Why do people buy?

People are complex animals. Psychology students will be familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs… as our basic needs like food and water are met, we move up the pyramid below:

People buy things that they want, and that meet to their needs. Your prospects’ needs will vary depending on where they or their company are on this pyramid.

• Are they hungry for increased sales to put money in the bank?
• Are they at the top of the tree and want to stay there?
• Does their ego need a stroke?

Here are some of the reasons that people buy:

Security / Fear of Loss

The biggest concern for a new customers is often the perceived risk of your product – will it work for them? Savvy buyers turn this perceived fear to their advantage by pressuring salespeople for a free trial or discount.

Don’t fall into this trap – play on their fear of loss. Providing testimonials from clients in a similar sector will show that you can deliver results; it also makes it clear that they’re handing opportunities to their competitors by not buying.

Friendship & Contact

We’re not suggesting that you should try and "befriend" all your clients by inviting them to your mum and dad’s for dinner, and over-familiarity will turn most people off. This is a really common mistake, and short cuts to building a rapport like over-using your client’s name in the conversation is cheesy and won’t make them like you any more.

That said it’s easy to underestimate the importance of relationships and your client’s need for contact. If you’re having a tough time winning business away from a competitor with an inferior product to yours, the strength of their relationship with your competitor is probably why.

Ego & Prestige

This need can be used to your advantage in 2 ways.

If you have a good quality product and audience and make your publication or event a must-read, or must-attend, it follows that the big boys will want to be involved to maintain their perceived reputation.

It also works for smaller clients who want to project a larger image. Companies may be proud of being niche, or specialist, but small companies will often spend a lot of money to appear bigger.

Ease & Convenience

Are you making it easy for your prospects to buy? Inflexibility on things like payment terms can lose you business – how you can make your clients’ lives easier?

“Once you say yes, we’ll take care of the rest…”

Money – Profit – Wealth – Gain

Great when selling direct reponse media - a classified ad, exhibition stand or pay per click - if you can make a solid, simple and plausible business case for the opportunity your medium will create, you’ve nearly made the sale.