In my last post, I wrote about how my bank gave me what I wanted. Did they do it just for me ? Of course not, but my satisfaction was a great byproduct… for me anyway.
When you find a way to give a customer what he wants, you’ll affect more than that one customer, so it’s worth the extra effort to listen, learn and implement.
Every time I hear someone talk about sales, they always give their list of they think a customer wants. I might as well join in on the fun and do it too. So without further ado, here’s the …
1) They Want Health – That’s why there are billions of dollars worth of neutraceuticals sold every year.
2) They Want Wealth – It’s a dominant motivation in our lives and it’s why we’ll put up with discomfort, forego leisure and generally work hard at trying to get out of work.
3) They Want Admiration – Remember this one. It’s one of the top 3 motivators that encourage people to buy. Vanity is pure gold to those that can implement it into their selling strategy.
4) They Have Appetities That Need Gratification – Hunger. Thirst. Companionship. Love. Sex. Acceptance. Destruction.
5) They Want To Be Entertained – That’s why the movie industry has made the gazillions of dollars that it has. That’s the reason for books, magazines, amusement parks, etc.
6) They Want Security – If you want to make more sales, make your prospect feel secure, comfortable, accepted, safe. That alone will sometimes move him from prospect to customer.
7) They Want To Improve - E. Haldeman-Julius sold over $200,000,000 of his little blue books on this premise alone. That’s more than enough reason to work it into your selling strategy.
What good is a list like this to a salesman ? Simple. Just work as many of these into your approaches as you can, without overdoing them and your sales will increase.
This would be a great time for y’all to give me some examples of how you’ve done this in the past or how you’re going to add one or more of these inot your future sales strategy.
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s always funny to me how something that seems simple and logical to us as customers, either never occurs to the companies we deal with, or are actually more complied than we think.
For example, every fall I get way too busy to watch movies – so I end up canceling my NetFlix account. Then I reinstate it around summertime. Why can’t they just make it so I can put it on hold? Canceling denotes permanence – on hold, temporary. In my mind, that’s exactly what I do when I “cancel” my account. I know lots of other NetFlix customers that do the same thing.
Why not just offer that as an option? That might be a lot of work on their end, but instead of saying “I’m breaking up with you” I could say “See you in the summer.”
Just my $.02
BTW – That should say “…actually more complicated than we think.” Apparently knowing how to type is more complicated than I think
Maybe we can get the message to Netflix, Tony and see if they can set up sometning that will keep you and everbody else from having to go thru that hassle.
It might be worth the effort for them to create another level of subscriber.
I’d do it if Simplenomics were a subscriber site.
Thanks Mike. I know is just semantics, but from a business perspective, I just can’t get over the fact that they’d rather have someone “cancel” than put an account on hold. Which is what happens when you cancel anyway. If you ever sign back up, all your history, ratings, etc. are preserved.
I do have to give credit though. They make it pretty easy. So many services make it a nightmare to try and cancel. I think you have to hire a divorce attorney to leave Audible.
I emailed them Tony. We’ll see if they can help you and others.
Maybe they’ll notice the phrase above …” When you find a way to give a customer what he wants, you’ll affect more than that one customer, so it’s worth the extra effort to listen, learn and implement. ”
We’ll wait for their reply. I’m betting they’re willing to help.
Very cool. I’ll be interested to hear how they reply. I love the service. I guess I’m just picky about customer interface stuff after doing it for so long.
Okay – Time for me to call myself a dumba**. Apparently since I canceled my account last year, NetFlix HAS started allowing you to put your account on hold. Only you can’t see that until to actually go through the first step to cancel your account. So I’ve happily put my account on hold, and all is right with the world.
Tho’ – I still don’t know why they don’t just offer that right up front. Would’ve saved me some aggravation.
Dang ! Are we good or what ? We got that changed before we even knew we did it !
Thanks, Netflix, for anticipating our demands.