Wants versus Needs
In most any book you have ever read on Sales they have one basic idea they seem to always offer. This is find a need and fill it.
Sounds like a good advice, doesn't it? And it would be except for one minor detail. People do not buy what they need. Let me say that again. People do not buy what they need.
On the other hand people only buy what they want.
Let us go back a few thousand millenniums before salespeople appeared on the planet and see what life was like. If you were living back then you would be walking about in your very best bear skin coat if it was during the Winter time. On the other hand if it was Spring or Summer you would be all dressed up in your bear or deer skin shorts, and be wearing a good pair of hand made leather moccasins to keep the stickers and grass burrs out of your feet. Your family would be dining on the nuts and berries that you gathered as a group. Occasionally you would have a feast of deer or bear when someone was lucky enough to kill one. It was a great life, don't you think?
Now let us fast forward to the present day and time.
If you were to ask me, "Do you need a Hummer?"
I would have to say no.
But if you should ask me, "Do you want a "Hummer?" I would have to say YES. You are probably thinking why on Earth would this fellow want a Hummer? The answer is rather simple actually. I live way out in the bushes and the river gets out of it's banks when it floods. Sometimes it is knee deep and other times it is too deep for eighteen wheelers or even a Hummer. But that is only for a weeks time about every ten years so I can live with that. With a Hummer I could get to town virtually anytime, day or night I wanted to go.
There is also another very valid reason I would want a Hummer. This is the fact that I am getting on up in age and this would be one of my last vehicle purchases. I feel a SUV like this would easily last me 20 to 25 years or more with proper maintenance and up keep. The Hummer actual cost is only a few more thousand than the normal trucks or cars I might purchase. So over twenty or twenty five years I would pay a lot less for a Hummer than the four or five less expensive vehicles I would have to buy over that period of time for transportation.
Can a vehicle last that long being driven regularly you might ask? Certainly! In fact you can go to most fire departments in America and see plenty of thirty or forty year old fire engines with the chrome so shiny it will knock your eye out. If you raise the hood, it will look like the fire truck just rolled off the factory floor.
In fact the Hummer might not cost my family a quarter over the twenty to twenty five year period. I say this, because if the Hummer is kept in prime condition through out the period then the only money we would be out, would be for normal maintenance, tires and fuel. The resale value of a classic Hummer twenty five years from now, could easily be as much or more than what was paid in the beginning. Also I would not be out any interest either because I would pay cash for the Hummer.
As I mentioned before the only difference in cost is the few thousand more than a normal car or truck would cost. In order to have transportation I would have to pay a considerable amount of cash for any car or truck at the present time so it is just a matter of a few thousand more to actually get what I want instead of what I need.
The advantage to me is I can pay a few thousand more to essentially pay nothing in the end. In fact my family might even make a profit in the end. Who knows?
This holds true for most any product sold in America. When you call on your prospects stress the fact that quality may cost more up front but it is much cheaper in the long run. By buying quality you have a product that does you a better job, last much longer and gives you an attitude of well being by owning it.
When you make a sales call the prospect is already aware of the fact that he needs something like what you are selling, other wise you would probably not get in the door. The real job of selling is just selling the idea of spending a little more to get the prospect what he actually wants not just what he needs.
Will I buy a Hummer? Sure I will when I am ready for my next vehicle, It is what I want.
It is just like the fact that I would prefer and want a good fitting well tailored business suit instead of the bear skin that my fore fathers wore.
In fact if I have done a creditable job on what I have been explaining here, you to are probably seriously considering your first Hummer as well, aren't you?
If you want to learn how to sell a lot and to sell well I do invite you to come take a look at my website. You will find all kinds of easy hints and tips to make a difference in your personal sales or if you have a business, your organizational sales. http://www.thesellingfool.com/
Thank you,
Billy J Gibson
thesellingfoolbjg@yahoo.com
http://www.thesellingfool.com/
Sounds like a good advice, doesn't it? And it would be except for one minor detail. People do not buy what they need. Let me say that again. People do not buy what they need.
On the other hand people only buy what they want.
Let us go back a few thousand millenniums before salespeople appeared on the planet and see what life was like. If you were living back then you would be walking about in your very best bear skin coat if it was during the Winter time. On the other hand if it was Spring or Summer you would be all dressed up in your bear or deer skin shorts, and be wearing a good pair of hand made leather moccasins to keep the stickers and grass burrs out of your feet. Your family would be dining on the nuts and berries that you gathered as a group. Occasionally you would have a feast of deer or bear when someone was lucky enough to kill one. It was a great life, don't you think?
Now let us fast forward to the present day and time.
If you were to ask me, "Do you need a Hummer?"
I would have to say no.
But if you should ask me, "Do you want a "Hummer?" I would have to say YES. You are probably thinking why on Earth would this fellow want a Hummer? The answer is rather simple actually. I live way out in the bushes and the river gets out of it's banks when it floods. Sometimes it is knee deep and other times it is too deep for eighteen wheelers or even a Hummer. But that is only for a weeks time about every ten years so I can live with that. With a Hummer I could get to town virtually anytime, day or night I wanted to go.
There is also another very valid reason I would want a Hummer. This is the fact that I am getting on up in age and this would be one of my last vehicle purchases. I feel a SUV like this would easily last me 20 to 25 years or more with proper maintenance and up keep. The Hummer actual cost is only a few more thousand than the normal trucks or cars I might purchase. So over twenty or twenty five years I would pay a lot less for a Hummer than the four or five less expensive vehicles I would have to buy over that period of time for transportation.
Can a vehicle last that long being driven regularly you might ask? Certainly! In fact you can go to most fire departments in America and see plenty of thirty or forty year old fire engines with the chrome so shiny it will knock your eye out. If you raise the hood, it will look like the fire truck just rolled off the factory floor.
In fact the Hummer might not cost my family a quarter over the twenty to twenty five year period. I say this, because if the Hummer is kept in prime condition through out the period then the only money we would be out, would be for normal maintenance, tires and fuel. The resale value of a classic Hummer twenty five years from now, could easily be as much or more than what was paid in the beginning. Also I would not be out any interest either because I would pay cash for the Hummer.
As I mentioned before the only difference in cost is the few thousand more than a normal car or truck would cost. In order to have transportation I would have to pay a considerable amount of cash for any car or truck at the present time so it is just a matter of a few thousand more to actually get what I want instead of what I need.
The advantage to me is I can pay a few thousand more to essentially pay nothing in the end. In fact my family might even make a profit in the end. Who knows?
This holds true for most any product sold in America. When you call on your prospects stress the fact that quality may cost more up front but it is much cheaper in the long run. By buying quality you have a product that does you a better job, last much longer and gives you an attitude of well being by owning it.
When you make a sales call the prospect is already aware of the fact that he needs something like what you are selling, other wise you would probably not get in the door. The real job of selling is just selling the idea of spending a little more to get the prospect what he actually wants not just what he needs.
Will I buy a Hummer? Sure I will when I am ready for my next vehicle, It is what I want.
It is just like the fact that I would prefer and want a good fitting well tailored business suit instead of the bear skin that my fore fathers wore.
In fact if I have done a creditable job on what I have been explaining here, you to are probably seriously considering your first Hummer as well, aren't you?
If you want to learn how to sell a lot and to sell well I do invite you to come take a look at my website. You will find all kinds of easy hints and tips to make a difference in your personal sales or if you have a business, your organizational sales. http://www.thesellingfool.com/
Thank you,
Billy J Gibson
thesellingfoolbjg@yahoo.com
http://www.thesellingfool.com/
posted by thesellingfool | 10:48 PM
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