for entertainment and wasting time. Painkillers solve problems and make/save the user money/time.

 

[jacob]

Needs are things that you can't live without and wants are things that are unnecessary but you likely want to have.

 

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[PatrickP]

I recently read an interview with Mike Geary (Truth about Abs) on 4HWW. He says his customers WANT abs excercises, but what they NEED is a complete full body training and the right nutritional plan to achieve what they want (six pack abs). I think thats a good example and his success speaks for itself.

I just googled images for Mike Geary.

I would think if that if book includes the word abs you should actually have abs showing no?

 

[GThreepwood]

I just googled images for Mike Geary.

I would think if that if book includes the word abs you should actually have abs showing no?

Apparently not, cause that guy sells a lot of stuff...

 

[PatrickP]

well ah yea that was my point lol

Damn you should have a book/course your six pack is way better than his.

 

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[PatrickP]

Apparently not, cause that guy sells a lot of stuff...

How do you know he sells a lot?

Ferris said he sold a ton but in reality he really sold a relatively small amount of units with his supplement company.

Things are not always as they seem, like your figuring 1 million in the bee keeping industry. (was it bee keeping I can't remember)

 

[ChickenHawk]

Funny, to your average Sidewalker, EVERYTHING is a so-called need. "I need a bigger house. I need granite countertops. I need a new boat. I need a trip to Hawaii." But in reality, these are all "wants." They justify these purchases by calling them needs, but they're mistaken. As others on this thread have pointed out, wants and needs aren't the same thing. (GREAT topic, btw.)

Funny how confusing what's needed with what's wanted leads to TRUE needs -- like the NEED to hide from creditors, the NEED to negotiate payment plans, or the NEED to sponge off others.

 

[GThreepwood]

Damn you should have a book/course your six pack is way better than his.

Hahahaa, thanks man, and same to your six pack <--- Did that sound really weird, cause it kinda did to me

How do you know he sells a lot?

Ferris said he sold a ton but in reality he really sold a relatively small amount of units with his supplement company.

Things are not always as they seem, like your figuring 1 million in the bee keeping industry. (was it bee keeping I can't remember)

But I know he sells a lot cause he sells through clickbank mainly, and you can see stats through that "shopping cart" cause they're primarily set up to attract affiliates.

I think I've heard an interview with him as well talking about sales figures. (Could be wrong about that.)

The clickbank stats do look really strong. (At least in the past.)

 

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[PatrickP]

Very cool!

Thank you for the info, another tool to use for projects.

Much appreciated.

 

[PatrickP]

I did a quick search on him and his products. Just as you said his program was the #1 seller on click bank so HUGE amounts of money coming in.

A few things I also saw was that he paid 75% to the affiliates which most likely helped him sell such huge amounts. He also spent a ton on money on PPC traffic.

ALWAYS learning

 

[GThreepwood]

The "best practices" for product owners now in clickbank is to set affiliate commissions at 75%, otherwise you're not "competitive" and affiliates will ditch you for some other product. Crazy affiliate world

 

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[PatrickP]

The "best practices" for product owners now in clickbank is to set affiliate commissions at 75%, otherwise you're not "competitive" and affiliates will ditch you for some other product. Crazy affiliate world

WOW good info.

Almost seems like it would be better to create a system to sell someone else's high dollar stuff rather than create your own. You get 3 times the money and don't have to spend a minute creating the item that is being sold?

 

[GThreepwood]

WOW good info.

Almost seems like it would be better to create a system to sell someone else's high dollar stuff rather than create your own. You get 3 times the money and don't have to spend a minute creating the item that is being sold?

I think that that's what a lot of affiliates line of thought is too.

But once the customer clicks on your affilate link and off your page, then they become a customer of *Mike's* product (not yours.)

What "smart" people on Clickbank (like probably what Mike is doing) is to basically break even or make just a little money on the front end, and treat the affiliate generated sales as a lead gen device.

The "real" money for product creators is in the upsell, or in the second product. Or in the fact that they have a huge customer list now, and can sell other people's affiliate products too by just sending out emails.

I think it's probably still better to be a product creator.

Cause if you can generate affiliate sales, you should be able to generate sales for your own product.

 

[PatrickP]

DANG!

You do know your stuff that is exactly what they said about him losing some money on the front end to build the list.

NICE man!

 

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[GThreepwood]

DANG!

You do know your stuff that is exactly what they said about him losing some money on the front end to build the list.

NICE man!

I pretend I know my stuff

 

[halfstepdown88]

I think that that's what a lot of affiliates line of thought is too.

But once the customer clicks on your affilate link and off your page, then they become a customer of *Mike's* product (not yours.)

What "smart" people on Clickbank (like probably what Mike is doing) is to basically break even or make just a little money on the front end, and treat the affiliate generated sales as a lead gen device.

The "real" money for product creators is in the upsell, or in the second product. Or in the fact that they have a huge customer list now, and can sell other people's affiliate products too by just sending out emails.

I think it's probably still better to be a product creator.

Cause if you can generate affiliate sales, you should be able to generate sales for your own product.

Is there a good process to learn how to generate sales? If one was to try and sale Mike Geary's program, how would you do it?

I'm trying to learn some internet marketing and sales so that I can gain the skill for later.