Why People Must Buy

Perhaps you already know why people buy, but do you know all 51 reasons? The more of those reasons you know, the better you'll be able to market.

Geoff Ayling, in his superb book, "Rapid Response Advertising," provides
wannabe Marketing with a full fifty reasons why people Must buy. There are
really far more than fifty, but I have a feeling that these fifty will get
your creative juices flowing. People make purchases for these, among many reasons:

1. To make more money – even though it can’t buy happiness
2. To become more comfortable, even a bit more
3. To attract praise – because almost everybody loves it
4. To increase enjoyment – of life, of business, of virtually anything
5. To possess things of beauty – because they nourish the soul
6. To avoid criticism – which nobody wants
7. To make their work easier – a constant need to many people
8. To speed up their work – because people know that time is precious
9. To keep up with the Joneses – there are Joneses in everybody’s lives
10. To feel opulent – a rare, but valid reason to make a purchase
11. To look younger – due to the reverence placed upon youthfulness
12. To become more efficient – because efficiency saves time
13. To buy friendship – I didn’t know it’s for sale, but it often is
14. To avoid effort – because nobody loves to work too hard
15. To escape or avoid pain – which is an easy path to making a sale
16. To protect their possessions – because they worked hard to get them
17. To be in style – because few people enjoy being out of style
18. To avoid trouble – because trouble is never a joy
19. To access opportunities – because they open the doors to good things
20. To express love – one of the noblest reasons to make any purchase
21. To be entertained – because entertainment is usually fun
22. To be organized – because order makes lives simpler
23. To feel safe – because security is a basic human need
24. To conserve energy – their own or their planet’s sources of energy
25. To be accepted – because that means security as well as love
26. To save time -- because they know time is more valuable than money
27. To become more fit and healthy -- seems to me that’s an easy sale
28. To attract the opposite sex – never undermine the power of love
29. To protect their family – tapping into another basic human need
30. To emulate others – because the world is teeming with role models
31. To protect their reputation – because they worked hard to build it
32. To feel superior – which is why status symbols are sought after
33. To be trendy – because they know their friends will notice
34. To be excited – because people need excitement in a humdrum life
35. To communicate better -- because they want to be understood
36. To preserve the environment – giving rise to cause-related marketing
37. To satisfy an impulse – a basic reason behind a multitude of purchases
38. To save money – the most important reason to 14% of the population
39. To be cleaner – because unclean often goes with unhealthy and unloved
40. To be popular – because inclusion beats exclusion every time
41. To gratify curiosity -- it killed the cat but motivates the sale
42. To satisfy their appetite – because hunger is not a good thing
43. To be individual – because all of us are, and some of us need assurance
44. To escape stress – need I explain?
45. To gain convenience – because simplicity makes life easier
46. To be informed – because it’s no joy to be perceived as ignorant
47. To give to others – another way you can nourish your soul
48. To feel younger – because that equates with vitality and energy
49. To pursue a hobby – because all work and no play etc. etc. etc.
50. To leave a legacy – because that’s a way to live forever

I must add one more area about which you should be creative, one more reason that motivates people to make a purchase, and that area deals with pain. Thomas Jefferson said, "The art of life is the art of avoiding pain; and he is the best pilot, who steers clearest of the rocks and shoals with which it is beset." More recently, Sam Deep and Lyle Sussman, who wrote "Close The Deal," teach the importance of pain and the ways to learn where it resides. If you know exactly, you’ve got a heckuva great starting point for your creativity.

There. Now that you've got 51 ways to win the hearts and business of your prospects, I think you'll have an easier job of winning sales and profits.

How Long Marketing Must Works?

Whatever you do, don’t hold your breath while waiting for marketing to take affect. Instead, hold your horses because it’s not gonna happen instantly.

How long does it take for a prospect to become a customer? Well, let’s first look into the chemistry of prospects. Prospects are like you except that they’re probably doing business with one of your competitors. Fortunately for you, that competitor most likely doesn’t know the full meaning of follow-up, with the result that most customers feel ignored after the sale.

These are among your hottest prospects. They already do business with a company such as yours and may be disenchanted because they’ve been left alone after making their purchase. That’s why guerrillas identify their best prospects and then begin the courtship process. It is a courtship and it is a process. Armed with that insight, you can transform them into customers.

Most business owners contact prospects once or twice, and if they don’t
show an interest, the business owners move on to greener territories, on to the non-existent Land of Instant Gratification. Guerrillas continue romancing those they are courting. Eventually, those prospects feel so cared for, so important, so attended to, that they switch over and begin to patronize the guerrilla who never stops courting.

How long does it take until this happen? Try seven years on for size. That’s the outside. It could happen in a month, even a week or less if the prospects are in the market right now and neglected by their former supplier. But it probably won’t happen soon and it most assuredly won’t happen if you ignore them after contacting them once or twice.

Remember that prospects have minds that are more open than you think. Allegiances that are lost every day, allegiances gained every day. The guerrilla marketers don’t lose them because they recognize the slow motion process of gaining them. When they speak to prospects, whether in person or through one of the venues of marketing, they do not talk about their businesses or their industries. They talk about the prospects themselves -- which is the topic most on the mind of prospects and one that ceaselessly interests them. When guerrillas can talk about the problems facing prospects, they gain even more attention.

And when they talk about solutions to these problems, they still see things from the prospects’ points of view and talk from that mindset. As weeds are flowers whose beauty has not yet been discovered, prospects are customers who have not yet realized all that you can offer them.

Give them time. Give them information. Give them attention. While you’re waiting, walk a mile in their shoes so you can be better prepared to talk to them about how their feet feel.

People patronize the businesses they do for an enormously wide variety of reasons. Often, it’s location, though the Internet is changing that in a hurry. Frequently, it is mere habit. Guerrillas know in their bones that the prime reason is the buyers have confidence in the sellers. That is closely followed by the quality of the offering. And next comes service -- which guerrillas know should be defined as "anything the customer wants it to be." After service comes selection -- and again the internet rears up as a contender for business because of the staggering breadth of its selection. And fifth comes price. To some people, fewer than 20 percent, price is the number one criterion. But those attracted by price make the most disloyal customers because they’re easily wooed away by somebody offering a still lower price. Guerrillas build their businesses on loyal customers. Possessed with that insight, they do all in their power to maintain loyalty.

They may do it with frequent-buyer programs. They may do it with special events centered around customers. They may do it with fervent follow-up, with their newsletter, with little freebies for their customers. But most of them do it by recognizing the customer and using his or her name, by talking about personal things before getting down to business, by listening very carefully and sincerely to what their customer are saying. Listening is considered one of the most crucial parts of follow-up. It’s no surprise that people patronize businesses that listen to them.

Many marketers create their marketing under the ridiculous assumption that prospects are asking "Who are you? What is your product or service? When are you open? Where are you located?" The only real question in the prospect’s mind is "Why should I care?"

Here’s what they’re thinking: It’s not "tell me a story about you." Instead, it’s "tell me a story about me. Tell me how you can save my time, increase my income, reduce my stress, bring more love into my life, cause people to think highly of me." If you can’t talk to them about those things, leave those prospects alone because you’re wasting their time and your money.

Another insight possessed by guerrillas is that people patronize business that can offer things to change their lives for the good. Sometimes these are huge things, such as cars and computers. But usually they’re not. After all, how much can a new shirt or a new paper stock for stationery change a life? Not much, but you’ve still got to be thinking in those terms.

Keep in mind that people are attracted to businesses that have established credibility. You get it with superb marketing and commitment to a plan.
Marketing continues to be a blend of art, science, business and patience.
It works. But it rarely works instantly. That’s why the most crucial ingredient in the blend called marketing is your own patience.

The Greatest Marketing Enemy

You work like crazy trying to attract attention and business, operating from a marketing calendar, committing to your strategy and doing everything right, resulting in an influx of customers -- but you lose them. They never come back.

You did your marketing so well and marketed so wisely that you're almost in a state of shock at how your customers ignore you. You treated them well while you were making your business transactions. You gave them a fair price, knew that the quality you put into your offering matched the quality they got out of it. You assured them that service is your middle name. You smiled and used their name when you said goodbye, thanking them for the sale.

And then, after all that caring attention on your part, they completely ignored you, never set foot in your business again. Do you want to know why they ignored you, why it was so easy for them to put you out of their minds?

It's because you ignored them. It's because you made the sale and then made the grave but all-too-common error of thinking that your marketing job was over. That was a terrible error. But at least you've got a lot of company making the same terrible error. Nearly 70 percent of business lost in America is lost due to apathy after the sale. Apathy is the deadliest enemy of marketing. A "love 'em and leave 'em" attitude is usually fatal to profitability.

The opposite of apathy is follow-up. Guerrillas have a "love 'em and love 'em" attitude, marketing to prospects like crazy till the sale is made, then continuing to market like crazy to them after the sale. Apathy never sets in. Customers never feel ignored.

Guerrillas do all in their power to intensify the relationship with caring follow-up and loving attention. They know that once they have established a relationship, their product or service is no longer thought of as a commodity. Businesses that offer commodities often lose customers due to competitors offering lower prices.

Businesses that form warm relationships transcend being thought of as a commodity and maintain their customer relationships with service and constant contact. No wonder they don't lose business so readily. People want relationships, want the businesses they patronize to stay in contact, want to feel cared for and not ignored.

All guerrillas know that their customer relationships are their most precious assets. They know that if customers purchased from them one time and had an enjoyable purchase experience, they are very likely to buy from them again. And again and again. And to provide many referrals over time.

To nourish these kind of lasting relationships, guerrillas send thank-you notes after the sale -- within 48 hours. They contact customers within a month of the sale to make certain they are satisfied and have no questions. They get in touch with customers once again three months after the sale, this time suggesting new items that may tie-in with the original purchase. And three months after that, they make another contact.

This kind of guerrilla follow-up not only prevents dreaded apathy from setting in, but also increases business anywhere from 20% to 300%. That's because customers, in their hearts, silently hope for recognition, acknowledgment, information, advance opportunities to purchase, and new calls to action.

Instead of the kind of apathy that loses customers forever, constant attention and follow-up results in healthy back-end sales. This means repeat sales, ancillary sales and referral sales. And this means big profits to you -- because it costs six times more to sell something to a new prospect than to sell that same thing to an existing customer.

These days, all the true marketing experts ask you to calculate the lifetime value of a customer. If you don't understand the damaging effects of apathy after the sale, that lifetime value is pretty small, probably a few hundred dollars, if that. If you do all in your power to prevent apathy from ever setting it, the lifetime value of each customer may be measured in hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe even more.

You'll profit from the initial sale, from the repeat sales, from the referral sales and from the long, mutually beneficial relationship. It happens only when you defeat the most deadly enemy of marketing. And now you know how to do that.