Emotional Purchases Impact Nearly Every Decision
Will you make some emotional purchases in the next few days? What about across weeks, months, or even years? What you buy is more often connected to emotions than what you may realize.
Do you own a car, a home, or a bunch of really cool tech gadgets? What about collectable items, a bit of candy, or some jewelry?
There is a big difference between what you want and what you actually need.
Wants and Needs
Take an automobile for example, what are your needs? Are your needs transportation or is it the luxury and class of how you get from point A to point B?
If you need transportation, then perhaps the least expensive means of travel will suffice.
You may be able to make a claim that you could walk. Many urban dwellers do not own a car. They may not need one.
Yet, all across America and many other countries, an automobile is a significant purchase considered as a need. It may represent status, comfort, or it may be able to haul eight passengers even when much of the mileage driven is only one or two persons at a time. What is needed?
Do you need jewelry? What about a thousand-dollar pair of shoes, do you need those?
Do you need soda, wine, or sports drinks? What is the real need?
Emotional Purchases
Every day people are making choices that satisfy something beyond need. There is a want or desire that is involved. There are emotional choices connected to status, ego, or lifestyle.
Much of this all appears to be normal. So normal that it almost seems like a stretch of the truth to consider the difference between wants and needs.
Do you have a closet full of some things you barely use? Do you regularly throw out food that you could have consumed if you made different choices?
Many of the things people buy are not needs. They are wants. The purchase satisfies some emotional desire, not necessarily a survival type of need.
Humans are driven by emotions. It is true for the decisions you make about the work that you do, to earn the money that you earn, to buy the things that you want.
While there are some basic life needs, much of those needs are distorted by your wants.
Great marketers and sales teams understand the emotional desire for products and services. It’s is a leadership trait that is commonly underestimated or not fully utilized.
People are often not paying for what they need, they’re paying for something more.
Something that they want.
-DEG
Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and corporate trainer. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.
