I was just listening to a presentation from Ryan Deiss, and a throwaway comment jumped out at me…
I’d never heard this spoken about in quite this way before. And I knew it was powerful.
So I scribbled down his list, and thought I’d share it with my own insights and perspectives here.
First: the four layers of why people buy…
— Having
— Emotion
— Average Day
— Good vs. Evil
I’ll break down each, in turn…
The most superficial layer to the buying decision is “having”…
This is pure consumerism.
It’s mostly how my kids decide how to buy toys. That’s about the level we’re talking about here.
But we never completely grow out of it. I see a new gadget. I want it. So I buy it.
It’s a fickle decision. Usually impulsive. And rather spur of the moment.
If you focus your selling on the simple act of “having,” you’ll get a lot of buyer’s remorse. People might be excited to buy. But a day or even an hour later, their interest will be elsewhere. And if they’ve decided they’re not happy, you’ll get complaints and refund requests.
The best time and place to emphasize the “having” decision-making is just to carry them over the finish line. It’s also a good motivation to use when suggesting add-on products that will truly complement a product bought for deeper reasons.
Otherwise, you’ll find it difficult to close the sale. And even when you do, those buyers won’t stick.
A layer deeper is emotional appeals…
Think about how many different feelings you’ve had already today. I’ll tell you that by 8 AM, I’d had a bunch!
We want to feel good. We don’t want to feel bad. We’ll move towards things that make us feel good. And away from things that make us feel bad.
If your product can help relieve bad feelings, great! That’s a reason people will buy. The more acute the bad feelings, the better they are for selling products.
For example: headache medicine. I know. Headaches are physical. But if you’ve got a bad enough headache, you’ll start to feel frustrated, stuck, annoyed, irritated, and more. You want that headache to be gone, now! That’s the negative emotion that will have you running to the store to grab some Excedrin.
Or, let’s say you want to feel excitement. So you mosey on over to the local trampoline center, and pony up 20 bucks to bounce around for an hour.
If your product is about making your prospect feel better in the moment, the emotional appeal can be a great level to aim at to make the sale.
Deeper still, you appeal to making their day better…
This is on the level of changing what’s going on in their life.
Not on some deep, philosophical, identity level. Rather, does what you’re selling make their daily life better in some recognizable, tangible way?
Think about the classic infomercial demonstrations.
It slices, it dices, this knife blade is so strong, it’ll slice tomatoes like butter after hacking up a car tire!
When you can legitimately make someone’s every day better, you’ve got some power at your disposal.
Show them the transformation. What are they struggling with today? What will their life be like tomorrow when that struggle is gone?
Done right, you can pitch a product or service in a way that will make them buy AND be ecstatic about their purchase.
On the deepest level, you sell good versus evil…
Is your product part of a bigger cause? What’s the biggest transformation in your prospect’s life that they’ll experience? Does what you’re selling align with their greatest goals, mission, and purpose?
You don’t have to get religious here to have plenty of good examples.
Why do you think people buy a Toyota Prius? It’s because they want to be SEEN and NOTICED as the kind of person who drives a car that’s better for the planet.
It was the first commercially successful hybrid not because the market wanted hybrids, but because it had such a distinctive (pronounced: ugly) design that couldn’t be missed.
Let’s give a couple examples…
Selling cars:
— Having: Our 4th of July sales event will let you drive away with the summer’s best prices!
— Emotion: How will you feel when she looks at you in your brand new convertible?
— Average Day: One less thing for you to worry about: crash tests have proven our brand makes the safest family cars in the market.
— Good vs. Evil: Nissan Leaf… Mother Earth says “thank you.”
Selling Apple Computers:
— Having: New model, yay!
— Emotion: Cool people use Apple/Mac.
— Average Day: Apple computers work better, so you can, too.
— Good vs. Evil: “On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like ‘1984’.”
I’m running up on time to hit “publish” so you can take it from here…
Think about your own product or service.
Write out this list:
— Having:
— Emotion:
— Average Day:
— Good vs. Evil:
(Or better, use a mind map.)
Then, start to think about all the different ways your product can be presented, using these layers to why people buy.
Go deep. Push yourself. If at all possible, try to find something that speaks to an epic battle of good versus evil.
Then, play with those ideas. Find inspiration. And use that to tweak or re-create your best sales pitch.
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr
