Understanding Why Consumers Buy and How to Attract More Clients

Wants and needs may sound similar, but they’re as different as day and night. By learning the specific wants and needs of your clients, you can learn how to better market your product or service in a way that speaks to your ideal client and leads them to buy from you.

Wants vs. Needs

A want is something you would like to have. It is not absolutely necessary, but it would be a good thing to have. A good example is music. Now, some people might argue that music is a need but you don't need music to survive.

A need is something you have to have, something you can't do without. A good example is food. If you don't eat, you won't survive for long. You might not need a whole lot of food, but you do need to eat.

It may sound completely counterintuitive, but the fact is, wants are much more powerful than needs. Even though their needs must be fulfilled for survival, most people make their purchasing decisions based on their wants, rather than their needs. For example, people need to lose weight for health reasons. A weight-loss clinic might assume that clients would respond to a weight-loss program that is positioned to help them feel better and improve their health. But oddly enough, what most people want from a weight-loss program is not health, but to look better, attract more romance into their lives, to receive compliments from people and gain confidence. Those are all emotional wants versus objective needs.

When marketing your product or service, stay away from focusing on promoting the need for it, because until you identify why clients want your product, you will never be successful selling to them. Here are some tips to help you identify your client’s wants and develop effective marketing messages that will help you generate more revenue.

Hot Buttons — Price vs. Value

Depending on your industry, clients will have different wants and needs, called “hot buttons.” Hot buttons are the problems, frustrations and concerns that most clients consider when they do business with companies. Many business owners feel that price is always the number-one hot button that impacts their clients. In reality, price is one of their last considerations. Most clients are more than willing to pay a higher price if you offer enough value to warrant the higher price.

Unfortunately, most marketing and advertising looks exactly the same and ignores these hot buttons. Everyone uses the same old phrases and platitudes such as, “We’re the fastest, we’re the best, we have the lowest price, we do excellent work,” and so on. And since everyone says this, your clients become desensitized and don’t believe any of it. If you market this way, as most businesses do, your clients can’t determine the true value you provide, so they default to lowest price as a differentiator. Whatever you do, don’t fall for this trap!

Fortunately, the idea that price is most important exists only in the mind of the business owner. All you need to do is provide more value than your competition, and promote it. Your marketing messages should highlight the parts of your business that meet the wants of your ideal clients by addressing their hot buttons.

Below is a list of industries and their corresponding hot buttons. Select the industry category that your business belongs to and then prioritize your customers’ hot buttons in order. This exercise will help you identify your ideal clients’ wants in order to create the proper messaging that will appeal to them.

Common Hot Buttons for:

Service Industry- Fix it right, Fix it fast, Be on time, Provide quick resolution, Be honest

Professional Industry- Expected results, General customer service, Price of affordability, Guarantee results, Trustworthy

Retail Industry- Product options, variety, selection, Product quality, Product results match expectations,

Customer service, advice, knowledge, Price

Opportunity/ Entrepreneur Industry- Make money (return on investment), Easily transition into ownership, Validation, Proof of support, Resonates with beliefs and values

Wholesale Industry- Make more money and higher margins, less hassle, easy to do business with

Low risk, Reliability, Receive it on time

Overall, these hot buttons apply to most businesses in each industry category. Occasionally, other hot buttons may be more appropriate than those listed. If you honestly believe your specific hot buttons need adjusting from those that are listed, please make those adjustments now by either rearranging the priority sequence or removing and replacing any hot buttons you feel may be more appropriate for your business.

By using these guidelines, you can create persuasive marketing messages that address your ideal clients’ needs and motivate them to buy from you. If you do this really well, you will find yourself attracting more clients in a short amount of time.