The Motivation to Buy

Dr. Brian Monger

A sale is made when somebody decides to buy – decides that what is proposed satisfies his/her need, or will benefit him/her in some way that he/she does not now enjoy.

Why do people buy? What makes them say yes to some salesmen and no to others? What makes them like some products better than others? Why do people behave as they do?

If marketers could only know in advance of each call what the answers to these, and similar questions, would be, then their task of selling would be much easier.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to predict people’s buying behaviour, and this is the main reason why so much skill is required in marketing. However, there has been much research in the behavioural fields on why people act as they do and from this we are able to see a general pattern of buying behaviour.

All of us are moved by motives and urges

What is Motivation?

1. Motivation can be described as the driving force within individuals that impels them to action.

2. This driving force is produced by a state of tension, which exists as the result of an unfilled need.

3. The specific courses of action that consumers pursue and their specific goals are selected on the basis of their thinking process and previous learning.

II. Needs

1. Every individual has needs: some are innate others are acquired.

2. Innate needs are physiological or biogenic, and include food, water, air, clothing, shelter, and sex.

3. These needs (innate) are considered primary needs or motives.

4. Acquired needs are needs that we learn in response to our culture or environment, and include the need for self-esteem, prestige, affection, power, and for learning.

5. These needs (acquired) are considered secondary needs of motives.

When asked to buy something, a person is confronted with a problem which he/she needs to interpret and resolve. Frequently he/she overcomes the problem (either personal or business) by making a buying decision.

Actually, the sale takes place in the mind of the buyer – it is the buyer’s viewpoint and the satisfactory resolution of his/her buying problem that concerns the marketer.

Often the solution to the problem can be attractive and unattractive at the same time. It may involve the choice between two attractive courses of behaviour or it may involve choosing between two unattractive things.

The marketer’s task is to assist the prospect to resolve his/her problem.

For some the solving of problems, or making decisions, is relatively easy, while for others even a minor decision causes tension and worry.

It is important for the salesperson to appreciate that the higher the tension the more irrational the prospect becomes, and the less likely he/she is to follow the logic of the salesperson’s story.

People generally will not make a buying decision until they are satisfied in their own minds that the benefits they will derive from the product outweigh the costs to themselves.

Marketing and especially selling therefore, is concerned with reducing buyer tensions, and assisting the prospect to identify his needs through the products and services offered.

People buy for basic reasons and, like all selling fundamentals, the reasons are simple and clear-cut. Look at the list below. Not advanced technical terms but simple everyday words. Like all simple things we tend to overlook them but every sale you ever make will be made because your proposition appeals strongly in one or more of these aspects:

• Profit, gain or economy/savings
• Design or appearance
• Pleasure, comfort and pain avoidance (physical and emotional)
• Safety or security
• Convenience
• Love and affection
• Sex appeal
• Social approval
• Pride, prestige/status
• Speed of Operation
• Ease of Operation
• Compatibility with Present System
• Availability/Delivery Speed
• Absolute Price/Price Flexibility
• Service/maintenance support/Software support
• Broad Line of Equipment Supplier Stability
• Competence of Personnel
• Personal Interaction – Liking
• Personal relevance
• Situational factors/Immediacy
• Curiosity/Discovery
• Creativity
• Exclusivity
• Empathy with brand
• Consistency of Delivered Value
• Performance/dependability/ Reliability of Operation
• Reliability of supply
• Environmental concerns

Dr Brian Monger is Executive Director of MAANZ International and an internationally known business consultant with over 45 years of experience assisting both large and small companies with their projects.  He is also a highly effective and experienced trainer and educator

Did you find this article useful?  Please let us know

These articles are usually taken from notes from a MAANZ course.  If you are interested in obtaining the full set of notes (and a PowerPoint presentation) please contact us – info@marketing.org.au

Also check out other articles on http://smartamarketing.wordpress.com

MAANZ International website http://www.marketing.org.au

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Who Are You Targeting? Really?

To achieve true segment focus, manangers must be able to identify and define the markets they plan to market to/with.  To hone in on the segments to identify the ones that best fit their business/marketing strategy.

To do that, you must be able to answer a series of key questions, including:

• Who are the current customers that make up your market?
• Who are the future customers in that market that align with your product offering?
• Do you want more customers like them and are those customers profitable?
• What are the distinct segments in the market and how big is each segment (i.e., number of prospects, market value, and revenue expectation)?
• What is the growth rate of each segment and how much will it cost you to target each one?
• What are the major trends in each segment that make it attractive?
• Which characteristics (company size, revenue size, IT budget size, geographic location, business model, current needs or pain points) define the buyers in each segment and how do those characteristics align with your product offering and value proposition?
• Why (based on the criteria above) is a particular segment a good fit for your business?

Answering those questions should help you boil down your target market to the customer segments that make the most sense for you to target.

Basic Strategy And Psychology For Handling Objections

Dr Brian Monger

During an average sales interview you may have to handle from two to five objections.  Your first problem is to determine whether they are real objections or mere excuses or stalls.  Your second problem is to decide on the strategy and tactics of handling them in order to retain control of the interview.

Your standard reaction to all objections should involve these principles:

Welcome the Objection.  Do not resent it or attempt to argue.  The prospect may be offering you a point around which the sale can be rapidly closed.

Listen Carefully to It.  Keep quiet, smile, and concentrate on what your prospect is saying.  You may think the matter is trivial, but to him or her it may be very important.  Allow the prospect adequate time for full expression – to finish speaking.  Do not make the mistake of cutting him or her off in mid-thought even if you do recognise the objection and are eager to acknowledge it.

Rephrase and Repeat the Objection.  By taking the time to rephrase and repeat the objection, you accomplish three major goals:

1.         You demonstrate that you have understood and respect the objection and thus please him or her with your interest.

2.         You gain time to think for a moment how best to handle it.

3.         You can soften the objection by rephrasing it into a question, which is easier to handle than an objection, and you put yourself in the position of helping answer it.

For example, if the complaint is that your product is too expensive, he or she may really be wondering if a cheaper one would not be just as practical.  You can test this objection by rephrasing it into a question, such as, “Mr. King, aren’t you really wondering whether the expense for this item can be justified?”

Do not guess at the reasons behind objections.  Your aim is to try rapidly to pin down the real issue.  Sometimes the problem bothering the prospect is not clear even in his or her own mind.  You have to find the right question if you expect to handle the objection.  You then have to give facts that will influence him or her to answer the question favourably rather than unfavourably.  Rephrasing and repeating the objection help clarify the issue for both of you.

Agree at Least in Part.  By agreeing with the prospect’s right to object and by agreeing that he or she has raised an important point, you avoid contradiction and take him or her off the defensive.  You lose nothing by agreeing that the complaint is reasonable, logical, and worth thinking about.  You can then supply additional facts that may help to show the situation differently and may turn the objection to your own advantage by making it a positive sales point.

Uncover Hidden Objections  The Process of rephrasing and restating objections into questions helps determine whether the objections are valid ones or mere excuses or stalls.  If your prospect offers more than five objections during the interview, you can assume that he or she is probably stalling.  Most likely he or she is hiding the real objection, and your problem is to bring it out into the open.

How can you uncover hidden doubts or objections?  The best technique is to ask questions that bring them into the open.  You have to watch as well as listen for clues, since some prospects mask their real emotions or feelings.  Keep searching for the real reason.

 

Dr Brian Monger is Executive Director of MAANZ International and an internationally known consultant with over 45 years of experience assisting both large and small companies with their projects.  He is also a highly effective and experienced trainer and educator

Did you find this article useful?  Please let us know

These articles are usually taken from notes from a MAANZ course.  If you are interested in obtaining the full set of notes (and a PowerPoint presentation) please contact us – info@marketing.org.au

Also check out other articles on http://smartamarketing.wordpress.com

MAANZ International website http://www.marketing.org.au

Smartamarketing Slideshare (http://www.slideshare.net/bmonger)

To tweet, or not to tweet, that is the question

The Great Social Tweet By Brian Swinden To tweet, or not to tweet, that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the ‘Net to send out The slings and arrows for outrageous fortune, Or to make posts of cats against a sheet of bubbles And by clawing pop them: to ‘Like’, to tweet No more; and by a tweet, to say we brave A heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks That Flesh is heir to? ‘Tis a communication Devoutly to be wished. To ‘Like’, to tweet, To tweet, perchance to stream; Aye, there’s the rub, For in that tweet of mirth, what trials may come, When we have shuffled off this wi-fi band, Should give us pause. There’s the respect That makes Calamity of paltry life: For who would share the whips and scorns of time, The Oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s Contumely, The pangs of despised Love, the Law’s delay, The insolence of Office, and the Spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes, When he himself might his Quietus make With a YouTube vid? Who would followers bear, To drink and whine of thumb-typed weary posts, But that the dread of something after login, The undiscovered country, from whose bourn No traveller returns, puzzles the will, And makes us rather share those ills we have, And fly to others that we know not of. Thus dissociation does make experts of us all, And thus the native hue of communication Is sicklied o’er, with the vivid lack of thought, And enterprises of great pith and moment, With this regard their intentions turn awry, And lose the name of Action. Soft you now, The fair Tweeter? Not in your mobile be All my sins remembered.

Brian Swinden is the Owner of Brian Swinden Productions Winnipeg, Canada Marketing and Advertising

Top ways to slim down flabby copy

Shorter, punchier copy is more readable and more memorable than obese copy. You can test this in your own life. Why do we like top ten lists, for example? The claim is also supported by experimental data; such as Jakob Nielsen’s research. So how do you put your copy on a diet?

1. Zap filler text. Just get straight to the point and delete the run up. For example, most press releases contain this kind of waffle: “In order to demonstrate our commitment to cutting-edge technology, innovation and customer service…” It’s what the delete key was invented for.

2. Cut paragraphs before you cut sentences. It’s better to change the structure of your piece by deleting low priority content than it is to try to make all your points but with fewer sentences.

3. Don’t lock down the word count before you start. A fixed word count is a guarantee of maximum verbosity (as the old Infocom games used to say). If you commission 500 words from a writer, that’s what you’ll get. Better to say ‘up to 500 words’ or ‘between 350-500’ and make sure that the writer focuses on the message and the quality of the writing. Similarly, ‘lorem ipsum’ copy on websites gives designers way too much influence over the copy length. Better to get a writer involved from day one, perhaps by using wireframes.

4. Delete hype words, clichés, adjectives and adverbs. Accurately chosen perfect words make this sentence the most beautiful one ever written. Or not. All readers have an inner cynic that discounts any hype word they read so using hyped-up words has the opposite result to the one you wanted. D’oh! See Words to avoid for more. They just sit around watching TV and eating your food like unwanted house guests. They don’t even do the washing up.

5. Shorter sentences. Breaking down a long sentence into a series of short ones, sometimes even using the machine gun style to spit out a sequence of very short sentences, can make a paragraph much shorter. In other words, short sentences rule. Use readability tools to provide objective feedback on your sentences.

6. Use ‘you’. It’s fine to address your reader directly. It’s also okay to say ‘I’ or ‘we’ to describe the person or company who’s speaking. This gets you out of a world of pain when struggling to find the subject of a sentence and avoid the passive voice. It also leads to shorter, punchier copy.

7. Give instructions. ‘Don’t run with scissors’ is shorter than ‘surveys by leading analysts suggest that velocity and cutting implements don’t mix.’

8. Write with information. If a sentence doesn’t include a fact or make a strong, clear point, it’s a candidate for deletion.

9. Use a bigger font. Sounds daft, but it’s much harder to write lots of words if your screen fills up quicker.

Dr Brian Monger is Executive Director of MAANZ International and an internationally known consultant with over 45 years of experience assisting both large and small companies with their projects.  He is also a highly effective and experienced trainer and educator

Did you find this article useful?  Please let us know

These articles are usually taken from notes from a MAANZ course.  If you are interested in obtaining the full set of notes (and a PowerPoint presentation) please contact us – info@marketing.org.au

Also check out other articles on http://smartamarketing.wordpress.com

MAANZ International website http://www.marketing.org.au

Smartamarketing Slideshare (http://www.slideshare.net/bmonger)

Marketing ideas from the dark side

Marketing ideas from the dark side.  How to spot them

“Marketing and marketers” can often take criticism from outsiders who see the methods we use as “evil”. Often both the “good guys” and the “bad guys” use the same methods to succeed.  If you aim to be a good guy marketer you should know the tricks used by the bad guys – and learn to be wary when you use them – if you seek credibility

Here are some ideas used for selling junk products – ideas, services etc

Tie your appeal to the customer’s fears and their hope of something better.

Tie your appeal to popular culture, fashion, tends.

Have a well known/respected personality support your product. Otherwise someone who looks credible and preferably looks good

Have multiple options to sell.

Use social proof rather than scientific proof.

Cite non-existent authorities and spurious research.

Have statistics to quote. Preferably in graphical form

Use actual statistics selectively

Argue from a position of perceived credibility or authority rather than fact.

Use emotion and spread it as thickly as possible.

Treat any questioning of your position as an attack on wider (social) issues

Treat real science as junk science.

Trot out success stories/testimonials

Use gullible reporters to get your message out.

 

Any additions? Comments? Examples?

 

Like these ideas?  Please comment

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And the MAANZ website (home of the worlds largest marketing/business glossary http://www.marketing.org.au

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George Orwell’s writing rules Good thoughts for Social Media

George Orwell suggested 5 golden rules for effective writing:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

Does the phrase “Low hanging fruit” mean something to a layman? Can’t it be better written as “non-performing employee”?Now, how many people recognize the words and the sentiments behind them?

2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.

“In the entire world, XYZ is selling like hot cakes and gathering a lot of revenues for the company”… Imagine if we write this as “XYZ is the company’s universal best-seller”. Many writers adopt the beating round the bush approach to increase word count or achieve the desired keyword density. This is a strict no-no as it insults the reader’s sensibilities.

3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

Well, same as above (yea that’ a shorter one. No need for another example!)

4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.

“The man who was old was bitten by a cat”. While there’s no rocket science behind the logic, still this is an oft-disregarded adage. You can always replace the longer sentence with a shorter and effective “The cat bit the old man”

5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

Keep your content easily accessible to the average Joe. Readers will simply block out the content if they come across a lot of technical jargons that they can’t comprehend

 

Doing Business in China – Face

The worst thing to do any foreign country or with foreign people is to assume you understand a situation or the person thinks (or should think) just like you.

Dr Brian Monger

Face

In Chinese and Chinese based cultures, if someone has “good face it means they have  a good reputation in front of their peers.  Face in Chinese culture is even more important than “reputation” in Western cultures.

Having face in front of one’s business colleagues or within a community is  a statement of that person’s value.

Losing Face

In situations where someone  has made a mistake or done something wrong, and the error is attributable to that person in public, then that one person has “lost face” – their reputation in the eyes of their peers has been reduced. Losing face is an experience no-one wishes to happen to them. So, even if the one losing face is clearly “wrong”, some folks will go to great lengths to avoid the appearance of losing face.

In any case, when face has been lost, the losing party leaves with “bad face”.

Saving Face

Saving face implies a situation where someone’s reputation is under question, or has already been lost, and is undergoing restoration. Saving face is an action whereby one is able to prove that they were not wrong, or show that the degree of their wrongdoing was only very small – not such a big deal.

This restoration is usually done with the help of someone else with good face, usually by making some kind of announcement before one’s peers, exonerating or endorsing the person who had lost face.

Giving (or Lending) Face

In a case where a person has no face or no recognised reputation within certain circles, this person may be required to seek out and “borrow” a certain measure of face from someone willing to “lend” it to them.

When dealing with Chinese do not make people lose face in public, you will likely make an enemy for life

Learn to not always state your opinion in public (especially about Chinese things), especially if it is contrary to a Chinese person’s opinion, this could cause them to think you are attacking them, which might make them feel they are loosing face, which leads to the first situation. Avoid arguing with Chinese people about things that are not critical. You will just piss people off. Many people are more emotional and think much more about face and often less empathetic about others (outside their social group), and not very direct/straight forward in many social relationships (which to Westerns can appear dishonest at times, but Chinese do not mean it that way, they are often trying to save themselves or you face)…keep that in mind and you will be okay.

Would you like a free copy of the MAANZ International eBooklet “Doing Business in China”?  Just send us an email to info@marketing.org.au and we will send you a copy.  We wont harvest your information or give it to any other party

 

You may also like to check out the MAANZ Website http://www.marketing.org.au or our other blogs/articles on http://smartamarketing.wordpress

 

 

 

Strategy – Mission, Vision and Core Values

Organisational Direction

Strategy should begin with a clear concept and vision of what business the organisation is in and what path its development should take.

The mission statement specifies what activities the organisation as a whole intends to pursue now and in the future; it says something about what kind of organisation it is now and is to become and, by omission, what it is not to do and not to become. It depicts an organisation’s character, identity, and scope of activities.

The mission statement communicates the firm’s core ideology and visionary goals.

Vision Statements are often seen as different to Mission statements, although they can in fact be combined.  Vision Statements should be more immediate and inspirational.  The vision statement expresses the desired destination of the organisation within a certain time-frame.

Mission and Vision statements from most organisations are usually run of the mill/ordinary .  They lack inspiration and a real understanding of what is needed.  They tend to make obvious statements about “putting customers first, … valuing employees;  making profits”;  etc.

Good Mission and Vision Statements are meant not only to provide direction, but should also be inspirational to those who follow them.

Core Values – Corporate values statements

Core values reflect the deeply held values of the organisation and are independent of the current management fads.

Similar to Mission and Vision Statements, Corporate Values Statements provide:

• a vision for your future;
• a mission that defines what you are doing;
• values that shape your actions;
• strategies that zero in on your key success approaches; and
• goals and action plans to guide your daily, weekly and monthly actions.

Examples of values that some firms have chosen to be in their core:

• excellent customer service
• pioneering technology
• creativity
• integrity
• social responsibility

Effective Planning

The Requirements of Effective Planning

The major requirements for effective marketing planning can be classified under three broad headings:

• strategic requirements;
• managerial requirements; and
• operational (tactical) requirements

Strategic Requirements

Strategy comes from a Greek word, referring to the office of a general. It refers to the big picture.   It is the broad direction, the way we think we can succeed in a competitive environment

The Stakeholders

In the construction of the business strategy, there are 3 main stakeholders;

• The Organisation.
• The Market.
• The Competition.

There are also many subsidiary players involved in the environment who can at times exert influence on planning;

• Suppliers
• Government Bodies
• Employees
• Action Groups
• The public

Information – Research.

Good decisions are based on good information.  The first source of information will be your own records (internal information).  A Marketing Information System (MIS) will provide Market Intelligence, Market Research

Planning – Managerial Requirements

The major requirements of planning from management are:

1.         Commitment at all levels of management from chief executive down to individual line staff.

2.         Creativity and innovative thinking.

3.         Experience and sound organisation judgment:  planning cannot replace these – it can, and should augment them.

4.         The ability to analyse and synthesis data, information and events.

Operational (tactical) Requirements

Major operational (i.e., administrative and systems) requirements are:

1.         Good information and sound research procedures.

2.         Co-ordination and integration of data, people and resources.

3.         Standardisation and simplification of planning systems, wherever possible.

4.         Clear designation of responsibilities for planning and consequent action points.