Over the years that I have spent in sales and sales management, I have heard of a multitude of surveys that questioned consumers of both products and services on what was their number one buying motive when they were making a decision to spend their money. It's amazing what they discovered. It is even more amazing to uncover the one that got missed. That's the one buying motive, common to virtually everyone.
These surveys are regularly conducted by providing the survey recipients with a list of possible answers and asking them to choose between them or rank them in order of importance. That seems reasonable enough. It makes tabulation easy for the survey company and it gives the consumer choices in what to answer.
Surveys would ask things like 'what is most important to you as a buyer?',
- competitive or lowest price
- wide selection
- good warranty coverage
- outstanding durability
- solid after sale service
- acceptable style
- convenient store location
- helpfulness of staff
- etc
- etc
The standard survey questions generated the expected diverse responses. That did not surprise me since individuals have varying opinions. Then I would ask my stand alone survey question which was "How do you rank the desire to feel good when you make a purchase?".
What happened as people responded to that option definitely amazed me. Almost without except respondents answered with a statement like "of course, that goes without saying, I won't make a purchase that I don't feel good about".
They confirmed this premise was the foundation of virtually all their purchases. We all know this is true, don't we? We make our buying decisions like that ourselves when we go to our favorite coffee shop, restaurant or our favorite salon to get our hair cut. Above all else, we want to feel good.
Remember that fact the next time you engage a fresh prospect. Work constantly to make him or her feel good during the buying experience and you will reduce stress for everyone. Plus, you will be better than half way to a successful sale.
