Sales & Systems Saturday: Understanding Why People Buy

On Sunday, I announced our strategy to help people make money by sharing the products we sell which support orphans in Nigeria. On Monday, I offered the basics of marketing. On Wednesday, I talked about the importance of building multiple streams of income in order to gain wealth and how sharing products for Project FED can be one of those streams. On Friday, I shared the 5 free tools that you need to get started, and today I'm going to start the training in sales that will help you make the most of what we have to offer.

Before we talk about sales, it’s important to understand why people buy anything. Then, you can start to figure out how to get them to buy from you.

Needs Drive Behavior

All of human behavior is driven by our internal needs. When we need food, we are driven to eat. When we need water, we are driven to drink. When we are cold or wet or hot, we are driven to seek shelter. When we need to recharge our batteries, we are driven to sleep.

Aside from the obvious needs of food, shelter, water, and sleep, we have a whole range of other needs that also command our attention and drive us to act.

While Abraham Maslow subscribed to a theory that there was a hierarchy of needs, where the basic needs of food, shelter, water, and sleep had to be met before anyone would care about the things he considered to be higher needs like those for love and belonging, Harry Harlow’s experiments just a few decades later proved that Maslow’s theory was not correct.

The single most important need that every human being has is their need for love. Without love, it doesn’t matter how much of anything else we have, we will lose our will to live. With that need for love comes the need for connection, belonging, respect, and significance.

People Buy to Satisfy Needs

Buying is a behavior like any other. It’s a decision made about where to spend money in order to get things or to gain access to things that will fulfill needs.

If you’ve ever witnessed someone who can barely afford to put food on the table or to pay their rent making “dumb” purchases like buying a $400 pair of shoes or a $600 purse, you are witnessing the power of the need for love at work.

Their hidden belief driving the purchase is that by making those purchases they will gain status that will satisfy their need for significance, and with that significance they will find respect, belonging, connection and – ultimately – love. It’s that same need to feel significant that drives people to purchase a Lamborghini when a used Toyota would get them to the same place at about the same time.

The Needs That Your Products Satisfy

People buying from a Zazzle store could get the things they buy there in regular stores with the same patterns and styles as everyone else, but they aren’t doing it. Why? What’s driving them to choose Zazzle over Target or Dillards?

It’s primarily one of three things: significance, belonging, or connection and all of that driven by the desire to be loved.

The Significance Buyer

This is someone who is buying the products for themselves. They want to stand out from the crowd, be seen, be noticed, and feel like they matter. They are going to look for one-of-a-kind products that reflect their desire to be acknowledged as a one-of-a-kind individual.

The Belonging Buyer

This is someone who may be buying products for a family or a team. They will tend to prefer customizable products so that they can add the team or family name to them. Wearing those items or displaying them shows to the world that they belong somewhere.

The Connection Buyer

This is someone who is buying for someone else. They want to feel closely connected to the person they are buying and they are looking for something that will help them stand out in that person’s eyes. They look for the kind of thing that will help them to be remembered long after the gift was given. They are looking to create or purchase a one-of-a-kind gift for a one-of-a-kind relationship.

Connecting the Dots Between What You Offer and What They Need

The key to making sales is to help the prospective buyer connect the dots between what you have to offer and what it is that they need. They need to see how it is that what you have to offer is going to help them get what they want.

For each product you list, you want to create a story that helps them imagine what it will feel like when they are putting their purchase to work for them and getting their needs met.

That duck gift tag that's on this post. That's the kind of product people buy for duck lovers (I see you and I know you like ducks so I want you to know that I've noticed you like ducks, too), or baby showers or baby gifts. Because there's plenty of space around the artwork, it's easy to customize the design. 

Next Week: Selling on Social Media

We’ll talk next week about tips for selling products like the ones we offer in our Zazzle store on social media. We’ll discuss the different platforms and the best approach to take with each of those.

Questions? Comments? Advice to Share?

What did you think of this post? Was it helpful? Do you have anything to add or questions to ask? Our comments box is always open.

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