Why do people buy?

[kommen]

"'Why do people buy?' is a thousand times more important than 'How do I sell?' No, let me correct that... it's one million times more important than 'How do I sell?' No, let me correct that... it's one billion times more important than 'How do I sell?' Get the picture?"
- Page 7 of The Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffrey Gitomer

I'm writing this post because I genuinely want to know your thoughts guys. Why do people buy?

I have my answers, but I don't know if it's correct. I'll let around 5 answers in first before I tell mine to avoid any bias.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Prdgy]

Great question.

People buy because they have a NEED, or they have a WANT; but for the sake of the entrepreneur, you can just write them off as NEEDS. Needs, as the name suggests, are items/services/anything the consumer requires/wants to own/to have access to. If the consumer didn't need anything, the consumer wouldn't buy anything, because the consumer is selfish (rightly so!).

Jeffrey Gitomer makes a great point that you can find in TMF aswell: if you had the cure to cancer, how much time would you actually have to spend to advertise it?

However, selling is still important, because it's a part of EXECUTION (the thing that makes or breaks a good business), it's just that it's easier to execute when you have an idea with a tangible need. MJ puts it well in his book, the relationship between an idea and its execution is multiplying the profits of an idea.

Let me give you an example: Back in 8th grade I used to run a shoprunning "business". Basically, if you give me the money + a transportation tax to buy you whatever you want from the store. This business worked because my fellow schoolmates had a WANT (something from the store) but were barred because of an INCONVENIENCE (they were lazy bums who wouldn't walk 5 minutes to the nearest store). They had their stuff, I had the transportation tax. If I were to execute this better, I probably could've upscaled to hiring kids to work for me instead of me doing all the work, but young Prdgy was too worried about his semestrial papers, so this all lasted around 5 months, between January and May.

TL;DR:
Why do people buy? Because they have a NEED that you can fulfill.

 

[Kevin88660]

"'Why do people buy?' is a thousand times more important than 'How do I sell?' No, let me correct that... it's one million times more important than 'How do I sell?' No, let me correct that... it's one billion times more important than 'How do I sell?' Get the picture?"
- Page 7 of The Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffrey Gitomer

I'm writing this post because I genuinely want to know your thoughts guys. Why do people buy?

I have my answers, but I don't know if it's correct. I'll let around 5 answers in first before I tell mine to avoid any bias.

Quantifiable value.

Recent things I bought
-$2.7 sgd ready to eat chicken breast with 100 calories. Eating two makes you feel like eating a meal. Good for calories control, healthy and not too pricey.

-premium gym membership $60 a week. I didn’t even look much at the machines available of course they are good.

Key thing is they offer free study space with wifi, charging pot and free flow of English breakfast tea. The same same tea cost $3.5 in Starbucks/coffee bean. If I two in a row for a session I already “break even” for the day. I have to pay for more if I buy a cake and a coffee for a working space in Starbucks.

They has a $8000 worth of Evolt body fat scanning machine free for use too. I am interested in that and I would never buy it on my own.

-Bloomberg news access for $40 per month. They seem to be the only journalists who know what they are talking about. Useful for trading and investment decisions. They hire ex finance people who switch to journalism into of journalists who is trying to figure out finance.

From the seller perspective is about having the ability to participate in the tendering process. If a potential buyer does not know you exist you have no chance. They remember you when their contractor with the competitor is about to expire.

 

[Avantem]

People buy because they have a neural mechanism in their head. Hormones, personal past experiences, and other people's experiences are involved.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Subsonic]

"'Why do people buy?' is a thousand times more important than 'How do I sell?' No, let me correct that... it's one million times more important than 'How do I sell?' No, let me correct that... it's one billion times more important than 'How do I sell?' Get the picture?"
- Page 7 of The Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffrey Gitomer

I'm writing this post because I genuinely want to know your thoughts guys. Why do people buy?

I have my answers, but I don't know if it's correct. I'll let around 5 answers in first before I tell mine to avoid any bias.

They buy because they think your offer is more valuable than their money.

 

[kommen]

They buy because they think your offer is more valuable than their money.

Can you define value to me?

 

[Kevin88660]

Can you define value to me?

Industry specific value skew.

I can explain why I choose some broker depsite them not offering “commission free” trading experience. But it would be too technical.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Subsonic]

Can you define value to me?

Dream outcome minus Price,
divided by Effort +time needed to archive the outcome


From $100 Million offers

 

[kommen]

Dream outcome minus Price,
divided by Effort +time needed to archive the outcome


From $100 Million offers

That's actually a very interesting perspective, I've never heard anyone with such way to define value.

 

[biophase]

"'Why do people buy?' is a thousand times more important than 'How do I sell?' No, let me correct that... it's one million times more important than 'How do I sell?' No, let me correct that... it's one billion times more important than 'How do I sell?' Get the picture?"
- Page 7 of The Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffrey Gitomer

I'm writing this post because I genuinely want to know your thoughts guys. Why do people buy?

I have my answers, but I don't know if it's correct. I'll let around 5 answers in first before I tell mine to avoid any bias.

Let’s say I need a comb. I look for a comb. The price is $1. I determine that $1 is a fair price to solve my problem. I buy.

If the price is $20. I may determine that I don’t need to comb my hair that badly for $20. I don’t buy. Or I look for a cheaper comb.

Or I have no idea what I want. I come across a tea kettle. It looks cool. I check the price $20. What a deal! Buy. Or $200! Pass. The buy/pass price was somewhere between $20-$200 for me.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[sicktory]

"'Why do people buy?' is a thousand times more important than 'How do I sell?' No, let me correct that... it's one million times more important than 'How do I sell?' No, let me correct that... it's one billion times more important than 'How do I sell?' Get the picture?"
- Page 7 of The Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffrey Gitomer

I'm writing this post because I genuinely want to know your thoughts guys. Why do people buy?

I have my answers, but I don't know if it's correct. I'll let around 5 answers in first before I tell mine to avoid any bias.

1. Necessities (like food, clothing, fuel)
2. wishes (like high value brands, or other luxury stuff)
3. identity (like lgbtq stuff, anti lgbtq stuff)
4. commodity (like a better machine for kitchen)
5. emotionality (like chocolate; people buy it when they're stressed for example)
6. investment (to have more money later)

Great question, what are your thoughts?

 

[Claymore96]

In my opinion, customers buy because they are selfish! Do it like Adolf Hitler: he knew the biggest 'pain points' in the German population. Hitler KNEW what Germans HATED the most. He simply gave a 'superior' 'SOLUTION' for the HATE. That's the reason why he is such a marketing genius and gained so much power.​

DISCLAIMER: I highly condemn Hitlers actions!​

 

[ChronicBlizzard]

"'Why do people buy?' is a thousand times more important than 'How do I sell?' No, let me correct that... it's one million times more important than 'How do I sell?' No, let me correct that... it's one billion times more important than 'How do I sell?' Get the picture?"
- Page 7 of The Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffrey Gitomer

I'm writing this post because I genuinely want to know your thoughts guys. Why do people buy?

I have my answers, but I don't know if it's correct. I'll let around 5 answers in first before I tell mine to avoid any bias.

They buy because they give what they have/(can have if we consider borrowing money) to get something they desire/need all while considering it justified.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Kung Fu Steve]

At the end of the day, people buy for one reason and one reason only: because they want to.

 

[Walter Hay]

There has been a lot of comment about what the consumer NEEDS, but a lot less mention of WANTS.

If you want to operate a successful business to make money you need to understand that consumers are far more likely to think that what they want is what they need.

Get inside their brains and think like that consumer whose buying decisions are of such importance to you.

This might help:

Your Brain Tells You Lies. As a successful marketer I have used marketing psychology effectively, and believe me, it’s not rocket science. You need to at least think about those occasions when you have made a purchasing decision that you later regretted. Was that decision based on sound, logical reasoning on the facts such as price or value, or did your emotions creep in?

Can you honestly say that every purchasing decision you make is because you have thoroughly assessed the cold, hard facts? On the other hand, if you think back to the occasion when you fell in love with a new car, new lawn tractor, new chainsaw, or ridiculously expensive cosmetic, did you STOP and think it through? The comfort of believing that your decision either way, whether facts or fancies, was the right decision is so pleasant that few will surrender to the truth.

As I said, Your Brain Tells You Lies. Like most people you want to hold tight to that comfort that your lying brain demands.

Walter

 

[BigRomeDawg]

I've learned that most sellers will project their own purchasing reasoning onto their buyers. This will prevent people from buying.

There's an example of this in the book Ready, Fire, Aim. Don't quote me on the exact details.

The author loves buying expensive suitcases. It's the dollar amount that gets him excited. Not the utility, or the looks, just the exuberant amount of money.

He describes a store he went into where the salesperson was trying to convince him of the utility of a bag, and its bang for the buck, given that it was a sub-$1,000 bag with the features and materials of a much higher end bag.

But it completely turned him off, and he left without buying anything. He enjoys spending $5–10k per bag, regardless of the utility value. It's simply the price that gets him excited.

I think even he described his habit as somewhat irrational. Closet full of bags he doesn't even use. But he likes it. So he does it.

And that was an example of a seller not understanding the buyer's psychology, to his own detriment.

I continue learning this as I progress toward higher ticket sales. Utility is hardly ever the primary reason for buying. It's usually how the purchase makes them feel. Which, if you don't have money, or grew up without money, is super hard to understand.

My first experience with this was selling our outsourced IT department services to businesses with 100+ employees. Every company like ours, being that they're tech nerds, would only sell the utility. The technical benefits.

I used a different approach: I identified who the decision maker was (typically the CFO), and tried to figure out how can I make the CFO look like a hero for hiring us. Ultimately, it had little to do with the utility of our service, because all our competitors offered something similar, but we framed it differently and satisfied wants and emotions.

I could go on and on, but I'll cut it here.. hopefully this is useful.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.